Raja Ampat - Trip Reports

Raja Ampat – A Voyage of Biodiversity

This week’s voyage aboard the Mermaid II through Raja Ampat was full of diverse encounters. From big school of fish, feeding frenzies, beautiful reefs, mangroves and to the smallest of critters, Raja Ampat has it all! Starting off down south in Misool, guests were treated with beautiful landscapes, great visibility, kaleidoscope of colourful soft corals […]

Mermaid Liveaboards II: Epic 1st Raja Ampat Dive Adventure of 2025!

Happy New Year! It’s Mermaid II’s first trip of 2025 Starting the new year by sailing down south towards Misool.  We were immediately greeted by the familiar sight of a kaleidoscope of colourful soft corals that decorates the interesting underwater topography of Misool’s rocky pinnacle, an encounter with a couple of friendly melanistic Reef Manta […]

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 […]

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 […]

Kawe

Raja Ampat, which translates to The Four Kings in English, is made up four main islands. According to myth, these islands are where four kings ruled after hatching from the eggs of a megapode bird. It is these four islands; Waigeo, Salawate, Batanta, and Misool that make up the worlds largest repository of tropical marine […]

Santa’s Gone Diving

It’s that time of the year where amongst all the schooling fishes, it’s quite common to also bump into Santa on one of these dives. This year’s presents are just phenomenal: colorful reefs full of fish down in Misool, several Oceanic Manta Rays are the icing on the “Christmas cake”. Surprised by clear visibility and […]

The Right Light

Light is an important thing as we immerse ourselves in the underwater world. As divers we all know that the deeper we go, the less light we have and the less light we have the less color we see. Even in Raja Ampat, well known for it’s magical coral gardens which beam with an array […]