Trip Reports
Back in Komodo – A Homecoming
After quite some time being away exploring Raja Ampat, Halmahera, Lembeh, the Togean islands, Alor and the Banda Sea. The Mermaid II found herself on a homecoming journey, sailing from Maumere through Komodo and beyond before returning to her home port of Benoa in Bali for more adventures to come! The trip began with a […]
Biodiversity Super Special 16 Days Cruise Raja Ampat-Banda Sea-Alor-Maumere
It’s that time of year again where the Mermaid II embarks on her famous seasonal crossing from Raja Ampat into Maumere. An incredible 16 days voyage of biodiversity, traversing over 1000 nautical miles across 5 different seas, passing through some remote and extraordinary destinations along the way. Starting this super special trip on a high […]
Raja Ampat’s Natural Behavior
Raja Ampat is apart of the greater Bird’s Head Seascape region, which also includes Cenderwasi Bay and Triton Bay. Raja Ampat however hosts the largest biodiversity of reef fish species and coral in the world. Raja Ampat alone is home to over fifteen-hundred different species of fish and a large variety of sharks and rays, […]
Across the Indonesian Seas
3 different seas, 12 days of diving, 800 Nautical miles of navigation. A crossing from Raja Ampat to Lembeh Strait with an adventurous stopover in Halmahera! It’s quite fascinating how diverse Indonesia can be. Both on land and underwater these sceneries can dramatically change within a few hours of navigation. The transition of pristine reefs […]
Poseidon’s Garden – Yangeffo Mangroves, Raja Ampat
Mangroves, which can be found throughout the tropics, play an extremely vital role for the ocean’s delicate ecosystem. Their unusual root system not only act as a nursery for juvenile fish, sharks, and rays but also function as a natural scrubber for carbon and other toxins in the ocean. Mangroves also happen to offer some […]
Raja from North to South
Raja Ampat is a massive area with over six-hundred islands and occupying forty-thousand square kilometers in the heart of the coral triangle. With so many islands in such a large area, you could easily spend an entire trip in just one area and not dive in the same place twice. However, with so many unique […]
One Dive
Raja just seems to keep serving us a buffet of incredible dives. However, it was quite clear which dive site was the favorite as the guests aboard Mermaid II kept asking for more, more, more! Airborek Jetty, it is truly a wide angle and macro paradise. Airborek is a small inhabited island that sits smack […]
Astonishing Underwater Life
No matter how many times we dive in Raja Ampat, we simply don’t get tired of it! This is one of the only places left on the planet where the Wordl’s largest marine biodiversity comes together. Coral reefs growing fast, schools of fish getting larger each time and rich plankton flowing in the water with […]
Anchovie Run
For several months every year in Raja Ampat, the sun can instantly disappear, turning your tropical day dive into a dusk dive. This rare unusual phenomenon has nothing to do with the weather though, and everything to do with a tiny fish the congregates around the karst islands of the Raja Ampat. Every year millions […]
The Flourishing Biodiversity of Raja Ampat.
2017’s last trip in West Papua, Indonesia. Anchovies are still found in great schools around Misool’s sites. It’s surprising for us to be able to encounter such a big number as usually this time of the season they would have already been eaten by predators like Jacks and Mobula rays. One particular dive site named […]