Travelers who prefer distant and undiscovered dive sites where the coral reefs are undisturbed and the wildlife is abundant will be interested in a new trip available at Reef & Rainforest Dive & Adventure Travel. Especially if you like to experience nature’s wild side from the comfort of the world’s most luxurious scuba diving liveaboards.
Sorido Bay Resort is about as remote as you can get. It takes 4 days to travel there from San Francisco, where I live. In a small group of islands called Raja Ampat (Four Kings) in the northeast corner of Indonesia, this region has the highest diversity of marine species recorded on our planet and is a fantasy come true for scuba divers, myself included.
On tiny Mansuar Island there are 7 perfect beachfront bungalows, each with a private deck with a view just a few steps across impossibly white sand to the ocean. Every detail for the diver has been considered, from a private walled outdoor drying area for wet swimsuits and towels, to an in-room work area for photographers. It includes a dedicated sink for rinsing underwater camera housings and outlets for charging strobes.
A short walk through tropical rain forest full of singing birds and bright green lizards brings you to the second-floor dining room which is open to the sea breezes and serves local specialties and international dishes family style.
Spending the day cruising through the limestone rocks and islets is lovely enough, but slip under the surface for a scuba dive and you find such concentrations of fish that it’s difficult to see other divers through curtains of flashing blue yellow and silver. This is also the place to see such unusual creatures as pygmy seahorse, giant manta ray, blue ribbon eel and wobbegong shark.
I finished my adventure with a trek through a village to the interior of a nearby island where richly colored Birds of Paradise gathered to display their spectacular fountain-like plumage. It felt well worth it to travel to what seems like the end of the earth to see this haven of unspoiled nature.
Katie Stoyka, Product Manager
Reef & Rainforest Dive & Adventure Travel
katie@reefrainforest.com
www.reefrainforest.com
Wakatobi is an exotic resort made for divers. Nestled in the Banda Sea, the remote location offers highend lodging not typical of other diving resorts. Divers can stay in the Garden Bungalows just steps away from the beach. The Standard Beach and Select Beach Bungalows offer cool ocean breezes and tropical island views. When I stayed there in November of 2009, I enjoyed staying at the Wakatobi Villa.
The villas at Wakatobi made it very hard to leave in the morning to go diving. I would have been happy living the life of a lazy island girl on my villa porch. The staff regularly checked on me to see how I was doing or to bring me snacks. I loved eating the local treats, but it was nice to find a Diet Coke in the fridge.
That would have been enough, but to add world class diving… it was truly a diver’s paradise. The staff made getting into my scuba equipment as easy as falling off the boat. I was travelling with a group of serious underwater photographers. It was impressive to see how the staff accommodated the extra equipment and needs of the photographers. Scuba diving with Backscatter Photo group I quickly became accustom to being the model and seeing my reflection in their giant dome ports.
If you went to the San Jose Dive show in 2010, and saw the poster, you’ll notice that’s me at Wakatobi!
Julie Clarke
Chief of Operations at Reef & Rainforest Dive & Adventure Travel
Julie@reefrainforest.com
