Raja Ampat – Halmahera – Lembeh Straits

Mermaid1 goes to an extraordinary journey from Raja Ampat all the way to Lembeh Straits with an outstanding Barracuda stopover in Halmahera!

Oceanic Manta rays, schools of Jacks and Barracudas showing off right at the first dive! A great start from Dampier Strait. Arrived in Missols with blue skies, no wind and an amazing visibility! The corals were stunning vivid, fish schooling everywhere and grey reef sharks that joined us from the deep blue.

The mangrove was flat and again, very clear! Cuttlefish, velvet ghost pipefish, baby sharks, lots ofdifferent gobies. A real nursery for juvenile animals, a great spot for those who are into macro photography and also for the wide angle shooters that would like to take split photos with perfect natural lights.

Halmahera sea, absolutely breath taking! No boats around, just us on Mermaid1. The shallows were covered with colourful Anthias amongst the untouched soft corals, Black tip reef sharks on every single dive and occasionally Giant groupers as well!
The highlight of Halmahera, for some the highlight of the trip, was the enormous school of Black fin Barracudas!

Thousands, and thousands of Barracudas covered the whole entire place. Swimming around us made it feel like we were inside a massive fish tornado, such a fantastic experience and and a must for every diver…

Lembeh Straits, the muck diving capital of the world, volcanic black sands, home for the rarest critters in the ocean. Nudibranchs, crustaceans, tones of frogfish and other macro crawlers.

35 dives spent at these 3 destinations made the third trip of the year my very favourite one so far with Mermaid1, and now very much looking forward to the way back from Lembeh to Raja Ampat

Mermaid I Raja Ampat-Halmahera-Lembeh Diving Cruise
Jan 22- Feb 02, 2017

Marcelo Johan Ogata
Videographer