Raja Ampat homestays

[barry123]

I am planning a 2 month trip next March/April. I am trying to decide if I should go on a liveaboard or homestay out of Waisai Raja Ampat.

I would like to hear from someone who has tried both I know the dive boat should be better but is it worth the extra money as I feel that the local homestay look interesting.

If anyone has tried the homestay any advice. I am think about either planning ahead or just going to Sorong and going to the Tourist office or direct to Waisa and looking at what is available.

I will also be visiting Bira Bunaken Lembeh Ambon Banda Gili Air and Pandang Bai. These places I will stay for at least 6 nights. Any advice as any place I should add or delete

 

[AlMitch]

Change Bunaken for Bangka.

 

[barry123]

Why would you pick Banga over Bunaken. It is very easy to move from one place to the other so I could easly spend 3 or 4 days at each place. So would recommend both or just stick to Banga. I have not book any thing yet just my return ticket to Bali and now I am just filling the gap.

I may wait to the last moment and hope that there are some discounts just before I leave on a dive boat for Raja Ampat. I think that the dive boats are very pricy and if you travel 4 months a year I do not want to spend that much money for a week. That is why I want looking at land base dives at more than 1 location.

 

[AlMitch]

You are right it is easy to get around from Lembeh to Bangka to Bunaken. The resorts are usually pretty flexible in where to drop you off and organising between each other. So as time does not seem to be a huge factor for you then you may as well check out Bunaken too. But spend twice as much time in Bangka as you do in Bunaken. Bangka is more diverse then Bunaken and if you read through the many reports here on SB the general consensus is that Bangka is much better. Bunaken is basically just wall dives, where as Bangka has amazing soft coral pinnacles and very good macro critter dives. Here is my last trip report: http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/indonesia/462047-trip-report-blue-bay-divers-bangka-island-july-2013-a.html

I have no idea about the RA homestays. Someone recently wrote a trip report about them here on SB and it certainly seemed cheaper.... but it's not professionally run and I seem to remember them only doing 2 dives a day (but I could be wrong about that). RA is so far to get to and it really is so so amazing that you really want to spend as much time underwater as possible with people who know the reefs really well. The resorts probably have the most experienced guides, the home stays haven't been around for too long so I'm not sure what level the guides would be. If you go with a LOB make sure it has been doing the RA trip for a few years and has DM's that have been with the boat for a long time. The bonus about a LOB is that 4 dives a day is normal and you get to check out a far larger piece of this amazing location. I'm sure the resorts you could do 4 dives a day BUT you are stuck in a specific location.
BUT again if you have the time then chilling out in a little village getting to know the locals and getting in a few dives a day is not too bad an idea either.

In the end how ever you do it you WILL love indo! It gets in your blood and you get hooked! I am positively green with envy that you are spending so long and travelling to all those amazing places.
OH a glaring omission on your list above is KOMODO!!

 

[EcoSea]

Everyday in Waisai new accommodations are coming on line I have done both live boards and homestays and I prefer to stay on land myself, I sleep better when the waves are rough. Granted in the season in Raja Ampat the waves are mostly flat. You can stay as a single on the beach from Rp. 300K a night at Marley Bungalows and have your own room if the resort is not full! Less if you stay in town at Toko Sorrya where if you go with a fan room it can be as low as Rp.170K that is 15 USD right now.

The tourist office has a list of all the homestays but I doubt that they have stayed at all of them. You could ask at the ferry pier in Waisai and then you can go and look around in Waisai yourself to find a place to stay.

 

[Ross1]

Like AlMich said, it's such a great place for diving and so far that you should be doing 4 dives a day. The night dives are fabulous in Raja Ampat, with many unique creatures.

Arguably the best place for diving in Raja Ampat is around Kri/Mansuar and Gam Island, this is why many LOB spend a very large part of their trip around this small area. Some LOB's spend 7 days just in this small area.....something that's a little strange considering how big Raja Ampat is and how close Kri/Mansuar is to Sorong/Waisai.

Homestays are improving all the time.

There are many very beautiful and comfortable resorts laying right in the middle or even on top of all the best dive sites. Why stay in a cabin when you can have your own chunk of paradise with a water bungalow.

Two new resorts opened recently in this area.

