Raja Ampat Diving and some pictures

[Maja Stankovski]

I got quite some questions about Raja ampat diving that I would recommend to anyone as I found it remote and so far the best place for fish life I have ever seen. It had everything to offer from big fish, large schools of fish to the tiniest critters as pigmy seahorses. Here is only a selection of some of my favourite pictures I managed to take there.

[Stewart Andrews]

Thanks Maja- great shots - would live to be there!

[Maja Stankovski]

It is really worth doing and you can do it for a reasonable money as well. I was on a liveaboard as it was the easiest thing to do, but if you have more time, you can do it for less money, you just need a bit more time and you have to be prepared to live in a very basic accommodation which in such climate is not a problem at all. The reefs there are still pretty unspoiled and really worth seeing even though you still notice the lack of large predators (max i saw was 4 sharks on a dive and they weren't large, 1.5 m max), but it's the most fish life I have ever seen on dives and macro life is amazing too. For example we saw 12 pigmy seahorses (Barbiganti) on one sea fan and up to 8 raja pigmy seahorses on a sea fan as well. It was also my first time seeing Denise pigmy seahorses. So it's something to see for everyone, you just have to be able to handle strong currents that you will encounter.
For those who don't know me, I love taking macro pics and spotting the tiniest critters, but in Raja, I only took macro on 4 dives in the whole trip as the corals, clams and fans were so large.

[mbentot]

Very nice

Thanks!

Bernard: you have to put back the click-to-get-a-bigger-picture functionality!

[Bernard Swierczyna]

Will consider it!

Considered it and done.

[Yvonne Lynch]

Stunning photos, Maja, thanks for sharing.

Regards,

Yvonne

[Aoife Dubh]

Superb photos Maja - thanks for sharing.

Raja Ampat is on my list - Karen Jack, a buddy from Belfast, was there a few years ago and her advice is to get there soon before it becomes popular and busy with divers.

See you soon for a dive

Aoife Dubh