Raja Ampat

Blue Magic (officially Fiabacet reef) is Raja Ampat's premier site for large pelagics — wobbegong sharks, oceanic mantas, hammerheads, and giant trevally all appear with regularity. The reef wall drops from 12 m to the open abyss, and experienced divers can drift along it watching for hammerheads hunting in the blue below. The site demands strong current experience and a confident hover in open water.

Cape Kri holds a Guinness World Record for the most fish species counted on a single dive — 374 species in one hour. This submerged point on Kri Island in Raja Ampat is exposed to open-ocean currents that deliver an almost overwhelming concentration of marine life, from metre-long bumphead parrotfish to pygmy seahorses. The dive is typically done as a drift from 5 to 28 m along the reef crest.

Manta Sandy is a broad sandy plateau near Arborek village in Raja Ampat where oceanic manta rays gather at a cleaning station most mornings. The mantas hover motionless above the sand in just 8–15 m of water, allowing extended, unhurried observation and photography. The surrounding seagrass beds are home to nesting sea turtles and walking epaulette sharks.

Sardine Reef off Gam Island is famous for its enormous shoals of silversides that form a living silvery tornado around the coral bommies at 8–20 m. Trevally, giant barracuda, and black-tip reef sharks can often be seen hunting through the bait balls in an electrifying display of open-water predation. The shallow top of the reef at 8 m makes it accessible to most divers.

Dampier Strait Dive Lodge sits on a stilted wooden eco-lodge on Kri Island, placing guests directly above some of Raja Ampat's most celebrated house reefs where pygmy seahorses, flamboyant cuttlefish, and wobbegong sharks are daily sightings. House reef access is unlimited, and guided boat dives visit Passage, Blue Magic, and Yenbuba jetty — sites renowned for jaw-dropping soft coral density and fish biomass that staggers even veteran divers. The lodge supports zero single-use plastic operations and employs exclusively local Papuan staff.

Raja Ampat Biodiversity Divers is based at Sorong and operates a fleet of fast phinisi liveaboards into the heart of the Coral Triangle, widely recognised as the most biodiverse marine region on Earth. Divers encounter dozens of reef shark species, manta rays gliding past cleaning stations at Manta Sandy, and the bizarre walking sharks unique to Papua. The team partners with the Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Centre, and a portion of every booking funds local coral nursery projects.