15/27 February 2025
Raja Ampat (Indonesia)
One of the last frontiers of diving!

Winter travel to be able to have a purpose in life…
Raja Ampat, the “Four Kings”, the last frontier of scuba diving: an incredible Indonesian archipelago of over 700 islands of unparalleled, unsurpassed beauty both above and below water.
A remote, exclusive destination for those who have already seen it all and want to experience firsthand the extraordinary richness of life, the dizzying colors, the immense schools of multicolored fish that have made this virgin and still untouched paradise the last unmissable destination for underwater tourism.
And to experience it to the fullest, in the unexpected luxury of a refined and exclusive resort, here are the elegant bungalows of Sorido Bay, a handful of chalets of great comfort and elegance wanted by the legendary Max Ammer, the wreck hunter and explorer who first discovered the wonderful secrets of Raja Ampat.
But be careful: after diving on these depths all the other coral reefs in the world will seem pale, faded and almost lifeless!

DIVING
Irian Jaya is the western part of the large island of New Guinea that points west and is very close to the Moluccas and Hamahera.
The four islands – Waiego in the north, Batanta and Salawati in the center and Misool far south – are located in the part of Irian Jaya known as the “bird’s head” peninsula considered the last frontier for diving enthusiasts.
It can be said that this region is the richest in the world in terms of biodiversity.
There are almost supernumerary known species, but there are unknown species that have found the right habitat to proliferate here.
Raja Ampat is at 0° latitude, no place in the world is more equatorial.
Strong winds are rare, marine conditions are very stable, the sea is rarely rough.
The temperature varies from very hot to rather cool, it rains abundantly every day in continuous alternation with solar radiation.
One of the great characteristics of this area is the variety of topography.
There are vertical walls, coral reefs, slopes, ridges, emerging reefs, mangroves, lagoons and pinnacles, all interesting, all able to offer a different spectacle sheltered from the currents that can also be quite important. Normally underwater visibility is very good, ranging from 20 to 40 meters depending on the area.
On February 20, 2013, the local government of Raja Ampat officially announced the entire 4 million hectare marine area is a shark sanctuary.
This means that indiscriminate fishing of selaci is prohibited – the ban specifically refers to Chinese fishermen who use fins – and the sanctuary also gives automatic protection to all other ocean species such as manta rays, dugongs, whales, turtles, dolphins and ornamental fish species.
The 2002 Rapid Assessment Conservation, a project to analyze the marine area of Irian Jaya, according to its own data, found that compared to all the other areas of the Golden Triangle – the Philippines, Indonesia, Papua – it has the largest ecosystem that is not only uncontaminated but the richest and most vital.
In practice, the islands that make up this territory have maintained an almost natural state given their inaccessibility, the very low population and the fishing technique that uses traditional systems.
The result of the research has shown without a shadow of a doubt a high number of species present in this sea which include corals, molluscs, fish.
This region, judged to be at the edge of the world, less known than the African continent, was discovered so to speak by a Dutchman who loved diving, Max Ammer, who after traveling half the world ended up settling on Kri Island in the Dampier Strait.
Given the quality of the seabed, he built a first eco-resort in pure Papuan style.
The underwater life at this point, the one that amazed Ammer, is caused by the strong ocean currents that wedge themselves into the Strait where the island of Kri acts as a focal point blocking the cold currents that rise from below carrying huge quantities of food.
The current is often so violent that during the Second World War American reconnaissance aircraft mistook the emerging rocks as Japanese camouflaged ships, bombing on several occasions not ships but cliffs.
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