Laval
Contributor
Here is my report about our second visit to Sorido Bay Resort of Papua Diving in Raja Ampat in West Papua, Indonesia.
Date of Visit: December 26, 2019 – January 12, 2020
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) – (best)
Diving - 5
Diving for Beginners - 4
Snorkeling - 5
Dive Operation - 5
Photography - 5
Service and Attitude - 5
Environm. Sensitivity - 5
Accommodations - 5
Food - 5
Value for $$$ - 5
Background Information:
Resort website: Sorido Bay Resort - Papua Diving Resorts - Raja Ampat - Indonesia
This report is about our second visit to Sorido Bay Resort (SBR), with the first visit being a year ago for the same duration (18 days).
We learned about this resort from a French couple, whom we met at Misool Eco Resort in early 2018. They told us that they took about 40 diving trips to Indonesia, and, in their opinion, Sorido Bay Resort is the best. So my wife and I ‘took the dive’ and booked two and a half weeks with SBR for December 2018 and we were really glad we did.
Reservation:
I made a reservation directly with the resort, which is my preferred way of booking. By booking directly with the resort you will automatically get ‘enrolled’ in their loyalty program, which will give you 15% off on the 2nd trip and 20% off on the 3rd trip.
Considering the remote location, I would recommend a minimum stay of at least two weeks.
Communication with the resort via email was easy, their replies were quick and detailed. They accept several payment methods, and I used TransferWise, which made payments from Canada easy. I’ve been using TransferWise for overseas payments for several years now without any issues.
Getting There:
Getting to Sorong:
From Toronto (Canada) it takes a 15-hr flight to Hong Kong and then to Jakarta (~5 hrs) by Cathay Pacific, arriving to Jakarta by 1:30 pm or so. Then, there are several options:
Option 1 – Stay overnight and next day in Jakarta (i.e. at the airport hotel-resort FM-7), then take an overnight red-eye (but direct) flight to Sorong.
Option 2 – Book a half-day stay at the airport hotel, get 5-6 hours of sleep, and then take an over-night red-eye (but direct) flight to Sorong. This is a bit riskier option than Option 1, in case your luggage is delayed. We tried this option last time, and it took us 48 hrs from leaving our house to the resort’s jetty.
Option 3 - Stay over-night in Jakarta (i.e. at the airport hotel-resort FM-7), then take a daytime flight to Sorong, and spend a night in Sorong at Swiss-Belhotel Sorong (I could not recommend any other hotel in Sorong). This option would allow you to have two normal nights in a hotel, so you would come more rested and acclimatized to the resort. We have not tried this option yet.
If you have never been to Hong Kong, it is worth spending 3-4 days there. Here is a link to my video Hong Kong in 7 Minutes, to give you some ideas about Hong Kong and what to see there.
If you are flying from the US or another country that has an option of flying via Singapore, it could be another great option. It is a fantastic city and spending 3-4 day in Singapore would be very memorable. You could watch my video/slideshow Four Days in a Dream City about our four-day stay in Singapore.
Indonesian airlines:
Although Garuda Indonesia is the most expensive airline in Indonesia, it is our favorite local airline because of several reasons:
I had to book a return flight with Batik Air, which is owned by Lion Air, and arranging payment for additional luggage was very problematic. The resort had to send someone to the airport to prepay my extra luggage, as this was not possible to do via the internet or phone. So, in total it was as expensive as flying by Garuda. Ignoring troubles with the luggage, the flight by Batik Air was very good.
Accommodation:
SBR is a very small resort - maximum 18 guests, but it is rarely 100% full. This, along with the outstanding staff led by Chris and Jade, created a very welcoming, family-like atmosphere, where you do not feel like you are at a resort at all, but rather like you are visiting your best friends who would do anything to make your stay as pleasant and memorable as possible.
All cottages are very spacious and they are located on a nice sandy beach, about 10 meters from the water. The design and quality of construction is very good. Everything in the resort is well-thought out and built to last.
The rooms are very big and comfortable, with a large shower and toilet. The AC is very powerful, and the bed is firm and comfortable.
There is a ‘camera room’ in each cottage, which includes a long table, a camera washing sink, and both international and US receptacles. Every guest is provided with a ‘camera taxi’, which is a glorified wheel barrel. I found this arrangement is much more convenient than having a centralized camera room.
Grounds:
The grounds at Sorido Bay Resort are very nice, there is a sandy beach. You could also go to another sister resort (Kri Eco Resort), which is just around the corner (about 15 - 20 min away) and has a very good house reef for diving and snorkelling. We like the bungalows of Sorido Bay Resort better than ‘water cottages’, but it is a matter of taste. To us, having a nice sandy beach is a big advantage of the SBR. Families with small kids would appreciate it very much.
