Introduction: A Real Adventure!
Somehow, I knew about Raja Ampat long before David Attenborough featured it on ‘Planet Earth III’. In my mind, it had already laid claim to my ultimate destination for marine life and exotic wildness. So whatever it took, I had to see it for myself!
Like many amazing diving and snorkelling spots, Raja Ampat is an archipelago consisting of an absolute boatload of islands (groan, sorry). But what I didn’t fully appreciate, was just how big the place is, and consequently how far apart those islands really are – more on that later! It covers 72,000 square kilometres off the coast of West Papua, and offers everything you could wish for! Birds of paradise, whale sharks, pristine coral reefs, and some of the most stunning viewpoints you’ll ever see on this floating hunk of rock we call home.
The place is properly extraordinary, however I have to warn you in advance that our particular foray into this paradise, was blighted with some… misfortune. But despite that, Mary-Ann and I have vowed to return! It is perhaps the best place we’ve ever been – we just did it wrong! At least we got the time of year right, though; Raja Ampat’s high season is the opposite to the rest of Indonesia. While the rest of the country suffers a very wet low season, Raja is pulling in droves of tourists! So, visit between October and April.
First Up: Getting There
If you’re a sensible person heading to Raja Ampat, your best bet is to fly in from Jakarta or Bali. Both have fairly regular flights, and even a good amount direct ones. But of course, we didn’t do that… We departed from Sulawesi, which turned the journey into a bit of an ordeal, including a not-so-charming layover in a city called Makassar. It’s busy, a bit smelly, and honestly, pretty dull. We didn’t explore much, but while desperately trying to find a way to shower without booking an entire hotel room, we did stumble upon one gem: Relax 88. Where we had a fantastic massage and access to warm, clean showers!
Sadly, after killing about fourteen hours, our onward flight was delayed, leaving us stranded in Makassar airport for an extra five hours. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the delay had a domino effect – we ended up missing the next leg of our journey: the ferry from Sorong.
Sorong to Waisai: Mistakes Were Made (Learn From Ours)
From the airport to the harbour
Sorong is the main city in West Papua, it’s where you’ll fly into to catch the ferry to Waisai; the gateway to Raja Ampat National Park. I’ll be honest with you, Sorong is… not nice. Actually, it’s kind of horrid. Scorching heat, rutted, dirty roads, and the rustiest taxis I’ve ever had the pleasure of being driven in.
Papuans are quite different from the rest of Indonesia’s population. The indigenous people bear a closer resemblance to Aboriginals than to most other Indonesians, and unfortunately, the dreaded ‘Betel nut’ is a staple there, ingrained in daily life. You’ll spot red spit stains everywhere and be greeted by unnerving crimson smiles from the locals. For the particularly extreme chewers, the habit even turns their teeth completely black!
The harbour is only a 20-minute taxi ride from the airport, but be warned – you’ll pay far too much if you take a taxi from outside arrivals. Save yourself the cash and walk five minutes to the main road, where you can easily book a ‘Grab’ or ‘Gojek’ for a fraction of the price.
Sorong harbour to Waisai
Two ferries leave from Sorong each day: one at 9am (which we, of course, missed), and another at 2pm, for which you can buy a VIP ticket for £12.50 or an economy ticket for half that. However, we learned the hard way that the comfort of your journey depends not on the class of your ticket, but on where you sit on the boat!
We bought economy and got funnelled into the bowels of the smelly, rust-bucket for a ferry, through the ‘VIP’ room and into what I can only describe as the ‘economy torture chamber’. The lay out of the two classes where identical, except VIP featured a few less people and an aircon unit that was audibly taking its last, mildly cooler, breathes.
Economy though, was absolutely packed with people spitting red Betel nut slime into plastic bags, and piles of cargo – most of which smelled like faecal matter and feet. Oh, and it was also hotter than the sun… Out of desperation, and to avoid hyperthermia, I went on an unsteady walk to see what could be done about our predicament. Alas, the VIP room was just as hot and had no free seats, but I did discover that there was an open-sided upper deck with actual air flow, no bags of feety-sh*t and best of all, it was still considered economy class! The only set back was that it was also completely full…
Pro-tip: when you buy your ticket, get to the harbour early, buy an economy ticket and make sure to specify that you want a seat on the upper deck!
