el_guitarrero
New
Hi Forum members,
i just wanted to share my impression of Raja Ampat from which I just returned. We stayed at Kri Eco Resort. The Resort itself is basic, but clean and functional. Food was also very good considering the remote location.
The staff is very friendly and in general everything was nice.
Not for the diving.
We have been to Komodo, several times to Bali (Menjangan, Tulamben, Padang Bai, Nusa Penida + Lembongan) to Sulawesi ( Bunaken, Lembeh, Sahaung) and Egypt (SES and Hurghada), Palau and other places. In total around 350 dives.
We hoped to see some impressive Underwater life, but this was not really what happened.
we had lots of current on some divesites, and very beautiful corals, sometimes nice big school of fish, but nothing real special.
During a 10 day stay we saw no walking shark and only one hidden wobbegong inside a cave. A summary, let it be 1 or 2 more species we saw, but concerning the pictures I took:
2 small lionfish, 2 Scorpionfish. 1 Flathead crocodilefish.
about 3 -5 nudibranchs, nothing special. 2 Mantisshrimp.
2 mooray eels. 2 bargibanti pygmies.1 octopus, 3 squid and 5 Mantas (which compensated a lot ...) and 3 sharks and 3 Turtles.
what i expected, but did not see (nor did the the other guests):
- no Ghostpipefish
- no Frogfishes (the guide also had never seen one in 18 years!)
- no exotic nudibranchs
- no exotic mooray eels (honeycomb or other)
- no pontohi, no denise nor other pygmies except 2 bargibanti
- no Rhinopia
- no blue ring octopus or other interesting
- no macro stuff that might have been worth a picture
For me the most disappointing thing was the "world record reef" Cap Kri with 374 counted species during one dive. Only at the End where the Fish comes together in the current you had some nice photo scenery, otherwise it was a quite boring divesite.
Often we also encountered a lot of liveaboards that made some dives a terrible experience. More divers on the reef than fish.
i draw the conclusion, that this part of Raja Ampat has almost no macro stuff and is heavy marketed in magazines etc. - For me I had much better and impressing dives in other places and i feel somehow betrayed...or dissapointed.
This thread might help some people that want to travel there and pay big $ for the last divers paradise - for me (us) and other guests it was not what we expected.
i just wanted to share my impression of Raja Ampat from which I just returned. We stayed at Kri Eco Resort. The Resort itself is basic, but clean and functional. Food was also very good considering the remote location.
The staff is very friendly and in general everything was nice.
Not for the diving.
We have been to Komodo, several times to Bali (Menjangan, Tulamben, Padang Bai, Nusa Penida + Lembongan) to Sulawesi ( Bunaken, Lembeh, Sahaung) and Egypt (SES and Hurghada), Palau and other places. In total around 350 dives.
We hoped to see some impressive Underwater life, but this was not really what happened.
we had lots of current on some divesites, and very beautiful corals, sometimes nice big school of fish, but nothing real special.
During a 10 day stay we saw no walking shark and only one hidden wobbegong inside a cave. A summary, let it be 1 or 2 more species we saw, but concerning the pictures I took:
2 small lionfish, 2 Scorpionfish. 1 Flathead crocodilefish.
about 3 -5 nudibranchs, nothing special. 2 Mantisshrimp.
2 mooray eels. 2 bargibanti pygmies.1 octopus, 3 squid and 5 Mantas (which compensated a lot ...) and 3 sharks and 3 Turtles.
what i expected, but did not see (nor did the the other guests):
- no Ghostpipefish
- no Frogfishes (the guide also had never seen one in 18 years!)
- no exotic nudibranchs
- no exotic mooray eels (honeycomb or other)
- no pontohi, no denise nor other pygmies except 2 bargibanti
- no Rhinopia
- no blue ring octopus or other interesting
- no macro stuff that might have been worth a picture
For me the most disappointing thing was the "world record reef" Cap Kri with 374 counted species during one dive. Only at the End where the Fish comes together in the current you had some nice photo scenery, otherwise it was a quite boring divesite.
Often we also encountered a lot of liveaboards that made some dives a terrible experience. More divers on the reef than fish.
i draw the conclusion, that this part of Raja Ampat has almost no macro stuff and is heavy marketed in magazines etc. - For me I had much better and impressing dives in other places and i feel somehow betrayed...or dissapointed.
This thread might help some people that want to travel there and pay big $ for the last divers paradise - for me (us) and other guests it was not what we expected.