Another pleasant surprise of the area around the Sorido Bay Resort was that during our both visits we did not see any rubbish in water and on the beach. I could not say that during our dive trips we did not see any rubbish at all, we did at a few dive sites of Dampier Strait, but the amount was very negligible d to other places we visited in Raja Ampat. I assume that this is probably because of the geographical location of the Dampier Strait and currents. Whatever the reason is, we like it.
Diving:
Diving was fantastic. Because of the variety, number of fish, and beauty of healthy corals, you may experience a ‘sensory overload’, as one of divers pointed out quite rightly.
Mantas were on top of each other and on top of divers at the Manta Ridge site. In December 2018, we saw a number of oceanic manta rays at the Blue Magic site. However, during our last visit in December 2019 – January 2020, we were not lucky, and we did not see any mantas at this site, probably because there were too many divers over there. To satisfy our hunger for mantas, they took us to a ‘secret’ manta cleaning station, where there were no other divers and nine mantas.
At the same time, there were many blacktip sharks, wobbegong sharks, crocodile fish, huge schools of jacks, barracudas, sweetlips, etc., etc., etc, particularly at Cape Kri, but elsewhere as well. This time I had a very memorable encounter with a big school of large humphead parrotfish at Sardines Reef. Usually, they are in rush, but this time, it felt that they adopted me, and were grazing on corals all around me for about 20 min.
The current in the Dampier Strait can be very strong, but guides are very careful to avoid any trouble. First of all, the seafloor is only at about 30 – 40 m, so you could not get into much trouble to begin with. Secondly, at dive sites with strong currents, the guides instructed us to stay at a depth with a mild current (lets say between 15 and 20 m), and only at the end of the dive, when you ascend higher, you get picked up by the stronger current. It is like a ride on a high-speed train – a lot of fun. At the Manta Ridge site, they even secured a rope to accommodate a safety stop because the current was so strong.
WARNING:
And finally a WARNING: “By visiting this resort, you may become addicted to it, and may want to visit it again and again in spite of its remoteness and cost.”
Additional resources:
You could visit and subscribe to my YouTube Channel at: Val Saknenko
Also, you could watch several of my videos about diving in Raja Ampat on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/5kpbK6PLyYI
https://youtu.be/6u1IIMjMOWA
Date of Visit: December 26, 2019 – January 12, 2020
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) – (best)
Diving - 5
Diving for Beginners - 4
Snorkeling - 5
Dive Operation - 5
Photography - 5
Service and Attitude - 5
Environm. Sensitivity - 5
Accommodations - 5
Food - 5
Value for $$$ - 5
Background Information:
Resort website: Sorido Bay Resort - Papua Diving Resorts - Raja Ampat - Indonesia
This report is about our second visit to Sorido Bay Resort (SBR), with the first visit being a year ago for the same duration (18 days).
We learned about this resort from a French couple, whom we met at Misool Eco Resort in early 2018. They told us that they took about 40 diving trips to Indonesia, and, in their opinion, Sorido Bay Resort is the best. So my wife and I ‘took the dive’ and booked two and a half weeks with SBR for December 2018 and we were really glad we did.
Reservation:
I made a reservation directly with the resort, which is my preferred way of booking. By booking directly with the resort you will automatically get ‘enrolled’ in their loyalty program, which will give you 15% off on the 2nd trip and 20% off on the 3rd trip.
Considering the remote location, I would recommend a minimum stay of at least two weeks.
Communication with the resort via email was easy, their replies were quick and detailed. They accept several payment methods, and I used TransferWise, which made payments from Canada easy. I’ve been using TransferWise for overseas payments for several years now without any issues.
Getting There:
Getting to Sorong:
From Toronto (Canada) it takes a 15-hr flight to Hong Kong and then to Jakarta (~5 hrs) by Cathay Pacific, arriving to Jakarta by 1:30 pm or so. Then, there are several options:
Option 1 – Stay overnight and next day in Jakarta (i.e. at the airport hotel-resort FM-7), then take an overnight red-eye (but direct) flight to Sorong.
Option 2 – Book a half-day stay at the airport hotel, get 5-6 hours of sleep, and then take an over-night red-eye (but direct) flight to Sorong. This is a bit riskier option than Option 1, in case your luggage is delayed. We tried this option last time, and it took us 48 hrs from leaving our house to the resort’s jetty.
Option 3 - Stay over-night in Jakarta (i.e. at the airport hotel-resort FM-7), then take a daytime flight to Sorong, and spend a night in Sorong at Swiss-Belhotel Sorong (I could not recommend any other hotel in Sorong). This option would allow you to have two normal nights in a hotel, so you would come more rested and acclimatized to the resort. We have not tried this option yet.
