Raj Ampat Trip Report - Pearl of Papua

[highdesert]

Raja Ampat is full of boats with no real knowledge of the dive sites ... only a book with GPS coordinates. The problem ... they can put the boat right on the coordinates and still totally miss the important features of the dive site! I can, unfortunately, vouch for this, having done one trip with a boat that knew what they were doing, and another boat that was clueless about what they were looking for. Even in Dampier Strait, where most of the dive sites are foolproof, we had a guide digging around in the rubble at the base of a slope, when the feature of the site was the fish hanging in the current at the top of the slope. As others have said, choose your boat carefully!

 

[jake11]

Great report! I agree that boat choice is crucial! We had one trip there on the Dewi Nusantara which was FANTASTIC with an amazing boat, crew and CD and 2 other trips on a boat which I will leave unnamed which were marginal! It is a shame you could not experience the South!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Hintermann, I'm disconerte/ confused by your statement about the sameness of the sites. That was NOT my experience at ALL. I still remember/feel the thrill of how so many of the dives delivered a delicious difference. But then, I do a lot of diving in Belize. Now there, you can really get some "sameness".

 

[decimal86]

did i read corectly? Cedric formerly of Black Manta is the CD of Pearl now? thks

 

[jamesdiving]

did i read corectly? Cedric formerly of Black Manta is the CD of Pearl now? thks

I think it was a response to Cedric from Geko Dive Bali? "I agree Cedric, the cruise director and dive guides are very important..."

 

[Immeriswas]

Just back from 7 week trip to indonesia,wurde i dived the last two weeks in RA landbased with Papex .Compared with Maledives, Thailand, Australia ans other parts of Indonesia ,I would say RA was the best in concern of corall and diversity. Never did a LB because of easy affection to ear problems (Not much to do beside diving,compared to a Resort).One thing I noticed was : at some spots we changed the dive scedule due to ripping current, whereas the divers from the LB went down. Either our guide knew better or too much hassel for the LB to relocate everything ? Maybe I was just lucky but never had - beside the Passage - more than Medium current and still a lot of fish,including oceanic mantas

 

[Zippsy]

One thing I noticed was : at some spots we changed the dive scedule due to ripping current, whereas the divers from the LB went down. Either our guide knew better or too much hassel for the LB to relocate everything ? Maybe I was just lucky but never had - beside the Passage - more than Medium current and still a lot of fish,including oceanic mantas

I wasn't with you so I can't say for certain but it was also possible that your guide either didn't know how to handle the current or didn't have faith that all the customers could. In RA, the best diving is usually on the side of the island or sea mount that has current pushing up against it. Lots of current = lots of fish. The best way to get to the site is to drop in a bit up-current, descend quickly, stay together and accurately aim for the targeted dive spot. If you avoid the current, you avoid the fish.

I'm glad that you enjoyed RA though. I've seen a report or two recently that a diver was disappointed there.

 

[Tippytoes12]

We had a fantastic trip on Black Manta Christmas 2013, mantas on many dives, loads of wobegons and other sharks , fabulous corals and so few other boats. The great thing about Black Manta ..or I should say one of the many great things about it ..is the fact that the dining area is outside ...there is nothing as awesome as sitting outside eating breakfast after one fabulous dive with three more to come that day.

 

[Immeriswas]

It is always a question of how you define strong current .Medium i think you are able to swim against . Strong is if you can hardly paddle without loosing ground. Ripping for me means : hold on to your reefhook and watch your mask and regulator.
" No current - no fish " is overrated specially when you got a small place where is no difference currentwise . The fish -in my opinion - are still there and do Not swim to the next reef in exspectation to find the loved current there. they just behave different.

 

[Zippsy]

From my experience, no current - no fish means that most of the fish, larger than say a golf, all move to the side of the reef facing the current. Many newer divers want to, need to or just end up diving on the leeward side of the reef because of the calmer waters. After the dive, they ask where the fish were. Incidentally, on many reefs, the side facing the current oh means that there is strong current getting to the site. At the reef itself, the current is compressed against the reef and it is relatively calm, except for the multitude of fish.

---------- Post added January 13th, 2015 at 10:20 AM ----------

did i read corectly? Cedric formerly of Black Manta is the CD of Pearl now? thks

Hell no! . Cedric will likely be leaving the Black Manta later this year though but please don't get upset for him or the company. He would just be taking charge of the new Blue Manta.