Raja Ampat Biodiversity, a basic, no frills dive resort and Papua Explorers Dive Resort, luxury water cottages with extremely competitive rates.

 

[Ashantiashanti]

I had a wonderful time staying and diving with Yenkuranu homestay! They have new equipment and their dive guide Eles spotted everything from pygmy sea-horses to webobong sharks and mantas. But check out this website for more homestays: Budget accommodation in Raja Ampat, Indonesia - Budget accommodation in Raja Ampat, Indonesia can definitely vouch for people to use homestays as it brings revenue to local families.

 

[Scuba Max]

I stayed at a few R4 homestays earlier this year and did some diving with them. They are all cheaper than most of the resorts and liveaboards, but still about US$40 per person for room per night with food and each dive was about US$40. The rooms are traditional and very basic (some just a piece of foam on the floor) with shared bathrooms. Food is also very very basic. For the dives, you really need to have full confidence in yourself as the guides don't really look out for you. I had done my research and asked for certain divesites when I knew the tide would be right and if they tried to go at a different time I insisted we wait until the conditions were best. There wasn't much concern on their part in regards to dive planning. Also both homestays I was at did only 2 dives per day.

Overall though, it is nice to stay with locals and support their businesses. They are very friendly and do their best to make you happy. I traveled all over R4 on a budget staying in homestays and in local people's homes. I recommend that if you want to take this option you try to stay at Mangkur Kodon. It is by far the best location of any of the homestays. There is snorkeling out front and a beautiful beach. The owner Raymond is a nice guy and he is also renting a couple of the rooms to some ex-pats who are doing conservation research, so they help to make for interesting conversation at the dinner table. It is best to try to book as it seems to be the most popular but really hard to contact them because of lack of phone signals, etc. Best thing is to call the tourist office in Sorong and have them make a booking for you a couple weeks in advance. Then maybe check in and reconfirm a week ahead-and then again a day or two before. Request the over-water bungalow, it is the best.

With that said, if diving more than 2 times per day or having an experienced guide is important to you, it is worth spending the extra money on staying at one of the resorts or booking a liveaboard. The Gam/Kri/Mansuar area is the best for diving, but there are beautiful islands and dive spots spread all over. If money was no issue, liveaboard would give you the best overall experience for a visit to Raja Ampat.

 

[diverjohnsabang]

HI THIS IS JOHN. I JUST ARRIVED THIS MORNING IN SORONG, AND AM STAYING AT PAPARISA MANISEE HOTEL ($21 AND WILL GO TO WAISAI TOMORROW. I'VE BEEN TOLD THAT THERE ARE LOTS OF BUDGET PLACES THERE. IM BOOKED ON A LIVEABOARD (WICKEDDIVING.COM $1450 6 DAYS AND NIGHTS).
IM GOING TO AMBON ON MAR 6TH FOR 2 WEEKS (BLUE-MOTION DIVING.COM) AND THEY HAVE ARRANGED FOR A BUDGET PLACE FOR ME A SHORT WALK FROM THE SHOP. I THINK THE ROOM IS $20 PER NIGHT AND THE DIVES ARE ABOUT $25 EACH. MY EMAIL IS johnabel1@earthlink.net IF YOU WOULD LIKE MORE INFO AS I GET IT?

 

[Luko]

IM GOING TO AMBON ON MAR 6TH FOR 2 WEEKS (BLUE-MOTION DIVING.COM) AND THEY HAVE ARRANGED FOR A BUDGET PLACE FOR ME A SHORT WALK FROM THE SHOP.

Hmmh... Did you ask them beforehand if they were also going out of Ambon Bay? I dived with them a couple of days in the first days of 2013 and I must say they didn't impress me very much, having limited knowledge of both dive sites and critters. They didn't have any local diveguides plus their boats didn't dive on the southern coast of Ambon, which is very different from the muck dives inside the bay.
Their Banda operation looked better, they are the specialist of the area but they thought their Ambon dive centre was just in order to provide a couple of dives before/after going to Banda. 2 weeks might be longish with them.

True it's budget but I have never been fond of gringo backpacker dives, if I go budget I prefer local. Maybe you should try Blue Rose Divers instead, they are local and they know VERY WELL the dive sites.