Coralia Itinerary

South Halmahera and Raja Ampat - 11N

Day 1:
On embarking day, you will be greeted by the Coralia team and get time to settle in, prepare your gear and relax from your travels. Coralia cruise directors will also give you an orientation about the amenities on board, the safety features and procedures, and the cruise itinerary. Typically, we use the afternoon and night to make our way to the first dive destination. So the first dive will be the next morning. 

The first five days of the trip will be spent around South Halmahera. There are pinnacles, walls and coral gardens to enjoy. Napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, turtles, blacktips, whitetips, and schools of jacks and barracuda all populate the reefs here. There are black sandy slopes, which provide excellent muck diving, especially for the night dives. 

We will start out diving in Ternate. There are a few wrecks in front of the mosque at a good dive depth, perfect for a checkout dive. Nudibranch, crocodile fish, and ghost pipefish have all been spotted here.

The Goraici Islands with white sandy beaches are our next stop. The people here have been actively protecting their reefs here, keeping them healthy and in good condition. The reefs are packed with fish, and there are pristine hard coral gardens. At another dive site there is a wall covered in corals where blacktip reef sharks cruise around. 

Pantini Strait is a channel between Halmahera and Bacan Island. The islands in the Pantinti Strait are rarely visited. There are healthy reefs covered in orange soft corals and large coral heads. Large numbers of anthias add colour to the reefs. Currents can bring in reef sharks, tuna and barracuda. There is a great drift dive through a channel. Walking sharks can be seen on the night dive.

On Bacan we can offer a land excursion organized by the Tourism Department of South Halmahera. There is an old Portuguese fort, traditional dancing and a local market. Southwest Bacan is where we will concentrate our diving for the next day and a half. Stunning walls and canyons are open to the ocean, so we can expect some currents on some dive sites. Sea fans, soft corals and large coral heads decorate the coral gardens where you can see reef sharks, Napoleons, bumphead parrotfish and large schools of barracuda and jacks. There is a good night dive here too.

Between South Halmahera and Misool in Raja Ampat, there are two small rocks and two islands. This area is called Pisang Island. Here we will do two dives before travelling overnight to South Halmahera. If the current is running, this area can be very fishy. A school of bumphead parrotfish lives here, and we might see some passing pelagics like tuna or mackerel.

Next stop is Misool in Raja Ampat, where we will do six dives over one and a half days. Misool can be divided into many areas where we can spend the whole day at a selection of amazing dive sites. Daram is in the very east of these islands and has inviting names such as Candy Store, Andiamo and Warna Berwarna. In the iconic areas of Boo, Fiabecet and Yuliet, we look through the iconic Boo Windows, with tons of fish surrounding us. We explore fabulous dive sites like Shadow Reef (aka Magic Mountain), Nudibranch

Rock, Batu Kecil, Whale Rock, Boo West Corner and Yuliet Kecil. And if we are lucky, we can see both reef and oceanic manta rays around here. Our eagle-eyed dive masters will look for ‘walking sharks’ on a night dive at Romeo.

Sagof, Wagmab, and Farondi offer us stunning underwater walls, overhangs and cave structures, plus amazing macro, such as Nudibranchs, Flatworms, Anemone Crabs and all kinds of shrimp. In this area, we also have the opportunity to visit the wonderful lagoons. A drift dive through a channel covered in sea fans at Neptune Fan Sea is the perfect place to cool off after the hot walk. Wedding Cake and Barracuda Rock are other stunning dive sites in

this area.

Next we travel to Penemu. Famous Melissa’s Garden awaits us with its spectacular, healthy and widespread hard coral plateau in the shallows. At Keruo Wall we can admire large gorgonian sea fans and lovely reef tops, and we might also explore My Reef and Batu Rufus. A short hike to the viewpoint of Penemu offers a spectacular view of the lagoons and their surrounding islands.

The remainder of our adventure will be spent diving in the famous Dampier Strait. Here you can expect to dive at some world-class, adrenaline-packed dive sites such as Cape Kri, Chicken Reef, Sleeping Barracuda, Sardine Reef, Mioskon and Blue Magic. At the other end of the Dampier Strait is Lalosi, a drift dive completely full of fusiliers and with a chance to see wobbegong sharks. The well-known manta aggregation sites of Manta Sandy and Manta Ridge are also in this area. Sawandarek is on the island of Mansuar and offers a great jetty dive. You can also visit Papua Explorer’s coral restoration project here. For those interested, we can take a walk around the village at Sawandarek. 

Day 11: 

Our last full day will offer two more action-packed dives in the Dampier Strait. After lunch, we make our way back to Sorong for hearty goodbyes. 

On disembarkation day, the Coralia team will equally assist you from Coralia to the airport.

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