Dissapointed in RAJA(!?)

[Dan]

Thanks, Dan, you fixed it for me. All 3 of the dives there were great. The last one one was a muck dive- so much fun! Can't say enough good things about Zero Gravity Diving!! Saw my first frogfish and a blue ribbon eel!

Glad to hear that!

“Padang” is a common word in Bahasa Indonesia. It means “Field”.

If you like muck diving, try under Padangbai jetty next time.

 

[Bookworm11]

I think we did. I think that was the last dive. I know I saw some sort of foundation when we started. And I remember alot of cold water coming in periodically in the first 15 minutes and it was,really, really cold. I will check my dive book. I'm so glad I picked diving that bay in Bali!!!

 

[amgscuba]

The vast majority of my diving is in the Caribbean and the adjacent Atlantic, I have dove Fiji and Sulawesi. And both of those were nice. But after the hype, I expected more.

The fish in the places I went tended to be small and rather shy.

I think the angels of the Caribbean: Queen, French, Grey and Rock Beauty, stack up favorably against anything I saw in the Pacific and Coral Triangle. The Nassau groupers stack up well against anything. And spotted eagle rays are way cool. The gorgonians of the Caribbean are great in variety and form and the Caribbean has many lovely sponges.

The odd thing was that most of the coral colonies I saw were pretty small, there were some big ones and some REALLY big ones. But the Caribbean has some really nice hard corals if you can find some healthy ones.

Now, Indonesia had some really cool flatworms that were big (well 1” +), and Pygmy seahorses, and a bunch of nudibranchs … all good fun.

In the Caribbean, I am used to taking photos of the butterfly fish. And when you use a strobe (I do 100% of the time) , the scales reflect the light and I have to be careful to not overexpose. But nail the strobe setting and the effect is great, I did not have that happen with Indopacific butterflies and that was a disappointment.

Was the diving good? Sure. Was it worth it? For me it was. I suppose anything can be overhyped.

Hi PatW, Your favorite current island to dive in the Caribbean please? Used to dive there a lot - lived in Miami - but not recently. Btw, to all here, I totally loved the walls @ Siladen last month.

 

[Dan]

Hello fellow divers,

Well... After a long trip I did four dives in Raja. And to be honest....

I am not blown away. Not at all tbh.
Blue Magic was a true disaster, horrible groups hanging on to corals, divemasters banging tanks constantly, people kneeling inbetween and on the corals and oh yes, some mantas.

Cap Kri was pretty tame, some baracudas, 1 tuna,1 napoleon and a lot of bleeched coral. Little critters and macro was nice.

Dont get me wrong: diving is diving, which i always enjoy, and there is way more to see and to find than in the dark lakes or the North Sea......

But i sort of figured there would be a bit challenging or exciting current dives and lots of fish. And that was not the case.
Soooooo is this me? Am i that spoiled?
Its like walking around in old Havana, you can imagine how beautiful it must have been in the old days.... These reefs are not doing all to well.....

Damn, am i happy i am not on an expensive LOB! (So thank you all for that advice)

So, i just wanted to vent a bit. Thank you for letting me.

Any tips about what to do? I am on Kri, Arborek on Sunday.

Wondering if i should make it to Misool, since i have the time...
. But i feel a bit hesitated since these dives were not really what i expected after cruising the globe......

Any advice welcome.

Might change to horseriding

Yes. Check out Misool. Just to pick a couple dive sites as examples.

Magic Mountain is truly magical:




Night diving in Batu Barracuda is unforgettable.

 

[Dan]

Absolutely agree (you can keep your horse). Too many people are loving Raja to death, IMHO it is becoming like Cozumel. I had a similar experience at Blue Magic and the surface interval was on an island with at least 300 of my closest friends

If you can spend a week, check out Triton Bay. Fly from Sorong to Kaimana, then a 60 minute boat ride. You will see no other divers. As a bonus, dive ( not snorkel) with whale sharks

Totally agree with the Whaleshark diving under Kaimana Bagans is the best one among other Whaleshark diving under Bagans like in Cendrawasih Bay, Saleh Bay (Sumbawa), or Tali Sayang (Sangalaki).

In Kaimana, you see , not only Whalesharks, but also Tuna, Dolphins, and Sailfish feeding on the anchovies.

 

[Dan]

I’ve read that Melissa’s Garden is unbleached. Mike’s Point might be good, too

I was in Melissa’s Garden in January 2025. It’s still incredible, no coral bleaching.

 

[Dan]

I can confirm for Melissa’s Garden as I was there last week!

Yep!

Hi dive buddy! Just saw your post today.

 

[Dan]

It kinda sounds like maybe the op you are diving with isn't interested in giving you the best experience in Raja or they are limited by time or distance. We just got back from Raja on Damai 2 and they went out of their way to make sure we dove with the least amount of divers on each dive. We tried to communicate with the other dive boats and did some not as popular dives and had mind blowing dives. We dove cape kri (which should always be done with some current) and had 100s of sweet lips and snappers (which are always there down deep) We also had huge schools of Spadefish, barricudas, and huge school of jacks up shallow. So I think you just had a bad dive or a bad guide. We spent the least amount of time in the central because of the bleaching and because it gets so crowded. We dove Sawandarek and the guides and divers from other boats would not stop tapping... it drove us crazy! Misool is lovely because they only allow one boat at a time on the main dive sites and the north has great dives as well.. Keep diving and dive with an op that doesn't want to dump you on a site with too many other boats. Raja is amazing in the off season as well and there are far less boats to contend with!

What a small world we saw Damai 1 when we were in Kaimana on January 23-24 and Damai 2 in Dampier Strait on Jan 27-28, I think.

 

[tarponchik]

After my latest trips to Grenada, Curacao and Roatan, I estimate at least 90% of hard corals in the Caribbean are dead. The best hard corals I've seen were in Red Sea when diving in Marsa Shagra. Especially, not in Shagra bay itself but on some boat dives.