Waisai: The Nightmare Begins
We met our tour guide at Waisai Harbour, with whom we had a pre-arranged package. But, you don’t have to do that, in fact, I kind of wish we hadn’t. Raja Ampat is notoriously expensive, so travellers often use websites like www.stayrajaampat.com and Facebook groups like ‘Raja Ampat Sharing Boat and Trips’ to synchronise and share costs with others arriving on the same day. If you decide to go solo, don’t be surprised if you have to pay £100 for a boat, just to get to your first location!
Anyway, our guide showed up and led us to the desk where you pay for your national park entry. This will set you back £50 in total, split between a permit card and the entry fee. Now, here’s where things started to feel a little off – our guide seemed completely clueless about the entry fees… Not exactly a confidence booster, and didn’t make it easy when he asked us for £150 cash to buy petrol for the boat shortly after!
Nightmare Level 1 – The Late Start
Remember how we missed the morning ferry because of that delayed flight? Well, that little hiccup meant it was 4:15pm by the time our guide waltzed off with a fistful of petrol money, not to return for a full hour! If you’ve been to tropical places, you know how quickly the sun rises and sets, so we were acutely aware that darkness was coming fast… And we were still standing in the ticket office!
Upon his return, we asked our guide, slightly angrily, how long the first boat ride would be, and he assured us it was just an hour. So, light would be fading as we sailed, but only fading… we hoped.
Nightmare Level 2 – The Boat
At around 5:30pm, we found ourselves standing on a jetty, staring down at a battered fiberglass tub with no life jackets, no proper seats, and no roof. On top of that, a pile of vegetables and ten cans of petrol were being clumsily covered with a torn black tarp by a Papuan man who looked downright terrifying! Bright red lips, jet-black teeth, and a grin that had me like a rabbit in headlights… Of course, he actually turned out to be a lovely guy!
Honestly, we knew the boat didn’t look great, but we climbed aboard anyway, followed by a couple of locals we weren’t expecting. In our minds, this was just the ‘small boat’ that would take us to a bigger one offshore… Surely…
“An hour, just an hour,” our guide assured us as we tried to focus on the setting sun, which was a sight to behold. But after 30-minutes, we were still heading out into the open sea, moving farther away from land with no sign of anything ahead. The light was fading fast, and that’s when the real worry started to kick in.
Nightmare Level 3 – The Storm
The sunset had been beautiful, but the golden hour had long passed, we were well beyond the 60-minute mark of our journey, and it was now unmistakably and undeniably night time. “Just one hour more,” our guide repeated for the fifth time… I had been peppering him with questions about traveling at night and how much longer we had, but the answer never changed.
Around the 1 hour 15-minute mark, an enormous clap of lightning slammed into the sea ahead of us, followed by a spine chilling growl of thunder.
“Ohhh, so beautiful,” our guide said calmly, much to our horror.
Then the rain came, and it really came.
At this point, completely out of character, I spun around and shouted at our guide. Partly out of fear, but mostly because of my petrified wife clutching me like I was her lifeline, her nails digging in to my arm like talons… All because I wanted to go to Raja Ampat on a budget. He looked at me blankly, stood up and peered into the distance, then pointed at a single tiny light…
“One hour more. We safe, we safe.”
Nightmare Level 4 – Acceptance
As you know, it wasn’t a big boat, so the choppy, stormy seas were tossing us around like ragdolls. Add the fact that we couldn’t see the waves coming because it was pitch black, and you can probably imagine the sheer helplessness we were feeling. I kept trying to reassure Mary-Ann it was OK, by noting the guys behind us seemed totally calm and probably had no desire to die… So, we had no reason to be afraid… Of course, my underwear had long been soiled, and my lower back was on the verge of exploding every time a wave crunched into the hull.
I know this is going to sound cliché and annoying, but in all seriousness, just as I was about to begin the descent into panic, the storm started to clear above us. Then within a few minutes, the dark clouds had parted, revealing one of the starriest skies I’ve ever seen. I told Mary-Ann to look up and focus on the stars, but no sooner had I said that, I noticed the sea begin to glow around us!
