Raja Ampat

We visited Raja Ampat in November 2025 as the first part of our Dive Worldwide “Critters and Kings” trip, before continuing on to Ambon.

After arriving in Jakarta, we had a day room to rest before taking the overnight flight to Sorong. From there, the journey continued with a wait in a hotel lobby, followed by the afternoon ferry across to Raja Ampat and a short road transfer to the resort. It was a long travel route, but that is very much part of reaching somewhere as remote and special as Raja Ampat.

We stayed at Waiwo Resort, which felt like a perfect little oasis. Our room was literally only a couple of metres from the beach, and one of the real pleasures of the stay was lying on the bed, looking out across the sand, and listening to the waves gently lapping against the shore. It was simple, peaceful, and exactly the kind of setting that makes you slow down.

Meals were served as a small buffet, which suited the size of the resort and the number of guests. The buffet itself was limited, and vegetarian choices were not always obvious, but the kitchen team looked after us very well. At every mealtime, the chef prepared something separately for us, which was brought directly to our table. In the end, the food worked very well for us as vegetarians, and we appreciated the care taken.

Diving was run by Dive Into Raja Ampat, the PADI dive centre based at the resort. The operation was professional and well organised, with fast boats that had onboard toilets, making the longer journeys much more comfortable. Space for kitting up was a little limited, but everyone had their own individual storage area, there were plenty of rinse tanks, and the camera room was very well set up. There was also a small air blower/compressor available for drying camera gear after dives, which is a small detail but very useful when you are diving with cameras every day.

Our dive guide was very good and clearly knew the area well. The only slight mismatch was that he seemed naturally drawn to pointing out smaller macro subjects, whereas the main reason for this part of the trip was to look for the larger “king” species that Raja Ampat is famous for. That said, we did see several wobbegong sharks and, on a trip to one of the known manta locations, a couple of giant oceanic mantas.

One of the reasons we chose this location was its connection with Dive Into Lembeh. Di has stayed at Dive Into Lembeh a number of times, and it is one of her favourite resorts, so there was already a level of confidence in the dive centre family before we arrived. We will also be heading to Dive Into Lembeh later this year, which made the Raja Ampat stay feel like part of a wider journey rather than a one-off trip.

Overall, Raja Ampat was a beautiful and memorable start to the trip. For us, it was less about luxury and more about the setting, the remoteness, the reef life, and the feeling of being somewhere truly special. Waiwo Resort gave us a peaceful base, Dive Into Raja Ampat ran a solid dive operation, and the whole experience made a strong first chapter before moving on to Ambon for the critter-focused second half of the journey.

We would definitely return to both Waiwo Resort and Dive Into Raja Ampat.