Papua Diving

Divesites

We count more than 30 sites in the area.

Here is just a selection of some of our favourites

Cape Kri

One of the favorite dives, Cape Kri is Sordio Bay’s house reef and less than 5 mins by boat from Kri Eco Resort.
This is the dive site that put Raja Ampat on the map when Dr Gerry Allen smashed his record for total number of fish species on a single tank dive: 284

Cape Kri slopes down to 40 metres. Down on the bommie covered sand White Tip Reef sharks can be found having a sleep. Our resident shoal of sweetlips, hundreds strong can be found hovering over a bommie. Very large Groupers can be found here also 1 metre plus Malabar Groupers and 2 metre plus Queensland Groupers. The open water is packed full of schooling fish. Big eye trevally, Giant Trevally’s, Red Snapper, Blubberlip Snappers, large schools of Barracuda and if the currents running hunting Black Tip and Grey Reef Sharks. Hippocampus Bargibanti can be found here and a multitude of macro subjects from Nudibranchs to Pygmy cuttlefish.
The coral garden on top is 100% hard coral which is bursting with colourful reef fish.
Wobbegong sharks can be found waiting in ambush for their next meal. A great site for wideangle shots.

At the corner of this reef at approximately 20m is the place to hang and see the schools sweep by.
The current here can be extremely strong and often different kinds of sharks cruise by. Experienced divers can let the current sweep them over the reef into around the corner where it turns into a “Washing machine” pulling divers down to near the bottom at 100ft.

Sardines Reef

10 mins from Kri. A submerged reef with reef top at 5 metres. The reef slopes down to 20 metres.
This reef contains a very high biomass, one of the highest in raja ampat.

The open water is packed full of huge schools of Bannerfish, Rainbow Runners,Oceanic Triggerfish, and different species of Fussiler,Unicornfish, Snapper and Surgeonfish. These massive schools are constantley in motion avoiding predators like Spanish Mackeral, Dogtooth Tuna, Giant Trevally, Blue Fin Trevally and Grey Reef Shark. The reef is covered in beautful coral heads festooned with large sea fans and sponge colonies packed full of colourful reef fish. Patrolling the reef are White Tip Reef sharks and Black Tip reef sharks and several large grouper and Napolean wrasse can be found here. Some very interesting small critters can also be found here- Moyers Dragonet, Soft coral crab, Short pouch pygmy pipehorse and the Imperial shrimp clinging to the underside of large sea cucumbers. The end of the dive is spent drifting over the reef top looking for the resident school of Bumphead Parrotfish with around 40 individuals.

Another great site for wideangle shots.

Melissas Garden

Named after Max Ammer’s daughter Melisa’s Garden can be found in the Fam Group, around 1hr 15 mins from Kri. A trip to the Fam Islands is one of Papua Divings excursions.

Melissa’s Garden has a very large reef top that lies around 5-7 metres down, it slopes down to 20 metres. If the current is running hunting Trevally can be found in large numbers, but the really amazing thing about Melissa’s Garden is the coral and the macro life. The coral here and around all of Fam is really astonoshing. This single reef must contain nearly all of Raja Ampats 575 hard coral species. Wobbegongs and sea snakes are common here and if your lucky the highly venumous Blue Ring Octopus can be spotted by our ‘eagle eyed’ dive guides.

Mios Kon

Mios Kon is very popular with our guests. It’s a beautiful relaxing dive found 20 minutes from Kri. The slope goes down to 18 metres and many large coral heads are found all along the slope. This dive site is famous for schooling Blue Lined Snappers, many Wobbegong Sharks and the biggest most beautiful purple Giant Clam you are likely to ever see.

There is also a huge amount of critters living in the sand and coral here. Ribbon eels, Hippocampus Pontohi, Spider crabs, Reef octopus, Spearing mantis shrimp and many other commensal shrimps and crabs. Black tips sharks can sometimes be seen patrolling the reef.

Mikes Point

A small rock island off the coast of Gam, about 10 min. from our resort. During WWII this island was mistakenly bombed. It was thought to be a Japanese ship as it is nearly the correct size, about 30 m in diameter. The swift currents rushing past the island appeared to be the wake of a boat. The site is one of Max Ammer’s favorite and is named for his son, Mike.
This small rocky outcrop has everything, an amazing coral garden on the reef flatwall, underhangs, slopes and tonnes of life. The wall is covered in many many different species of soft coral and sea fans. A great place to find unusual Nudibranchs. If the current is running many schooling fish can be found at the begining of the wall, Sweetlips, Red Snapper and Barracuda with the occasion Black or White Tip. Large Napolean wrasse can be seen swimming along the wall too. Mikes Point is full of many different species of Pipefish from Reef top, Banded, Blue Striped and the Ornate Ghost Pipefish. We usually see some very large Scorpionfish here and sometimes the highly camouflaged and venemous Stonefish.

Blue Magic

Blue Magic is just south of Mios Kon and is around 20 mins by boat from Kri.
This small pinnacle has a reef top of 10 metres with a slope to 25 metres. This beautiful reef has everything from 2 metres plus Tawney Nurse Sharks to tiny 2cm Hippocampus Denise pygmy seahorses. The reef top is covered is hard coral with some big coral heads and some tabling Acropora corals well over 3 metres across. We can usually find one or 2 Wobbegong sharks here and often a sleeping Raja Ampat Epaulette shark (The Walking Shark). There is a resident school of Big eye trevally and many large Barracuda. Green Turtles can be found here as well as Black Tips,White Tips and the occasional Grey Reef Sharks. The magnificent dive ends with a blue water safety stop drifting over and away from the reef.