“Phwoarrr! Look down, look down!” I blurted, while frantically pointing at the water.
Luckily, she managed not to strain her neck from all my mixed messages… Instead, like me, she got to briefly escape our current reality and fall into a weird, surreal world where everything was unbelievably beautiful. The sky above us was scattered with millions of twinkling stars, the sea around us and the wake of our boat, glowed blue with bioluminescence, and there was a constant backdrop of yellow lightning in every direction. It only lasted about 10-minutes, but it was like nothing I’d ever experienced before…
First Stop – Batanta Island
After two and a half hours of an absolute roller coaster of a journey, our feet finally touched the soft, white sands of Batanta – though we wouldn’t know they were white until morning!
Relieved, drained, and probably a little traumatised, we lugged our bags to the single beach bungalow at ‘Yenkarom Homestay’. Frankly, at the time, being the only tourists on a seemingly deserted beach, hours away from anything resembling civilisation was the last thing we wanted. But despite that, we ate a delightful home-cooked meal and then collapsed into bed.
The next morning, after giving our guide a bit of an earful, I learned that this was our ‘captain’s’ family homestay. Which leads me to something worth noting; often in these types of places, local business owners really try to keep things in the family. Which is perfectly fine and makes sense… But, it can sometimes mean you end up taking an extremely long boat ride through a storm at night, instead of staying somewhere sensible and convenient! So, do your research and remember – Raja Ampat is huge.
That being said, getting a real-life glimpse into the family’s daily life was fascinating. When they’re not cooking, cleaning, or hacking things down with machetes, they just stare at their smartphones or sleep. Which is odd, because there was no signal there at all… I have no idea what they were doing on their phones!
How Raja Ampat Works
Much like the Togian Islands, homestays are a bit like crude beach resorts. You get a basic, but clean wooden hut with a bed, mosquito net, and a western-style toilet. Depending on the location and popularity, you might get electricity, a shower, and phone signal. Or, like Yenkarom, you’ll get a bucket and pail, electricity only after 6pm, and no signal – which actually we didn’t mind at all!
You’ll eat all three meals at your homestay, think rice and fish, and have access to unlimited filtered water, tea, and coffee. It’s a bit pricier than the Togians, though, many homestays can run up to £50 per night!
Batanta Excursions
At this point, I should note that even though we were fully aware of the lack of safety precautions, we had no other options aside from getting back into the boat and continuing as planned. This is the risk and the beauty of being in such remote places! That said, I implore you, do NOT get yourself into this sort of situation. Check your boat thoroughly before you get this far up sh*t creek without a paddle (literally).
Birds of Paradise
Although we ended up at Batanta because of our boat driver, I have to say, it was a wildly stunning place. It’s where thick, dense jungle meets turquoise tropical waters, separated by a sliver of powdery white sand. So soft and powdery that it was nearly impossible to walk on – your feet just sink in too far!
Thanks to its pristine location, we were very close to where some birds of paradise do their thing! A 15-minute early morning boat ride and a 20-minute hike into the jungle lead us to a tree that reminded me of the ‘Hometree’ from ‘Avatar’. We stood there silently, controlling our breathing to avoid making a sound, and just watched…
It was tremendous. Small groups of Hornbills flew loudly overhead, cockatoos and parrots squawked at each other, multi-coloured doves cooed, and then the birds of paradise joined the ensemble! Although a bit too far to see clearly with the naked eye, we could spot flashes of colour from two species – the ‘Wilson’s’ and the ‘Red’.
Pro-tip: make sure you bring binoculars if you do this!
Nightmare Level 5 – The Ladder
While clambering into the boat as it was beached, I couldn’t help but wonder how we were going to replicate this feat while floating above a coral reef. Usually, these boats have a ladder and outriggers to keep them steady while people climb in and out. But ours had neither!
“Is there a jetty or dock at the snorkelling site?” I asked, but the tour guide didn’t seem to understand. “How do we get back into the boat after snorkelling?” I tried again, miming swimming and climbing.
