Triton Bay & Raja Ampat

No cruise on MV Samambaia is like the other. Every single trip is tailor-made to create a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The decision on the itinerary is made by the cruise director as we cruise along and is based on factors such as weather conditions, dive conditions, requests of guests and schedules of other liveaboards, which we are trying to stay away from.

There are however certain constants on every cruise which are:

• Three day dives of minimum 1 hour duration

• One sunset/night dive (unless we have to cover a serious amount of miles over night)

• Activities during the surface intervals such as:

• scenic rides through lagoons and coves in our tenders

• trekking to breathtaking view points

• visits of secluded perfect beaches

• excursions to traditional villages

• whale watching

• water action such as wake boarding and kayak

Based upon that, here is a potential itinerary for an 11 nights /12 days cruise from 

Kaimana (West Papua) back to Sorong ( West Papua). This is just to give you a general idea and is subject to change due to weather and other conditions. Popular dive sites are named. We do however have our secret spots as well, which you will learn about during the cruise.

Day 1: Embarkation

Arrival with plane to Kaimana. You will be picked up by crew members at the airport.

Embarkation in the port of Kaimana and start to sailing to Pulau Dramai. 

Day 2: Kaimana Regency

Kaimana Regency start to declared a 6000 sq km Marine Protected Area in 2008, and it’s area is around the waters of Kaimana and Triton Bay. The marine biodiversity here is beyond fantastic and continues to surprise us with new finds every time we go diving. 

Some called it “the next frontier of Indonesian Diving” or “the last best place”, Triton Bay offers something for everyone both above and below the waves. 

Even though the visibility in Triton Bay is generally quite poor; due to the incredibly nutrient-rich water, means that it has tremendous soft coral growth and lots of schooling fish.

And best of all you will be one of only few divers enjoying the waters in this very remote area.

After an initial general dive briefing, we will do our check dive with you at an easy and protected dive site. Check dive in the sense of you checking your gear and weights, making sure the camera housings are proper sealed and our guides checking your buoyancy. No skill demonstrations are required. We will spend our day diving in the area of “Pulau Dramai”. Our prefered dive spot is “Batu Jeruk”, “Tim Rock”, “Goby Gully” and “7th Heaven”.

For this first dive, we will expect to see a school of Fusilier, Giant Grouper, Turtles, Bump Heads, Wobbegongs, Jacks, Sweet Lips and for sure some beautiful soft corals.

Day 3: Pulau Aiduma

With a little navigation we will reach in “Pulau Aiduma”. Which is the most beautiful dive spot in Triton Bay. We will dive in a very famous spot of “Larry’s Heaven”North and South, once you dive in you will stunned with the colors and the biodiversity of this dive spot. “Black Forest” which has nice boulder formations covered in black coral. And night dive will be a first class dive with a good potential to see walking shark. 

Day 4: Pulau Namatota 

Around Pulau Namatota, there are floating fishing platform ( bagan ) with a bright light on it. The bagan only start to operate in the night to attract fishes with the light, and trap the fishes on the net, which very early in the morning the fisherman will come and lift the full net of fishes before the sunrise. So, it is a good timing to attract the whale shark to stay around the bagan. On this day we have to wake up early before the fisherman pull out the net or the sunrise.

In the afternoon, we will move to Tanjung Papisoi, here we will dive in “335sp Pinnacle”, which means that in this place was counted 335 different species of fishes and corals. 

We will not having a night dive at this night, due to long navigation to “Pulau Koon”.

Day 5: Pulau Pisang

Located just half way between Triton Bay and Raja Ampat South, Pulau Pisang offer a nice diving stop on the way,the condition of the reef are very good and the marine life is plentiful.Here there are excellent condition for sighting pelagic like barracudas, eagle rays, bumhead , napoleon wrasse and sometime manta rays. We can find also many macro animals

Like hippocampus bargibanti.The diving is most along a wall, some areas are dense cover of black coraland sponges, and some big boomies witch a good cover of fans where we can find the pigmy seahorses.Close to the surface there is a spectacular cave whichis full of glassfish   

Day 6: Fiabatjet

Right in the heart of the No-Take-Zone. ‘Tank Rock’, ‘Nudi Rock’ & ‘Whale Rock’ are the famous and commonly dived sites here. There is five more dive sites in the very proximity which are as good, if not even better. We prefer to go a bit off the beaten track here.

The reefs are covered in soft coral in all colours you can imagine. Surrounded by most colourful reef fish. More Fusiliers than one could possibly count. Jacks, Trevallies, Barracudas, Sharks.

And if you happen to dive here on a day with bad visibility. Just face the reef. It’s packed with macro life. Several species of Pygmy Seahorses, Nudibranchs, tiny Crustaceans – every niche in these reefs is filled with life.

Day 7: Fiabatjet

This particular area of SE Misool is just too good to only spend one day here. And the dive sites we know of here are plenty to offer a great variety of world class diving.

Day 8: Boo / Warakaraket

The swim through at ‘Boo Windows’ is one of the signature dive sites of SE Misool. The surrounding reef is covered in sea fans. Even bigger sea fans you will see at our second dive here at ‘Hidung Boo’. We combine this impressive day of diving with at least one dive at ‘Magic Mountain’. Being a cleaning station for Oceanic Mantas makes this place truly magic.

Day 9: Wayil

Barracuda Rock, Wedding Cake and Dunia Kecil are the dive sites which we will spend this day at.

In the afternoon we offer a two hour speedboat ride into hidden coves to let you enjoy the stunning topside of the limestone islands. At the end we will get to a pristine white sand beach where you can cool of with a little swim.

Day 10: Sel Pele

Raja Ampat means ‘Four Kings’ and this is also the name of a dive site on the way to the island group of Sel Pele. Four pinnacles that are not only connected by their topography but also a fish soup surrounding them. After the morning dive here we will show you some of our secret spots.

Day 11: Daram

This island group is one of our favourite area to dive in SE Misool. Since 2010 declared as the second no take zone in the area the marine life here is abundant and most colourful.

We will spend the whole day here and offer four world class dives.We have very nice diving spot there like “Andiamo”,”Camel Rock” and “Candy Store”. Fuziliers, batfish, black tip sharks, eagle rays and other pelagics are the possibility of meeting there and we find also a nice macrolife. 

Day 12: Disembarkation in Sorong

Depending on your flight schedule, our crew will check your luggage in for you in advance so you can rest on board and let us shuttle you to the airport when your plane is ready to leave.