R4 Simply the best in Indo ?

[scubajunky17]

HI All,
I have dived R4 twice and had numerous trips to Bali, Komodo ( twice / two liveaboards) Manado / Bunaken, Lembeh, is there anywhere else which can compare to R4 Kri Island ? I have stayed with homestays both times. Does anyone have an recent updates as it is pre covid nonsense since I visited last.
Thanks in advance

 

[stepfen]

I leave the first part of the question to other more experienced scubaboarders as my Indonesian diving experience outside R4 is limited.

I have stayed with homestays both times. Does anyone have an recent updates as it is pre covid nonsense since I visited last.

I was there in January for 10 days. I did a safari (stay overnight in homestays and during the day dive and move to another homestay).

Topside things were more or less back to precovid except:
- Prices (especially for air tickets etc) have increased - not only to/from Indo but also local flights eg to Sorong. Schedules were also quite more limited than before.
- Several "old" homestays were not open to visitors at the time - nobody knows if they will ever reopen, but several new ones have also emerged.
- The ones that were open were not as busy as they used to be precovid as the homestay crowds were not that huge at the time. I think the main reason being the increased ticket prices (together with the uncertainty for the situation post covid) keep low budget travelers away.
- LoBs seemed to be quite busy with thirsty well off divers that can afford traveling even with the current prices.

Underwater/Fish wise. Diving was nice as always, except:
- No mantas in Blue Magic this year so far. Nobody knows why
- I noticed (and several other people including the guides agreed) that big schools of fish were much less compared to the past. No big schools of barracudas, no mackerel, and believe it or not no (or almost no) sweet lips schools at the reefs, or below jetties!!! Maybe during covid some (extensive) fishing took place? Who knows. Without mantas and big schools of fish I fount Blue Magic a bit boring (dived it 2 times this year out of 11 times in total - I've never seen it that "empty") !!! Maybe I was just unlucky.
- Also visibility this year was quite bad. I've spend almost 5 weeks in total in the region - always December/January and this time was by far the worst. But again maybe I was unlucky with the weather.

I would happily go back again though (if I could afford it).

All the best.

 

[scubajunky17]

Thanks for that detailed report, could be the El Ninio ? I might wait and see if things improve before I go such a long, long way to be disappointed. !

 

[cetacean]

@scubajunky17

I just returned last weekend from 10 days diving at Sorido Bay (Kri Island) and a week diving in Komodo. I'm not quite sure what the the previous poster was referring to, we had a large number of sweetlips on almost all the local (to Kri Island) dive sites.

We had 2 mantas at Manta Sandy both times we did the dive. In addition, we found several wobbegong sharks (although only very small numbers of barracudas at Sardines and Cape Kri)

Sorido Bay Wall was consistently excellent, as were the two blackwater dives we did.

As typical of the region, where we experienced the strongest currents, we found the most fish.

BTW - what did you mean by "pre covid nonsense " in your post?

 

[Pedro Burrito]

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[Cali_diver]

@scubajunky17

I just returned last weekend from 10 days diving at Sorido Bay (Kri Island) and a week diving in Komodo. I'm not quite sure what the the previous poster was referring to, we had a large number of sweetlips on almost all the local (to Kri Island) dive sites.

We had 2 mantas at Manta Sandy both times we did the dive. In addition, we found several wobbegong sharks (although only very small numbers of barracudas at Sardines and Cape Kri)

Sorido Bay Wall was consistently excellent, as were the two blackwater dives we did.

As typical of the region, where we experienced the strongest currents, we found the most fish.

BTW - what did you mean by "pre covid nonsense " in your post?

I think @stepfen is referring to the Misool area in the south not central. We had a very similar experience in March. Really hoping it gets back to normal quickly!

 

[cetacean]

@Cali_diver

Actually, I don't think so. @stepfen referred to the dive site "Blue Magic," which is not too far away from Cape Kri (the "house reef" of Sorido Bay). Misool (as you mention) is much farther south.

 

[Cali_diver]

@Cali_diver

Actually, I don't think so. @stepfen referred to the dive site "Blue Magic," which is not too far away from Cape Kri (the "house reef" of Sorido Bay). Misool (as you mention) is much farther south.

Oh yep you are right.. in my mind I saw Magic Mountain. Probably transferring my experiences this last year. (May, June, October 2022 and March 2023) Sorry... Well anyways Misool was very subpar from previous experiences (we have been more than 10 or so trips). Central was as expected for us! We love Blue Magic but it can be very different from dive to dive.

 

[Dan]

I was in Raja Ampat on Mermaid 2 in December 2022. Misool visibility has improved then (20m / 60’). In Magic Mountain we saw Walking Shark, Whitetip Reef Shark, Gray Reef Shark, but no Manta . Still saw Ribbon Sweetlips packed like in a can of Sardines at 36m / 118’ depth in Cape Kri. Sapokreng Jetty was world class muck diving site, Saw swimming Wobbegong Shark in Blue Magic, but no Manta. Overall, it’s not a bad trip for Mermaid 2 for the first time after 2.5 years of the park closing due to Covid.

 

[Indah]

I leave the first part of the question to other more experienced scubaboarders as my Indonesian diving experience outside R4 is limited.


I was there in January for 10 days. I did a safari (stay overnight in homestays and during the day dive and move to another homestay).

Topside things were more or less back to precovid except:
- Prices (especially for air tickets etc) have increased - not only to/from Indo but also local flights eg to Sorong. Schedules were also quite more limited than before.
- Several "old" homestays were not open to visitors at the time - nobody knows if they will ever reopen, but several new ones have also emerged.
- The ones that were open were not as busy as they used to be precovid as the homestay crowds were not that huge at the time. I think the main reason being the increased ticket prices (together with the uncertainty for the situation post covid) keep low budget travelers away.
- LoBs seemed to be quite busy with thirsty well off divers that can afford traveling even with the current prices.

Underwater/Fish wise. Diving was nice as always, except:
- No mantas in Blue Magic this year so far. Nobody knows why
- I noticed (and several other people including the guides agreed) that big schools of fish were much less compared to the past. No big schools of barracudas, no mackerel, and believe it or not no (or almost no) sweet lips schools at the reefs, or below jetties!!! Maybe during covid some (extensive) fishing took place? Who knows. Without mantas and big schools of fish I fount Blue Magic a bit boring (dived it 2 times this year out of 11 times in total - I've never seen it that "empty") !!! Maybe I was just unlucky.
- Also visibility this year was quite bad. I've spend almost 5 weeks in total in the region - always December/January and this time was by far the worst. But again maybe I was unlucky with the weather.

I would happily go back again though (if I could afford it).

All the best.

If you ask a guide: don't you think that there are much less..... He will say: Yes, indeed. If you ask the same guide instead: Don't you think there are much more .....now. He will say: yes, isn't great.