This time, I saw the cogs turn behind his eyes, and a look of ‘Oh f*ck!’ fall across his face. “Don’t worry, it’s ok… We have ladder.”
Well, I’m sure you’ve guessed it; there was, in fact, no ladder… After we got back from the birds of paradise trek, they scurried off behind the families hut and began hacking, sawing, and hammering furiously. To their credit, after about an hour (yes, an actual hour, as in 60-minutes), a surprisingly decent ladder materialised and became a permanent fixture in the boat.
Snorkelling the Ayof and Yenaduwak Reefs
Without a Go-Pro or any real photography skills, it’s tough for me to put into words how one snorkelling experience differs from another. But I can confirm that the marine life in Raja Ampat is, without doubt, as good as the hype suggests. None of the coral was damaged or bleached, it was all perfectly colourful and thriving, teaming with fish, and best of all – not sharing its home with copious amount of plastic waste! Plus, because of how far into the sticks we had gotten ourselves, we had both reefs entirely to ourselves. There was not another pasty, bald idiot in sight! These moments are precious, having incredible places to yourself is extremely rare!
At just these two locations alone, I almost got bored of seeing clownfish, turtles, sharks, and an endless variety of mind-boggling fish. Luckily, I’m very much on the spectrum and can happily float around for hours, counting the stripes on the ‘Oriental Sweetlips’ and trying to figure out if a triggerfish is angry with me (they bite if they’re annoyed – it’s great fun!).
Waringkabom Waterfall
In between snorkelling sites, we hopped back onto terra-firma and hiked to a waterfall. It was great, especially since we were, once again, the only tourists there! We spent about half an hour cooling off in the chilly fresh water, getting attacked by mosquitoes, and trying not to think about the extremely long boat journey we had ahead of us the next day.
Second Stop – Bon Wauw
My final coffee on Batanta was the best I had there – not that I usually take note of every coffee I drink, but this one was memorable. As I sat on our little veranda, sipping my first dose of caffeine, a dinosaur-like face poked out from under our bungalow. Just like that scene in ‘Jurassic Park’, it cocked its head sideways and stared right at me with its beady eye. I spluttered and made some sort of whooping sound which startled it, sending it fleeing at lightspeed onto the beach and out of sight.
It was some kind of monitor lizard, at least a meter long. But, when I asked our tour guide, he just seemed completely confused by my description… I don’t think I imagined it, but perhaps hallucinating and being away with the fairies was my body’s reaction to knowing we had another ‘hour-long’ boat ride ahead of us.
We were headed to our next homestay. But, at least we had a few stops planned along the way!
Snorkelling Wai Island and Sauwanderek Jetty
Need I say it? The journey was not an hour long. It took us about an hour and a half to reach Wai Island, then another hour to the jetty. At least this time we did it in the daylight, though that brought its own challenge in the form of sun exposure. Did I mention the boat had no cover?
As an Englishman, I’m a professional sunburner. So I can tell you with absolute certainty that, in hindsight, I should have worn long sleeves and full-length trousers for all the boat rides like this. Naturally however, I just slapped on some factor 50 sunscreen and wore a bucket hat. It wasn’t long until I was crying to Mary-Ann for help. Thankfully, she had packed a spare shawl that I cocooned myself in.
We weren’t the only ones snorkelling at these sites. In fact, there were even a few groups of divers there, which on this occasion, was somehow comforting. Just knowing there were other people around who didn’t have crappy boats or cowboy tour guides, gave a bit of reassurance. Once again, the coral was pristine and the fish life was extraordinary. The current, however, was much stronger, so while I loved it, Mary-Ann couldn’t quite enjoy it as much.
Piaynemo Viewpoint
After another ass-puckeringly uncomfortable ‘hour-long’ boat ride – during which the engine randomly started cutting out (hurrah!) – we finally made it to Piaynemo. From what I understand, there are three main viewpoints in Raja Ampat, and Piaynemo is probably the least impressive of them. But, that isn’t to say it isn’t still utterly stunning! It’s just not quite as big or jaw-dropping as the other two; ‘Misool’ and ‘Wajag’. However, it’s probably the most accessible of the three, and for us it was vaguely enroute to Bon Wauw.
