combine Raja Ampat with land based location?

[Luko]

Gili Banta & Golden Passage are in my itinerary

The manta cleaning station is south west corner of Banta

 

[Dan]

The manta cleaning station is south west corner of Banta

I don’t know that one. What’s the name of the dive site & GPS location?

 

[Dan]

Curious about Gili Banta, I found this interesting thread posted by @Adelaar Cruises back in August 2016:

Gili Banta – Diving Between Bali and Komodo | Part II

Gili Banta – Diving Between Bali and Komodo | Part II Imagine yourself diving inside the caldera of a volcano without ever having to climb above sea level to get there. Gili Banta (Banta island) is an ancient, uninhabited, partially submerged volcano off the Northwest coast of Sumbawa. Very...

scubaboard.com

They mentioned the following dive sites in Gili Banta:
1. Star Wars
2. GPS point
3. Tanduk Rusa (Rolker Coaster)
4. K2
5. Small World (Gazer Beach)
6. Gallery Rock & Batu Baso

And there was a proposal to extend Komodo National Park to include Gili Banta.

 

[sabrisi]

Hello,
I am in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Raja Ampat for Dec 2022-Jan 2023. We are considering a liveaboard around the area. However, we didn't want to travel all that way (we are coming from the US) for just a liveaboard so wanted to combine it with a land based operation somewhere. Do you have any suggestions on locations? The number of liveaboards to choose from in RA is overwhelming, and as far as itineraries it looks like most just say "Best of Raja Ampat". I realize that a number of factors can influence the actual dive sites visited. If we plan to go early, do you recommend a specific island in Raja Ampat that is typically not visited by liveaboards? Or should be go somewhere different like Komodo? We didn't want to stay at the same place commonly visited by the liveaboards.

We just got back from staying at Misool and had a wonderful time - already booked to return in 2025. I don't think they'd have availability for when you're looking for as they are booked up until 2025, but you could reach out to them about a cancellation list.

 

[Cali_diver]

We just got back from staying at Misool and had a wonderful time - already booked to return in 2025. I don't think they'd have availability for when you're looking for as they are booked up until 2025, but you could reach out to them about a cancellation list.

Where you still there for that freaky Algae bloom?

 

[sabrisi]

Where you still there for that freaky Algae bloom?

We were there 5/26 to 6/4 - last few days there was a lot of muck on the surface in some spots, but didn't seem crazy to me?

 

[Cali_diver]

We were there 5/26 to 6/4 - last few days there was a lot of muck on the surface in some spots, but didn't seem crazy to me?

It started on the 3rd. We were diving 2Tree in Balbulol and 3/4 of the way through the dive it started to float over our heads and fall into the water. It was really gross it became soo thick our third dive was really bad. We went south and it was everywhere. By the end of our trip on 10th it was really sad because all of the fans and soft corals were absolutely covered by it. We took a lot of video and pictures to document it.

 

[Dan]

We were there 5/26 to 6/4 - last few days there was a lot of muck on the surface in some spots, but didn't seem crazy to me?

Sounds like you got out of dodge just in time.

 

[sabrisi]

Sounds like you got out of dodge just in time.

I’m also used to Puget Sound visibility