Diving in Raja Ampat
I joined a liveaboard trip which passed through Raja Ampat for a few days worth of dives. Raja is everything and more than the hype people share about it.
When people say "There was not a place to put your finger"; thats Raja Ampat on nearly every dive. Football fields of continuous coral. Coral growing on top of old coral for meters deep. Fish tucked into every hole, anemones the size of a diver, barrel sponges, soft corals and fans larger than a diver. The colors are extraordinary, the schools of fish are large and active, there is more macro than you can photograph on a single dive in a 5 sq. meter area.
By my California standards the visibility was amazing on nearly every dive we had around 50-100ft visibility. Many dives had a slight current to them to help push you along, some had stronger currents that required pre-dive planning. One one or two dives a reef hook came in handy (if you could manage to find a non-living spot to place it). SMBs and reels are mandatory safety tools.
The islands are beautiful and the dense jungles reminded me of Jurassic Park. The water was warm, 86 degrees F. The seas were relatively calm for our journey. The locals are incredibly helpful and friendly, one lent me a cell phone to make a call.
All in all, I suspect that my trip to Raja Ampat may rank as the best coral diving I will do in my life, and I have a lot of diving left to do. I will certainly look for an opportunity to return to Raja.
