An Extraordinary 12 Days Journey Across Three Different Seas
The Mermaid I just embarked on an extraordinary 12 days journey across 3 different seas in over 600 nautical miles of navigation from Raja Ampat through Halmahera before concluding in Lembeh Strait.
Starting our epic adventures in central Raja Ampat, enjoying the rich marine biodiversity this area has to offer. From the picturesque karst limestone islands, the unique Bluewater Mangroves, to spectacular hard coral reefs, schooling fish actions, Wobbegong Sharks and an unforgettable night dive in front of a remote village, finding the elusive Flamboyant Cuttlefish and even a Raja Ampat’s endemic Walking Shark, among a number of other rare critters.
Moving on to Misool in the south of Raja Ampat, the underwater landscape changes from gentle slopes to steeper walls, ridges and overhangs decorated in colorful soft corals and giant sea fans, where our eagle-eyed dive masters found the first of many Pygmy Seahorses of this trip. Schools of fish were also plentiful, patrolling the blue along with a number of Grey Reef Sharks joining the hunt.
Leaving the dramatic limestone karst landscape behind and waking up amidst lush tropical rainforest islands with no other boats in sight, we now entered into an adventurous territory around Halmahera. Beneath the surface, an unspoilt underwater paradise of pristine hard and soft coral covered reefs, pulsing with millions of Anthias dancing in the currents. While numerous Blacktip Reef Sharks patrol the reefs, some curious individuals even came close to just inches of us! On the topic of sharks, some lucky guests were also fortunate to see the Halmahera’s own endemic Walking Shark during one of the night dive sessions. We even witnessed a rare occurrence of spawning Barrel Sponges simultaneously releasing clouds of sperm or eggs into the water column.
Before entering Lembeh Strait, we crossed the equator and stopped by a remote island paradise of Tifore, home to the biggest school of Barracudas we’ve ever seen! And also an equally impressive massive school of Bigeye Jacks, all together towering an impressive height from top to bottom and swirling like a vortex around us for the whole dive.
After Tifore, we sailed west, entered a different time zone and concluded our epic adventure in the famous Lembeh Strait. The underwater landscape again changed to black volcanic sandy slopes rich in nutrients and home to a myriad of rare tiny critters to be found. Our last two dives of the trip were well spent muck diving in search of critters. Some guests even were having fun trying to outmatch our seasoned dive masters in finding critters. Our efforts were rewarded by finding many different species of juvenile fish, nudibranch, frogfish, pipefish, mantis shrimp, pipefish, and many more.
There’s just so much to discover in this remote region and I’m personally looking forward to the upcoming Lembeh to Raja Ampat trip, so stay tuned!
Christopher Pen
Mermaid I Raja Ampat -Halmahera – Lembeh
January 23 to February 3, 2026
Check out the trip full report here: https://www.mermaid-liveaboards.com/an-extraordinary-12days-journey/