Southern Raja Ampat scuba diving features

MARINE LIFE:
Fish, fish, fish
Black corals
Wobbegong sharks
Manta rays
Pygmy seahorses

TRITON BAY'S TOP DIVE SITE:
Larry's Heaven

Ticao and San Miguel, Luzon island - scuba diving review, images and information

DESTINATION OVERVIEW
While the islands off the north eastern side of West Papua (or Irian Jaya as it was known in the past) are now famous in scuba diving circles, less explored are the islands and coastal areas to the south. The Raja Ampat, or Four Kings, Islands became popular for divers when Australian scientist, Dr. Gerald Allen, took an expedition there and recorded unparalleled numbers of marine species and corals.

The Four Kings are Batanta, Waigeo, Salawati and Misool. Most diving liveaboard itineraries focus on the very special diving around Batanta and Waigeo. However, heading south from Batanta there is equally impressive diving around Misool and along the coast of Western Papua near Triton Bay.

The two regions to the north and south are surprisingly different to each other although both are marked by stunning topside scenery. Beneath the water though, the southern area is more about pinnacles and submerged reef mounds mobbed by huge – really huge – schools of tropical fish.

The southern most section of these schedules involve diving off the West Papua coast. The dives include coastal bays, including the stunning Triton Bay. Visibility tends to be lower than elsewhere, but the bonus is an outstanding number of large animals from reef sharks to Napoleon wrasse to manta rays. Soft corals, especially black corals, are prolific on these coastal regions.

Seasons
Year round
Visibility:
10 – 30 metres
Water temperature:
27 – 30º C.
Deco chambers:
Bali, Manado

Flights to Bali or Manado then internal flight to Sorong or Kaimana

Liveaboards
Dive Damai amongst others that travel this route seasonally

PROS AND CONS
Just like diving around the northern areas of Raja Ampat, if there is anything negative about diving further south, we never saw it. There are no crowds and the most incredible diversity of marine life. Getting there is easy enough – a stopover in Manado to get over the jet-lag is a good idea. If you do the Triton Bay route getting back from Kaimana is best described as an adventure.

SCUBA DIVING
Conditions are typical of Indonesia, currents can be strong at times (but less often than in the north) and minimal at others. The sites in this area included walls and pinnacles and occasional sloping reef mounds. We encountered masses of wobbegong sharks, mantas at Larry's Heaven In Triton Bay (named for legendary Larry Smith) and also dived the infamous blue water mangroves which were interesting – and no, no crocodiles. Macro life was less evident as there were few 'muck' sites but we still saw masses of pygmy seahorses including the latest find, Hippocampus Pontohi, dancing about in groups of 5 or 6 on a bommie.

OPINION
Visiting Triton Bay was a bit of a pilgrimage for us as it was the last place that our friend Larry Smith explored shortly before his death. It is a fantastic, and still somewhat unexplored area that threw up stunning dive after stunning dive. However, what defined this region as a whole, was the daily event of getting in the water and seeing so may fish you could hardly see your buddy. The trip was made even more special as we were the first main group to travel this route on new luxury liveaboard, Dive Damai.