Trip Reports
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 […]
Awe Inspiring Raja Ampat
It’s that time of the year again, the final trip for the Raja Ampat season is completed, and the boats will make The Crossing through the vast Banda Sea and later into Komodo and Bali. To reflect, the 2025/2026 Raja Ampat season was nothing short of awe-inspiring! Every trip hits differently, and no matter how […]
Something for Everyone
It’s that time of year again where Mermaid II pulls anchor and embarks on one of its famous Biodiversity Specials where we dive our way from Raja Ampat, though the Banda Sea and into Ambon’s critter dense waters. There is no trip anywhere else in the world where you can experience an onslaught of reef […]
The Shallows
Raja Ampat’s Beauty at Any Depth Would you ever expect to find a huge amount of marine life combined with incredible healthy coral reefs just a few feet under the surface? That’s what our happy snorkelers have experienced on the last trip in Raja Ampat with Mermaid I. From large schools of fish, turtles, sea […]
CHANGOO, an adventurous dive site located East of Kawe island, North of Raja Ampat.
A combination of swimtroughs, sharks, and large schools of fish. When the current is right this place can be superb, schools of Jacks and Barracudas on the very shallows and a swim-through right at the start of the dive. A great amount of Surgeon fish and Penjalo snappers can sometimes nearly block the way out […]
The Return to Raja Ampat from Sulawesi Sea
Mermaid1 returns to Raja Ampat through an unforgettable diving experience across over 500 nautical miles from Lembeh to Halmahera. Starting the trip from the straits of Lembeh where everything was about macro, black volcanic sands, rare nudibranchs, colourful crustaceans, creatures crawling around and a legendary Hairy frogfish that made a great start for the trip. […]
Shark Den
Once again I find myself writing about another unique encounter with one of the oceans most amazing creatures, sharks. Since Raja Ampat has become a MPA, (Marine Protected Area) it’s shark numbers have increased significantly and it’s evident in the amount of amazing shark encounters we are all having underwater. This week I was lucky […]
Our second Raja Ampat trip of the year.
Starting from Missols with an early dive. From far we could hear a school of Bumpheads feeding on hard corals. The sun rays of an early morning shining over the wall making a beautiful contrast of natural lights over the reef, a perfect underwater background. Out in the blue, hundreds of Big-eyed trevallies swim together […]
SHAAAAARK!
Recently there has been a considerable amount of action on the surface here in Raja Ampat. In the first month or so of the season we had multiple encounters with the ultra rare Omura’s whale as they demonstrated how to properly lunge feed to their oversized offspring. The plankton which drew the whales close into […]
Shark Mecca
Years ago, well before Raja Ampat became a marine protected area, it was a mecca for sharks. As a result of the devastating effects of shark finning, the shark population was decimated. Thanks to the protective measures from conversations group, shark fishing, and all other forms of commercial fishing have been banned within the marine […]