If you have never been to Hong Kong, it is worth spending 3-4 days there. Here is a link to my video Hong Kong in 7 Minutes, to give you some ideas about Hong Kong and what to see there.
If you are flying from the US or another country that has an option of flying via Singapore, it could be another great option. It is a fantastic city and spending 3-4 day in Singapore would be very memorable. You could watch my video/slideshow Four Days in a Dream City about our four-day stay in Singapore.
Indonesian airlines:
Although Garuda Indonesia is the most expensive airline in Indonesia, it is our favorite local airline because of several reasons:
- It is easier to communicate with them via email or a phone
- Their luggage allowance is higher (23 kg vs. 20 kg), plus they allow an extra piece of luggage for scuba equipment free of charge. This is important to me as I have a lot of videography equipment.
I had to book a return flight with Batik Air, which is owned by Lion Air, and arranging payment for additional luggage was very problematic. The resort had to send someone to the airport to prepay my extra luggage, as this was not possible to do via the internet or phone. So, in total it was as expensive as flying by Garuda. Ignoring troubles with the luggage, the flight by Batik Air was very good.
Accommodation:
SBR is a very small resort - maximum 18 guests, but it is rarely 100% full. This, along with the outstanding staff led by Chris and Jade, created a very welcoming, family-like atmosphere, where you do not feel like you are at a resort at all, but rather like you are visiting your best friends who would do anything to make your stay as pleasant and memorable as possible.
All cottages are very spacious and they are located on a nice sandy beach, about 10 meters from the water. The design and quality of construction is very good. Everything in the resort is well-thought out and built to last.
The rooms are very big and comfortable, with a large shower and toilet. The AC is very powerful, and the bed is firm and comfortable.
There is a ‘camera room’ in each cottage, which includes a long table, a camera washing sink, and both international and US receptacles. Every guest is provided with a ‘camera taxi’, which is a glorified wheel barrel. I found this arrangement is much more convenient than having a centralized camera room.
Grounds:
The grounds at Sorido Bay Resort are very nice, there is a sandy beach. You could also go to another sister resort (Kri Eco Resort), which is just around the corner (about 15 - 20 min away) and has a very good house reef for diving and snorkelling. We like the bungalows of Sorido Bay Resort better than ‘water cottages’, but it is a matter of taste. To us, having a nice sandy beach is a big advantage of the SBR. Families with small kids would appreciate it very much.
Another pleasant surprise of the area around the Sorido Bay Resort was that during our both visits we did not see any rubbish in water and on the beach. I could not say that during our dive trips we did not see any rubbish at all, we did at a few dive sites of Dampier Strait, but the amount was very negligible d to other places we visited in Raja Ampat. I assume that this is probably because of the geographical location of the Dampier Strait and currents. Whatever the reason is, we like it.
Diving:
Diving was fantastic. Because of the variety, number of fish, and beauty of healthy corals, you may experience a ‘sensory overload’, as one of divers pointed out quite rightly.
Mantas were on top of each other and on top of divers at the Manta Ridge site. In December 2018, we saw a number of oceanic manta rays at the Blue Magic site. However, during our last visit in December 2019 – January 2020, we were not lucky, and we did not see any mantas at this site, probably because there were too many divers over there. To satisfy our hunger for mantas, they took us to a ‘secret’ manta cleaning station, where there were no other divers and nine mantas.
At the same time, there were many blacktip sharks, wobbegong sharks, crocodile fish, huge schools of jacks, barracudas, sweetlips, etc., etc., etc, particularly at Cape Kri, but elsewhere as well. This time I had a very memorable encounter with a big school of large humphead parrotfish at Sardines Reef. Usually, they are in rush, but this time, it felt that they adopted me, and were grazing on corals all around me for about 20 min.
The current in the Dampier Strait can be very strong, but guides are very careful to avoid any trouble. First of all, the seafloor is only at about 30 – 40 m, so you could not get into much trouble to begin with. Secondly, at dive sites with strong currents, the guides instructed us to stay at a depth with a mild current (lets say between 15 and 20 m), and only at the end of the dive, when you ascend higher, you get picked up by the stronger current. It is like a ride on a high-speed train – a lot of fun. At the Manta Ridge site, they even secured a rope to accommodate a safety stop because the current was so strong.
WARNING:
And finally a WARNING: “By visiting this resort, you may become addicted to it, and may want to visit it again and again in spite of its remoteness and cost.”
Additional resources:
You could visit and subscribe to my YouTube Channel at: Val Saknenko
Also, you could watch several of my videos about diving in Raja Ampat on YouTube:
https://youtu.be/5kpbK6PLyYI
https://youtu.be/6u1IIMjMOWA
