Raja Ampat is recognized as one of the most famous destinations worldwide for its unquestionable underwater beauty. With its rich marine biodiversity, Raja Ampat stands out as one of the best diving spots in the world. For those seeking an exceptional diving experience, here are some must-visit Raja Ampat diving spot.
Raja Ampat Diving Spot
Raja Ampat offers numerous diving spots that attract divers from around the world. Each location boasts unique characteristics and attractions, from calm, shallow waters to thrilling shipwreck dives. Ready to dive in? Here’s a list of top Raja Ampat diving spots you can explore.
Cape Kri
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 3m – 40m
Current: Mild – Strong
One of the best places to dive in Raja Ampat, Cape Kri offers the beauty of vast marine life on a single dive. There are at least 374 species of fish and coral reefs in the waters of Kri Island. Starting from barracuda, batfish, snapper, and grouper, you can even meet green turtles here. You will also see the colorful coral gardens that are home to numerous small marine animals. With moderate currents, Cape Kri is suitable for intermediate to advanced divers.
Cross Wreck
A favorite among world-class divers, Cross Wreck offers a unique underwater experience with a World War II Japanese shipwreck lying at about 18 meters deep. The wreck, submerged for over 40 years, hosts a variety of marine life, including leaf fish, devil fish, lionfish, mantis shrimp, and octopus.
Cross Over
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 5m – 30m
Current: Mild – Strong
Cross Over is one of the best dive spots for experienced divers, as the currents are unpredictable and often change direction during the dive. With a sizable current, marine life is abundant. You can expect to see sharks, schooling Jacks, barracudas, and, most likely, tuna. With a decent level of difficulty, we recommend divers proficient in open water and have at least 30 dives with experience in currents.
Blue Magic
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 9m – 30m
Current: Mild – Strong
True to its name, Blue Magic is an indeed ‘magical’ dive site in Raja Ampat. The name represents the beauty of the blue sea water, which contains colorful coral reefs and various other marine life.
Diving in Blue Magic will introduce you to a variety of unique marine life, such as barracuda, red snappers, surgeonfish, and tuna. If you’re lucky, you can also meet blacktip reef and grey reef sharks or see beautiful swimming Mantas.
Friwen Wall
Level: All Levels
Depth: 2m – 25m
Current: None – Strong
One of the must-try dive sites is Friwen Wall on Friwen Island. This dive site is unique in that it is one of the few wall dives the Dampier Straight offers. Friwen Wall is a world-famous dive site, and the wall extends from the limestone cliff on the Northern coast of Friwen Bonda up to 25m depth.
The beginning of the wall has two small caves where fish swim upside down. The wall is covered in colorful, soft coral sponges and giant sea fans. The reef’s surface is covered in dense, hard corals, and the recesses are home to many crustaceans and other macro creatures. Friwen Wall is an ideal spot for beginner divers as the currents are not too strong.
Yenbuba Jetty
Level: All levels
Depth: 2m – 25m
Current: None – Mild
The next dive spot is Yenbuba Jetty, a dive site with many different species of fish and an excellent chance for turtle enthusiasts to get up close to those creatures. Raja Ampat is home to 6 out of 7 rare turtles in the world, and if you are lucky, you can meet them at Yenbuba Jetty.
If you dive into this spot, particularly at a depth of around 4 meters, you will encounter thriving marine life, including schools of batfish and sweetlips. Yenbuba Jetty is an ideal dive spot for divers and underwater photographers of all levels because this site offers easy access to captivating underwater scenery and abundant marine life.
Arborek Jetty
Level: All levels
Depth: 2m – 18m
Current: Strong
If you are a beginner diver and just starting your diving trip in Raja Ampat, Arborek will be the ideal place. Arborek is a tiny island in the Raja Ampat archipelago that is known for its beautiful underwater views. You can snorkel and dive at Arborek Jetty.
