Dive Review of Wakatobi homestay diving & wobbegong dive in
Indonesia/Sulawesi and West Papua

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Wakatobi homestay diving & wobbegong dive : "Budget diving at Wakatobi and Raja Ampat", Nov, 2016, by Andrew Falconer , WA, AU ( Top Contributor 51 reports with 29 Helpful votes). Report 10231.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations	N/A	Food	N/A
Service and Attitude	N/A	Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation	N/A	Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Wakatobi and Raja Ampat are two of the best known and remote dive locations in Indonesia, where diving from resorts or live aboard boats make it an expensive trip. However, if you don’t mind basic homestay accommodation, they can both be done on a budget, as I recently did: Wakatobi Wakatobi is the name of a group of islands off the south eastern corner of Sulawesi, Indonesia and is declared a marine national park. location of wakatobi Hoga island the homestay on Hoga island Getting there involves a daily flight from Makassar via Kendari to Wangiwangi island (note there is a 10kg baggage allowance). the exclusive dive boat waiting on the beach sunset at Wakatobi Hoga island From the airport, a taxi will take you to the town of Wanci, where there is a daily fast ferry to Keladupa island, where a boat from the homestay (called Wakatobi Hoga Diving) www.hogaislanddiveresort.com will pick you up to take you across to adjacent Hoga island. Steep drop offs, sub sea pinnacles, nice corals and reef creatures are a feature at Hoga island The homestay has several beachside bungalows, provides meals and boat diving to nearby dive spots, of which there are quite a number. There were a few other guests while I was there but I was the only diver, so all my dives were solo in the company of an experienced local dive guide. There are lots of cod to attract fishermen Diving consisted of walls and subsea pinnacles. I did a total of eight dives over four days, and was impressed with the topography, corals, and reef life. but less so by the lack of larger pelagic fish and sight of snagged fishing lines on the coral. There was plenty of small reef fish life on every dive Thankfully there was not too much floating plastic around, and the visibility was generally good. The biggest school of barracuda that I have ever seen on my last Hoga island dive Finally, on my eighth and last dive we ran into what I had been hoping for, a massive school of young barracuda, which made up for lack of pelagic fish in the other dives. It was amazing to be swimming completely surrounded by barracuda everywhere Being surrounded by this huge school of barracuda was an experience not to be forgotten in a long time. Raja Ampat On returning to Makassar from Wakatobi, I flew on a direct flight to Sorong, in West Papua province. From Sorong there is a daily fast ferry that will take you to Wasai on Weigo island, Raja Ampat. The homestay that I booked via the excellent website www.stayrajaampat.com which was called Byuk Beya on Kri island picked me up from Waisai. Location of Kri island, Raja Ampat Byuk Beya homestay on Kri island The homestay was small and very basic, but friendly, with some tasty dishes at times. I also had it to myself for three of the seven nights I stayed there. Fish, vegtables and rice for dinner A nice sunset from the resort jetty I dived with Wobbegong Dive Adventures also on www.stayrajaampat.com , located about 10 minutes walk along the beach away, although they mostly picked me up / dropped me off from the dive boat. Although not on every dive, some of the best sites are subject to strong currents, which often attract large numbers of small fish and big fish feeding on them. On several occasions we just hung on to a rock and watched the action. There can be some pretty strong currents around Kri island, but that attracts fish! There were divers from Germany, France and Poland; groups were limited to a maximum of five divers per guide, and on several occasions there was only me and the guide. I did a total of 13 dives over six days, all boat dives except for one Sunday shore dive on the house reef (Sunday is a rest day). Raja Ampat is one of the few places where big fish still exist, such as this grouper and napoleon I found the diving some of the best I have ever done, in terms of interest, especially large fish life. It is one of the few places left where barracuda, trevally, sharks, napoleon, and even grouper can still be seen on nearly every dive, the first two often in big schools. Diverse marine life at Raja Ampat is exceptional, from this huge giant clam to garden eels I saw one of the largest giant clams that I have ever come across on one dive. It was also pleasing to see a distinct lack of snagged fishing lines on the reefs and floating plastic in the water. The corals are mostly healthy, including the right hand one being used as a bed by a wobbegong One of the reasons for the mostly healthy state of the coral and abundance of fish, including larger pelagic types, is the remoteness and lack of population pressure. Raja Ampat covers a vast area, which is a Marine Protected habitat. There are abundant schools of reef fish such as fusiliers, and pelagic fish Dive tourism, whether on live aboard yachts, resorts or homestays, is an important part of the economy, and efforts are made to educate the local population, including schoolchildren to understand this. Hopefully it will be successful and Raja Ampat will remain as it is for many years to come. There were also barracudas and reef sharks on most dives, plus many resident fish under jetties The following is an approximate costing of the trip: Perth / Bali $320 return (Air Asia) Overnight Bali $75 (two nights) Overnight Makassar $75 (two nights) Bali / Makassar $140 return (Sriwajaya Air) Makassar / Wakatobi $160 return (Wings Air) 5 nights Wakatobi Hoga homestay $200 (including meals) 8 boat dives Wakatobi Hoga $330 (own gear) Taxi / boat transfers from airport to island $50 (return) Taxi airport to hotel Makassar $30 (return) Makassar / Sorong $170 return (Sriwajaya Air) Taxi / ferry / boat transfers airport Sorong to Kri island homestay $100 (return) 7 nights Kri island homestay $250 (including meals) 13 dives (12 boat) Wobbegong Diving $510 (own gear) All up cost approximately $2,400 November 2016 {Some photos from this trip can be found at [ttms999.com link] }
Websites	Wakatobi homestay diving & wobbegong dive
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Vanuatu, South Africa, Iceland, Scotland, Norway, Cuba, Maldives, Chuuk, Galapagos, Phillipines, Sri Lanka
Closest Airport	Wangiwangi island & Sorong	Getting There	Boats from Wangiwangi and Sorong respectively
Dive Conditions
Weather		Seas
Water Temp	26-29°C / 79-84°F	Wetsuit Thickness
Water Visibility	10-20 M / 33-66 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
Small Critters	N/A	Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter	N/A	Boat Facilities	N/A
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Wakatobi homestay diving & wobbegong dive in Indonesia/Sulawesi and West Papua

Wakatobi homestay diving & wobbegong dive : "Budget diving at Wakatobi and Raja Ampat", Nov, 2016,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Wakatobi homestay diving & wobbegong dive in
Indonesia/Sulawesi and West Papua