Bon Wauw Homestay
After the viewpoint, it was another 2 hours on the boat, plus a few more nerve wracking engine cut-outs, to get to the homestay. That meant we had tallied up over 5 hours on the water in one day, with no shelter and no real seats to speak of. By the end of it, we were in quite a bit of pain and completely exhausted. So, seeing our over-water bungalow appear in the distance was something to celebrate – we had survived another day.
Bon Wauw has a handful of bungalows and is close to a small village, so it felt like we were returning to civilisation compared to Yenkarom. Which was a bit sad, in a way, but once we realised we were still the only ones staying there, it quickly became our favourite accommodation to date!
The water beneath our bungalow was crystal clear, teeming with fish, and the seabed was thick with vibrant coral. In fact, the entire ‘house reef’ was spectacular – we snorkelled it at least twice and spent hours just sitting on our porch, gazing into the aquarium below.
Nightmare Final Level – The Breakdown
The bliss we found in our bungalow at Bon Wauw was short-lived. We enjoyed just one glorious afternoon and evening there because our planned excursion to Wajag, the main event, went terribly wrong. As I mentioned earlier, Wajag is touted as one of the best viewpoints in the park, so it had to be on our itinerary. But by this point, I’d fully grasped the sheer scale of Raja Ampat, so when I looked at the map and saw the vast distance between us and it, I was concerned. Our guide claimed it would take a maximum of 2 hours, but I was pretty sure we were facing at least 3 – a fearful prospect! There was also the journey back to Waisai to catch our 9am ferry the next morning to consider, which was at least the same distance again!
But, despite these rather major concerns, unsurprisingly, our tour guide seemed unfazed. So we climbed aboard, wrapped ourselves in shawls and got ready for a very long boat ride.
Remember how I mentioned the unsettling tendency for the boat engine to cut out unexpectedly? Well, during the first hour, it did this about three times. But, each time it started up again without trouble; we grew accustomed to it, assuming it would always fire back up. But after an hour and a half, somewhere in the open sea at about the mid-way point (according to google maps), the engine died again… This time for good.
We knew the engine was toast when our driver stood up, scanning the horizon for another boat… We were adrift in choppy water, with no spare engine, no life jackets, and no shelter from the bakingly hot sun.
“Do we have any paddles?” I asked through gritted teeth. I’d skipped straight past any kind of fear and jumped right into burning hot fury. I was livid, both at the tour guide and at myself for letting this happen… Of course, there were no paddles.
Instead, we had to tear up some of the tattered floorboards beneath the cans of petrol and use those as makeshift paddles. Meanwhile, Mary-Ann had also skipped the fear phase and, sensibly, gone straight to trying to contact emergency services. She asked our guide for the emergency number, and his reply was simply, “No, not possible”. But, she had brought her Kindle, which contained a copy of the Indonesian ‘Lonely Planet’. She started furiously flipping through it, hoping it would offer some help… It suggested dialling ‘112’ – utterly useless without phone service!
The Rescue
I had been paddling to no avail for about half an hour, seething with anger and wondering why the driver and guide weren’t helping. It turned out they’d been busy trying to build a sail using a couple of lengths of bamboo and that tattered tarp I mentioned earlier. A good idea, if anyone present had any idea how to sail a boat! When they finally raised their contraption, it quickly caught a big lump of wind, almost ripping from their hands and nearly capsizing the boat in the process. I barked a few fraught instructions at them, advising them on how to position the sail, and eventually they figured out a good place for it. But even with it up and me dragging the plank through the water at top speed, we were going nowhere.
THANKFULLY, after about 5 more minutes, a boat appeared on the horizon. We waved hands, feet, and clothing, shouting at the top of our lungs – they heard us! Unfortunately however, our rescuers turned out to be another group of clueless tourists in an equally undersized boat, captained by another wild-eyed Papuan… They did have a spare engine though, which we eventually borrowed after being towed into calmer waters.
