giulian 0 Posted March 15, 2013 (edited) Raja Ampat land based resorts I am planning a 14 day trip in late May 2013. Can anyone recommend a mid-priced resort that offers reasonable accommodation, but more important a good diving operation. All suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Regards Robert Edited March 16, 2013 by giulian Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Interceptor121 765 Posted March 15, 2013 The original people at kri island have two resort one upmarket and one medium http://www.papua-diving.com/ Look for Kri resort, I checked this one but then ended up on a liveaboard they have a great reputation this is where dr Allen identified the most number of species on a single dive Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
frogfone 0 Posted March 15, 2013 We have just returned from our second trip to Kri Eco Resort. Accommodation is basic, wooden huts on stilts over the water and no hot water; doesn't sound all that appealing but the huts are fantastic and we took a £5 solar shower which solved the hot water problem! You can always do a night dive to get a hot mandi at the end of the day. The food and the staff are fantastic. Lots of people commented on how good and how varied the food was compared to other places. The diving was out of this world. We dived with the oceanic mantas on 6 occasions and with the reef mantas twice. We saw everything from tiny pygmy seahorses to huge shoals of bumphead parrot fish. We did some long day trips to Fam and to The Passage and ticked off most of the 20 nearest dive sites to the resort. Maximum is 6 guests to a boat usually with 2 guides and most sites are within 20 minutes. I can get very seasick but didn't need my scopoderm patches at all. As I said, it was our second trip to Kri and things were certainly much slicker this time around. We generally left on time, got to the site and our guides always checked the current prior to jumping in. Boat cover was great and we rarely dived a site with other divers on it. Sharon Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
giulian 0 Posted March 16, 2013 Thanks, interceptor and frogfone, Kri appears to be a popular choice. The use of a portable solar shower bag/pack is indeed a very good idea. regards Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
John Bantin 101 Posted March 21, 2013 Max Ammer, the owner of Sorido Bay and Kri Eco resorts is a very special man and I find it a privilege to spend time with him. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matti 4 Posted March 25, 2013 I Have stayed at Paupa Paradise had a great stay and will be back there again later this year. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
UMpg 0 Posted March 25, 2013 I stayed at Raja4Divers this past December and loved it, the resort is beautiful and the diving operation was very good i thought. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Plyschmannen 1 Posted April 10, 2013 As other have said, Kri is special. They have Cape Kri as their "house reef", which during my 20 days stay in Raja Ampat was the best dive I did. Loads (4-5?) of pygmy seahorse, clown frogfish, blacktip, whitetip, napoleons, and very big schools of barracudas and snappers. And Max is a very nice host as well. /Björn Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Matti 4 Posted April 10, 2013 Papua Paradise is very nice cabins which are separated from each other (ie no shared walls), the food was good and they didn't mind that we brought our own beer in from town and used their refrigerator to keep them cold. Nice diving there was only one dive that I didn't like (partly because mask broke). I would recommend doing the hidden bay and passage trip as this was very interesting and spectacular. You can see some of the diving that I experienced on the vimeo link below. The found was good and plentiful. I can't compare to a live-aboard in the area though it seems that sometimes they are on a strict itinerary with set dive sites which at times would not be at the best time for the tide or the fish life isn't there at time, we had a very good guide actually the site manager at the time who would check the dive site first before deciding on whether or not it was worthwhile. http://vimeo.com/41394627 And gallery of what I saw while there. http://mattiovaska.com/gallery/119145 Matti Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sea squirt 2 Posted May 19, 2013 Kri Eco Resort basic comfort but friendly atmosphere Not the place to stay if you need AC Diving great - agree with frogfone. Oceanic mantas on Blue Magic were a wonderful experience, we didn't even bother going deeper than the reeftop and spent 75 fantastic minutes in their company Some of the live aboard vessels we saw seemed to be on a very limited itinerary and there was speculation that they were conserving fuel! Hope you have a great trip Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
giulian 0 Posted May 19, 2013 Hi, Thanks everyone for their response and experience. We have followed up both kri and Papua paradise resorts and have selected Papua as they were able to fit within our itinerary ( we depart on 24 May for 14 days). We would have been quite happy to stay with kri. The last two years we visited Alor and Weda and hopefully Raja will be as pleasant as these. I will update the forum on our return. Regards Robert Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kelpfish 15 Posted May 19, 2013 (edited) What is the preferred airport that one would fly into, Jakarta or Manado? I suspect that there are more flight options out of Jakarta. Edited May 19, 2013 by Kelpfish Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kelpfish 15 Posted May 19, 2013 As other have said, Kri is special. They have Cape Kri as their "house reef", which during my 20 days stay in Raja Ampat was the best dive I did. Loads (4-5?) of pygmy seahorse, clown frogfish, blacktip, whitetip, napoleons, and very big schools of barracudas and snappers. And Max is a very nice host as well. /Björn Was this unlimited diving? Or did you have to pay extra for house reef diving? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
giulian 0 Posted May 19, 2013 Hi Joe, There are a number of options to fly to Sorong. We looked at Bali, Jakarta and Manado. For us coming from Australia, jakarta was the better option as there were more services to Sorong and it avoided the need to stay overnight in Bali or Manado and possibly an overnight stay in Sorong. The package we got was unlimited diving which includes the house reef. Regards Robert Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Kelpfish 15 Posted May 20, 2013 Hi Robert, How was the shore diving? I was comparing the two resorts and one appears to have a MUCH nicer house reef (the more expensive one, of course). So do you have any opinion on the extra cost and whether it's worth it? Thanks, Joe Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
giulian 0 Posted May 20, 2013 Hi Joe Sorry for any confusion, we arrive at Papua this week on the 24 May 2013. I will up date you on our return. Regards Robert Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
