Raja Ampat is the Best Snorkeling Destination

Tropical Fish in RajaAmpat

Raja Ampat is one of the best destinations in the world for marine tourism. It has got the highest number of fish species and very beautiful scenery.  As a tourist guide, I organize snorkeling tours for domestic and international visitors who want to see the beautiful underwater world of the islands. The duration of the tours is usually 5 to 7 days covering big and small islands in western region of Waigeo, Kabui bay, Pianemo, Wayag, Arborek, Mansuar and Kri. The tour can also be customized to a separate destination such as East Waigeo. There, visitors can enjoy adventure swimming, snorkeling and wildlife watching tour in some uninhabited islands and Waigeo's rainforest.
Coral reef in this regency is the natural habitat of a lot of marine creatures such as butterfly fish, moorish idol, grouper, clownfish, boxfish, damselfish, batfish, trevally, striped surgeonfish, and convict surgeonfish, lionfish. There are also sea turtle, sea star, sea cucumber.
Snorkeling Gear

Snorkeling and Freediving

Visitors need to bring mask, snorkel and fins if they want to take snorkeling tours in Raja Ampat. An underwater camera is also needed for taking pictures of marine life and landscape of the archipelago. I personally use Brica Bpro5 alpha edition. It is an action camera that is suitable for those who like adventure both at sea, over coral reef and on land. However, its quality is not as good as other underwater cameras such as Nikon Coolpix W300.

Jungle Tour
In addition to snorkeling and island hopping tour, I always combine the tour in Raja Ampat with hiking and bird/ wildlife watching tour in the forest of Sorong regency or Waigeo island. For Waigeo, the main targets of watching are Red Bird of Paradise, Hooded Butcherbird, and Eclectus Parrot. For Sorong ridge forest, the birds that visitors can watch include Rainbow Bee-eater, Oriental Dollarbird, Yellow-faced Myna and a lot of other birds. I highly recommend that visitors bring their binoculars.
Where is Raja Ampat
It is a group of islands that is located in the west of New Guinea. The capital of the regency is Waisai.  It has been a favorite tourist destination for snorkeling, freediving, and birding.
How to get there?
There are international flights that can bring you to Jakarta city or Denpasar city of Indonesia. Domestic flights to Sorong city are served by such airlines as Garuda, Sriwijaya Air, Nam Air, and Batik Air.

Interested?
If you are interested in taking a snorkeling and adventure tour in Raja Ampat, and want me as your private guide, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by e-mail to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp: +6281332245180.
Also read:
Raja Ampat Snorkeling

Snorkeling Site in North Coast of Manokwari

Charles Roring was Snorkeling in Manokwari

I went snorkeling to the north coast of Manokwari this afternoon. I went there with a friend of mine to see the coral reef at the beach that faces the Pacific Ocean. I takes approximately 30 minutes ride to the beach and around 15 minutes swim to the coral reef area. It was my first experience to swim in the water. The floor of the sea from the beach to the reef was quite flat.
However, the coral reef was located unusually far from the land. Tourists who want to enjoy snorkeling need extra energy and courage for swimming to the site.
I brought me an action camera Brica Pro5 alpha edition that could take underwater photographs of fish and reef. It was a nice experience because I could see the marine environment in an open sea.

Coral Reef in North Coast of Manokwari

The visibility was not so good because of the waves. From several dives that I did to depths of 1.5 to 2.5 meters, I could tell that the coral reef was quite healthy. There were more fish in the sea grass area at depths of 1.5 to 2 meters during low tide. Seagrass was a safe home for various species of fish. Big predators will not try to chase small fish. They could easily escape through the grass.
I plan to do another exploratory snorkeling trip to this beach to find other coral reef sites that are more suitable for snorkelers.
As a matter of fact, Manokwari has got a number of beaches and coral reef areas that are good for snorkeling and freediving.
If you are interested in visiting Manokwari to enjoy snorkeling, and want me to be your guide, please, contact me (Charles Roring) by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.
Please, read:
Snorkeling tour in East Raja Ampat
Snorkeling tour in Raja Ampat islands

Preparation before Snorkeling

Mask, snorkel and underwater camera

Snorkeling is a very good recreational sport. However, it can be dangerous if the person who wants to enjoy it does not have enough experience or does not make adequate preparations. A snorkeling trip that is well prepared will guarantee maximum safety for tourists who take the tour.
Local guide and marine tour operator who organise the marine tour have to make sure that the gears required for the trip are all in good working order. For instance, the valve in the snorkel will let the air to flow but blocks the water from entering the mouthpiece.  The silicone skirt of the mask is still elastic to ensure that it will function properly as a watertight seal while somebody wears the mask in the water. The lens of the mask has to be made of shock resistant glass. Plastic lenses have to be avoided.

Coral reef life in the waters of Manokwari

Beginning snorkelers have to wear lifejacket if they want to swim in drop off area. The jacket will give them positive buoyancy. When water enters the snorkel or mask, inexperienced snorkelers will get panicked and usually swim to shallow area. They may stand on the coral once they reach the shallow ground and prevent them from standing on the coral. Experienced snorkelers and freedivers do not want to wear them because they will limit their freedom of movement in the water. Lifejacket can be stored in the boat and can be thrown to the snorkeler in emergency situation.