Nightmare Bonus Level – The ‘Company’
Once we had been ‘rescued,’ we were left with a woefully underpowered engine that was so slow, I’m pretty sure a pedalo would’ve outpaced us. But our guide assured us we had nothing to worry about, because there was a ‘company’ just 5-minutes away that could fix our engine! I know what you’re thinking, “yeah right…” We felt similarly, and of course, we were right to be sceptical. It turned out that this ‘company’ was actually a classified government construction site, off-limits to unauthorized visitors! Not only did they refuse to help, but they also tried to shoo us away before we’d even had a chance to say hello. Oh, and did I mention it was actually 35-minutes away, not 5? Surprise, surprise.
But little did they know, I was an extremely angry bald idiot, not in the mood for their games. So, I hopped off the boat, marched straight onto their site, and flat-out refused to leave until we had life jackets – or, even better, a new boat.
Well, my pig-headedness did win us a single life jacket – probably the most ratty, gross life jacket I’ve ever seen – but hey, it was something. Mary-Ann put it on, and we headed out again.
Unbelievably, our guide still wanted to continue the journey to Wajag in the, now even more, underpowered boat! We refused and demanded to turn around and head back, and it’s just as well we did because, guess what? Another huge storm rolled in… This one was so bad it even forced our driver to change course and head toward shore to find calmer waters. Which, sadly, meant adding 50% more distance to the journey! For 2.5 hours, we crawled past jaw-dropping scenery, through torrential rain and angry spray, before finally making it back to Bon Wauw.
A Change of Plans
We were supposed to stay at Bon Wauw for the night, but after nearly starring in a tropical remake of ‘Titanic’, I made the call to head back towards Waisai early. Otherwise, we’d have had to wake up at 4am to start the journey back in the dark – no thanks!
The plan was to head towards Waisai and just hope we’d find room at a nearby homestay. Fortunately, we did – Aldejus Homestay. Another lovely place, but much more established than the previous two we’d stayed at. It even had other guests… Other English guests, no less!
Side note: The Brits we met were super interesting – artists from London. Check out their Instagram @Joshglucksteinartist, seriously impressive. I’m not at all jealous of them…
It took us 2.5 hours to get there, and even then, it was still 50-minutes from Waisai! Also, the new engine was cutting out semi-regularly too – the fun just wouldn’t cease! But, we made it there before dark, and that was the important bit.
Raja Ampat – Completed it Mate
On the last morning, we hopped aboard the floating tub of torment and did the final 50-minute leg to Waisai. There, we bought tickets for the ferry, sat on the cooler upper deck, and headed back to Sorong.
Before we left, I took some time to discuss the events of the past 5 days with our tour guide. I wanted him to understand that what had happened was completely not okay, but tried to frame it constructively. I plugged a few paragraphs of feedback into ‘Google Translate’ and handed it over. It mostly focused on the need for crucial safety equipment, as well as advice on being more transparent about timings and planning tour routes more sensibly. I’m happy to report that he has since sent me images of the boat! Which now features a roof, a padded chair with a backrest, life jackets, paddles, and a functioning engine. So, that’s some consolation for our rather tumultuous experience!
Conclusion
If you’ve made it to the end of this blog, well done – I know it was long! But I hope it has thoroughly conveyed our experience. We both feel short-changed with this one, because we saw just how incredible Raja Ampat is, but missed out on so much. It felt like we had to endure hours of trials just to earn a single hour of brilliance. But, those very scarce hours were truly something special. We’ve vowed to go back, but next time, we won’t be doing it on a budget. We saw the liveaboard boats sailing majestically on the horizon – that’s what we want to do! (We already can’t wait!)
So, if you’re planning to go to Raja Ampat, just make sure to take note of all the things we did wrong!
– Check your boat for safety equipment before you board it, and don’t get on if you’re not happy or unsure.
– Realise that Raja is huge, so plan your homestay locations wisely. Otherwise, you’ll spend HOURS traveling on the sea. On the day we got stranded, we were exposed to the elements on that boat for over 7 hours!
– Don’t make budget your main priority. Raja Ampat is not a budget destination, respect that, and don’t try to force it to be one. Besides, you’ll enjoy it much more if you avoid the turmoil. Trust me.
So, with all that said, if done correctly, I genuinely think Raja Ampat could be the most amazing place on earth.
Stay bald folks.
Toodles,
Jack
