Dive Central Raja Ampat
An archipelago of 1,500 islands at the heart of the Coral Triangle, where migration corridors bring mantas, turtles and cetaceans through the Dampier Strait, walking sharks hunt the shallows at night, and a single dive at Cape Kri has logged more fish species than anywhere else on earth.
Raja Ampat holds over 600 species of hard coral - approximately 75 per cent of all known to science. The Dampier Strait carries the Indonesian Throughflow between the Pacific and Indian Oceans, sustaining the reef biodiversity and migration corridors that define diving here.
Cape Kri holds the documented world record for fish species on a single dive: 374, above a reef flat that also functions as a decades-long juvenile blacktip reef shark nursery. Manta cleaning stations at Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge sit on a known migration corridor, with peak concentrations from November to March. After dark, the shallow reef at Batu Lima becomes active hunting ground for the Raja Ampat Epaulette Shark - which walks across the seabed on its pectoral fins. Batanta Island adds volcanic black sand muck diving; the Fam Islands add the finest hard coral gardens in the region.
October to April offers the calmest conditions and best visibility. The central Dampier Strait remains accessible year-round.