Coral reef in Manokwari waters

Emergency kit is a must. It contains water, food (usually biscuit), first aid kit, tissues, flash light, matches. Every snorkeling guide or boat driver needs to bring it particularly when conducting tour to remote island.
Boat driver has to check the engine and hull of the boat to ensure maximum safety when they run to remote islands. Fuel is more than enough for the trip. Boat owner must not smoke cigarettes when he sits near the gas tank manually driving the boat. To minimize accidents at the beach or at sea, all tour operators, guides and tourists must follow safety regulations and do better preparatory works before every trip.
Marine tourism are very popular in countries that have got coral reef such as Florida Keys in the US, the Carribean islands, Egypt, Malaysia, Thailand, Okinawa of Japan, Guam, Indonesia, the Philipines, Papua New Guinea, Fiji, and a lot of small countries in the Pacific. These countries generate billions of us dollars of income that are very important to provide jobs and support the economy of the respective countries.  A snorkeling tour that is successful will increase trust and satisfaction among customers. It will also ensure sustainable operation of marine tour business in the long run.
Please, contact me by email to: peace4wp@gmail.com if you want to enjoy snorkeling in Manokwari. written by Charles Roring
Please read:
Snorkeling in Manokwari
Snorkeling tour in Manokwari

How to take pictures while snorkeling or freediving

Underwater Picture of Coral Reef in Raja Ampat

Coral reef is a fascinating environment. It is the place where people can see various species of fish and colorful corals. There are blue sea star, black urchin and green sea grass. There are also yellow colored sweetlips, red and white clown fish. Everyone who enjoys snorkeling will definitely want to take pictures of the wonderful marine environment that they see underwater. Underwater photography is now growing very fast with the introduction of a lot of photographic devices that have got better technology and more affordable prices.
I personally have taken a lot of pictures of fish and coral reef. I use several types of cameras such as the ordinary Sony Cybershot pocket camera that I put inside Dicapac waterproof case, Canon G1X, Nikon AW120 and the latest one - the Brica B-Pro5 Alpha Plus.  The camera that I like the most was the Nikon Coolpix AW120. Unfortunately the camera has broken. Now I use the action camera - the Brica B-Pro5 Alpha Plus.

Underwater Picture

When taking pictures of fish or coral reef, the position of the snorkelers is mostly on the surface of the water. The result does not look well because of the lack of the blue water background. Snorkelers or freedivers need to descend to lower position or to an eye level with the fish or the coral reef that they want to take pictures of.
In addition to the eye level position, underwater photographers need to make sure that they are in stable position. This is often difficult because of current or waves. I often release some oxygen from my lung to enable me to go deeper. I also hold a big rock while shooting the fish. In deeper water, the use of flash will increase the quality of photographs.
Sometimes for the purpose of ecotourism promotion, resort owners want to get pictures that combine underwater view of the coral reef and the beach view of the dive resorts. A fisheye dome port will be needed. Using that device, photographers can capture images of both above and below the water environment. Written by Charles Roring
Related articles:
Snorkeling Raja Ampat
Snorkeling along the shore of Arfak mountains
Clownfish in Manokwari waters

Why I like swimming, snorkeling and freediving

Coral Reef Environment in Manokwari

I was born and grew up in Manokwari. It was a small coastal town in West Papua. When I was a kid, there were no theme parks or malls. After school, children played at football field, school yard and sometimes at the beach. Swimming was a fun and very interesting activity. I started to give special interest in coral reef since I was in elementary school.
My understanding about coral reef was getting better after reading books that were related to marine environment. Running snorkeling tours for tourists is a job that I really enjoy. In addition, I can help local people generate alternative income from their natural resources sustainably. When villagers get income from nature tourism, they will protect their marine environment.

Anemone Fish in the Waters of Tambrauw regency

Places that have got coral reef include Numfor island, Raja Ampat, Tambrauw regency and Dore bay of Manokwari. These places are located within the coral triangle region.
To take snorkeling and freediving tours, visitors need to bring snorkeling device such as mask, snorkel and fins. They also need underwater camera to take pictures of tropical fish and other marine creatures that live in the coral reef.
Coral reef is a fragile environment. For beginning snorkelers, they need to wear lifejacket or snorkeling jacket so that they can maintain positive buoyancy on the surface of the water. If they feel tired and want to stand in the water, they could find flat bottom that only consists of sand. Wearing a lifejacket is very important to prevent a snorkeler from stepping on coral reef.  Experienced snorkelers and freedivers prefer drop off enjoy freedom of swimming in deeper water. Big fish such as giant trevally, grouper, parrotfish, black tipped shark, barracuda can easily be found drop off area. Sometimes turtles can be seen in the coral reef. There are several species of them such as hawksbill, olive ridley, green and leatherback.
Coral reef thrive well in healthy marine environment. Plastic and harmful liquids must not pollute it. Sea cucumbers that live at the sea floor have to be protected too. They are the ones that filter sea water.
Coral reef can give significant economical contribution to local community if they are able to preserve it. written by Charles Roring
Also read: 7 Snorkeling Spots in Raja Ampat