Cheng Ho Itinerary

Raja Ampat (SOQ) 6N

DAY 1: Sorong

Arrive in Sorong at the newly built Dominique Edward Osok airport. Our representative will be waiting outside the arrival hall and ready to escort you to the ship for immediate boarding. Our safety briefing, safety DVD, crew introduction, necessary dive paperwork, cabin allocation, and ship orientation will take place before departing from Sorong Harbour. During the journey to our first dive site, take this opportunity to familiarize yourselves with the vessel and make yourselves comfortable. Check Dive at Black Rock or Yum Slope. 

DAY 2: Piaynemo Island

Dive : 3 day dives + 1 night dive + trekking. Melissa’s Garden, Barracuda Reef, Galaxy, Anita’s Garden. All of these dive sites offer world-class diving, fantastic corals, and a huge amount of fish. Because the substrate at Melissa’s Garden is exceedingly delicate, absolute attention to good buoyancy is required. Also, this is a good chance to trek to one of the most famous viewpoints in the region.

DAY 3: Yanggefo Island

Dive : 3 day dives + 1 night dive. Meyhem, Citrus Ridge, Gam Ridge, and Mangroves. This area offers some truly unique environments to dive in. The vibrant orange soft corals of Citrus Ridge provide a stunning backdrop to this site, home to barracudas, bumphead parrotfish, and sea snakes. They are common here. Meyhem offers schools of batfish, surgeonfish, and snappers with the occasional wobbegong sleeping under the coral heads. Gam Ridge is a good place to spot eagle and mobula rays. The mangroves offer some stunning photo opportunities; diving late in the day around 4pm when the sun is low in the sky gives some stunning shafts of light in the mangrove shallows.

DAY 4: Arborek Island

Dive : 3 day dives + 1 night dive. Manta Sandy, Manta Ridge, Arborek Island & Jetty. Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge are two of the most reliable manta congregation spots in the Dampier Strait. Here you can look at the majestic animals somersaulting through the water while they are cleaned by several species of wrasse and even butterflyfish. The Jetty at Airborek offers unique photo opportunities of the long wooden pillars covered with soft corals and sea fans; if you’re lucky, the local kids will be at play, jumping in the water eager to get on your photo reel. Arborek Jetty offers one of the best night dives in Raja Ampat, where blue ring octopus, harlequin shrimp, and wobbegong are often seen.

DAY 5: Dampier Strait + Swingkrai

Dive : 3 day dives + 1 night dive + trekking. Mikes Point, Sardine Reef, Mioskon, and Friwinbondan. Before dive activities begin, we have an early rise; we go in search of the red bird of paradise at Sawingkrai Village on Gam. We then continue to Mike’s Point. Schooling sweetlips, patrolling blacktip reef sharks, and interesting macro subjects such as small octopus and shrimp thrive in these craggy coral niches. Sardine Reef. Actually, sardines are not found at this site, but you won’t miss them. Fusiliers, surgeonfish, trevally, rainbow runners, sweetlips, and bannerfish crowd the open water and swarm over a reef decorated with sea fans. Mioskon Reef is home to hundreds of lined snappers that usually cover the slope, schools of glass fish hide in coral bommies, and wobbegongs are very common here. Friwinbondan offers an good night dive with nudibranchs, many shrimps and if you’re lucky a walking shark (Epaulette shark)

DAY 6: Kri Island

Dive : 2 morning dives. Cape Kri and Cape Mansuar are located in the Dampier Strait on Mansuar & Kri Islands. This site is one of the top dives in Raja. Cape Kri is recorded as having the most fish species counted on a single dive. Cape Mansuar is not far behind with large schools of barracuda, surgeonfish, bumphead parrotfish, and many friendly turtles. A perfect way to end your trip.

DAY 7: Sorong

After breakfast, prepare for disembarkation. Be ready to leave the boat, and you will be transferred to Sorong Airport. Your diving journey has ended, and we shall look forward to welcoming you on board again.

Sample itineraries are for guidance only. Actual itineraries may differ slightly due to factors such as weather, wildlife, logistics,, and local regulations.