Raja Ampat Islands, West Papua, Indonesia

5Cw_ni 5:00 PM Dec 31, 2019

Endless aquarium and a lot more
We had a chance to visit Raja Ampat on Dec. We stayed on a pinisi boat (LOB) for 5 days, sailing from Sorong, Mansuar, Wayag, Piaynemo, Sawandarek, Waisai and back to Sorong. The boat managed to sail the long hours at night, so that during the day we can do activities at some points of interests. We enjoyed watching sunrise and sunset. We also did sightseeing from tops of 2 islands: Piaynemo and Wayag. Both gave a spectacular view of tosca sea with karst hills, though the latest one was harder to reach, we climbed and crawled!! The kids really enjoyed the inhabitant beaches. They can play for hours there. A paddle was provided, and it was actually challenging just to stand up right on it. Other challenging thing was to jump from the boat bow. The snorkling was definitely the best part of the trip, with numerous sea creatures such as sweetlip fish, batfish, lion fish, pufferfish, snapper fish, groper fish, black tip shark, and even the rare black manta and spotted eagle ray! Endless colourful coral, sea fan, coral sea christmas tree and a lot more. Our guide concerned on conserving the nature, he reminded us not to touch the sea creatures, not to step/kick on coral, and not to eat lobster. This place was really quiet, less tourists compare to other places, and succesfully made us lost in time. Overall, this was a wonderful place that a nature lover should visit once.

5Fred T 5:00 PM Jan 19, 2020

Best snorkeling we have done
We spent a week each at two different dive resorts. The snorkeling is the best we have every done. The house reefs (next to resorts) were just so-so Needed to take boat trips to get to the good stuff. The heat and humidity can be a problem, so best is to have a room with air conditioning. We did encounter many jellies (but most were non-stinging). Sometimes the water was somewhat cloudy, so limited visibility. One must buy a year long park pass for 750,000 local currency.