Coralia Itinerary

Cenderawasih Bay (SOQ - MKW) 12N

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. 

Starting from Sorong in West Papua, we immediately make our way to Cenderawasih Bay. An overnight crossing brings us to The Junkyard. This dive site is on the south corner of Pulau Amsterdam. Here small boats and barges were scuttled, and they have now turned into a nice artificial reef. We will do two dives here before cruising overnight to our next stop, Manokwari, to check in with the local authorities. 

During World War II Manokwari was occupied by the Japanese, and there are some excellent wrecks that we can explore here. There is a huge Japanese freighter and a former coastal patrol boat that are now encrusted in coral and home to lots of marine life. Once we have checked in, we can dive right in Manokwari Harbor. 

Cenderawasih Bay’s western edge is a National Park and Indonesia’s largest. From Manokwari we will head out into the National Park. There are some critter dive sites that we can explore either at the start or at the end of the trip. At Pulau Purup there are several dive sites, and we will spend the whole day here. 

Roon is our next stop. There are ridges lined with hard corals and sloping walls with sea fans and colorful soft corals. Divers can look for bumphead parrotfish, reef sharks, schools of fusiliers and turtles. There is even a small waterfall on the beach that flows into the sea. Close to Roon is Pulau Rippon. There is a wreck of a World War II plane, with the rest of the dive site forming a slope with pretty corals. At another spot the white sandy bottom rises up into stunning coral patches covered with soft corals and elephant ear sponges. 

Tanjung Mangguar has one of the most beautiful dives in Cenderawasih Bay. The site is completely covered in soft coral and attracts a lot of fish life. A school of barracuda hangs out here, along with trevally, fusiliers and surgeonfish. Look out into the blue for possible sightings of manta rays, mobula rays and sharks. The shallows here are also impressive. There is a good night here too. 

Next we will go to Kwatisore Bay for the chance to see whale sharks. The whale sharks come to feed at the bagans (fishing platforms) here. This is a natural behavior; the whale sharks have learned that if they suck on the fishing nets, the fishermen’s catch comes out of the holes! We will arrive in the area in the late afternoon to ask the fishermen who have seen whale sharks that day. We can then arrange to visit early the next morning. 

On the way back up to Manokwari, we will spend some time at the Tridacna Atoll. There are several dive sites in this area. Here we dive at deep drop-offs and fringing reefs carpeted in soft corals, large barrel sponges, sea whips and massive elephant ear sponges. The surrounding deep ocean means that the dive sites here are some of the fishiest in the Bay. 

On the last full day on board we will do two dives before heading back into Manokwari to enjoy our goodbye dinner inside the harbour.

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.