Dan Purnell (Vancouver, WA) - Undercurrent December 2014
Dan Purnell (Vancouver, WA) likes the Raja Ampat Dive Lodge, which he visited in October. “I had last visited this area 10 years ago, when Raja Ampat was just being opened to recreational divers. There has been a lot of development, but the diving is still incredible! Raja Ampat Dive Lodge rooms are right on the water, the food is good and everybody is friendly and helpful . . . There are two morning dives, one afternoon dive and a night dive each day. The night dives are all on the House Reef. Dampier Strait diving is outstanding! Some of the table corals and sea fans were wider than twice my body length. There were fields of acropora/staghorn corals, smothered with waves of anthias, stretching as far as you could see . . . When the currents are running, the reefs go wild. Schools of fusiliers are so dense, they can impair your vision. Hunting schools of jacks cause mayhem, scattering thousands of fish. With the recent protections, we saw black tip and wobbegong sharks on almost all our dives. Commonly sighted were sweet lips, Napoleon wrasses, turtles, groupers, barracudas, trevallys, angel and butterfly fish, pygmy seahorses, pipe fish, bat fish, glass fish, scorpion, unicorn, bumphead parrot, leaf fish and so many more. We saw a few mantas, toad fish and Spanish dancers. I had sensory overload on a number of Dampier Strait sites. This is a very fishy place!” And, a warning note: “I saw a lot of coral being damaged by inexperienced divers and photographers. We divers have to do a much better job avoiding contact with the reefs, if Raja Ampat is going to remain an amazing place to dive 10 years from now.”
