This week onboard the Mermaid II, we welcomed a group of familiar faces coming all the way from Russia and embarked on a 9 day adventure through the stunning Raja Ampat islands, and it was nothing short of incredible

Starting the trip by cruising down south and breaking the surface at Misool, we were immediately greeted by the familiar sight of vibrant coral reefs teeming with schooling fish actions. From massive school of fusiliers darting all over the reef, to over a dozen of bumphead parrotfish, barracudas swirling around like a silvery vortex, and batfish casually hanging out under a rocky overhang.

Taking a break from diving, we put our dinghies down and explored the hidden lagoons underneath the picturesque limestone islands. We even hiked up a famous viewpoint overlooking a heart shaped lagoon. The blue heart of Misool! And of course the quintessential Penemu viewpoint, overlooking beautiful turquoise lagoons dotted with many small islands below.

Back in the water, in the Dampier Strait as always delivers lots of schooling fish actions above magnificent hard coral gardens. From “confetti fish” like chromis and anthias bursting out of their hard corals, to bigeye jacks and barracudas circling around, and ribboned sweetlips adding a splash of color to the rich blue water. This time we were pretty lucky with wobbegong shark encounters, even finding a free swimming one

Finishing the trip off with an amazing manta ray encounter on our final dive. Where 3 black / melanistic reef manta rays gracefully circled around us for the whole dive while enjoying their daily spa treatments with cleaner fish. What a finish!