Diving under Arborek Jetty will give you the opportunity to meet mass schools of fish, large schools of sweetlips, and jack mackerels hunting on the smaller silverside. In addition, you will also find coral gardens that are home to pipefish, snappers, surgeonfish, bumphead parrotfish, angelfish, barracudas, tuna, and batfish.
Sawandarek Jetty
Level: All levels
Depth: 4m – 20m
Current: None – Mild
Sawandarek Jetty is one of the must-visit jetties because of the diversity you can find all in one area. This dive site offers a vast diversity of fish life and beautifully healthy coral. For turtle lovers, you will encounter larger-than-usual green turtles, Giant clams, and large schools of fusiliers and barracuda. It also has a wide variety of macro life.
Manta Sandy
Level: All levels
Depth: 2m – 18m
Current: None – Mild
Manta Sandy is one of the iconic diving and snorkeling sites in Raja Ampat. It is located on the southern coast of Gam Island, close to Mansuar Island. It is a famous cleaning station in the Dampier Strait region. Renowned for its consistent populations of manta rays, it is one of the most visited dive sites by divers worldwide.
If you dive in this place, you will have the opportunity to meet many butterfly fish and majestic manta rays. If you are lucky, you will be approached by curious mantas who want to interact with tourists. How fun is that?
Magic Mountain
As one of the Four Kings islands in Raja Ampat, Misool has an amazing underwater landscape. The island is part of the world’s coral triangle, and 75% of the inhabitants of this sea are ornamental fish. Magic Mountain is one of the famous dive spots on Misool Island.
Magic Mountain is a dive spot that offers a diving experience on a towering coral mound. The coral garden is home to many fish, and if you are lucky, you may see the Giant Black Pacific Manta Ray.
Batu Lima
Level: All levels
Depth: 3m – 35m
Current: None – Mild
Batu Lima, or ‘Five Rocks,’ is a beginner-friendly diving spot in the Dampier Strait. A collection of large reefs holds in place its relatively calm current.
In addition to the relatively calm current, Batu Lima is one of my favorite dives because it offers a beautiful view of purple coral reefs. There is also a variety of fascinating marine life, including the rare Blacktip Shark.
Biodiversity House Reef
Level: All levels
Depth: 3m – 35m
Current: None – Mild
This dive spot offers a diving experience amongst beautiful coral reefs. There is a wide variety of soft and hard corals and some beautiful table corals in the shallow waters.
Biodiversity House Reef is one of the ideal dive sites for night diving. It offers the opportunity to meet Epilate, walking sharks, bobtail squid, and ornate ghost pipefish. The current is not so strong, making it a great place for beginner divers.
Mioskon Point
Level: All levels
Depth: 2m – 25m
Current: None – Strong
Mioskon Point is a dive spot located on Mioskon Island. It is known as one of the places where you can meet the Wobbegong Shark. Divers diving under the coral ledges may encounter tiny Pontohi Pygmy Seahorses on the coral rocks.
A wide variety of other marine life, such as Yellow Snapper, Barracuda, and Trevally, can be found hiding behind the rocks. With low currents and a secluded spot, Mioskon Point is suitable for beginner divers who want to experience a dive with a private feel.
Lao Lao
Level: All levels
Depth: 8m – 25m
Current: None – Mild
Lao Lao allows you to encounter the Wobbegong sharks, schooling surgeons and snappers, and giant moray eels in a depth of 25m. Diving at 18m depth, you will see Barracudas and sweet oriental lips swimming in schools. While you dive in 9m depth, you will see amongst the coral for the Nudi Branches and keep in mind, in season, that this is a great location for the Mantas to be spotted.
Mike’s Point
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 2m – 35m
Current: None – Strong
Mike’s Point is one of the most iconic dive sites in Raja Ampat located in the Dampier Strait. This area has a unique topography because during the Second World War, the US Air Force cluttered this area with Japanese ships and bombed it. This created unusual rock formations with indentations in the walls, like caves. It has become one of the favorite dive sites as it is a hiding place for unique marine life.
Sardines Reef
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 3m – 30m
Current: Mild – Strong
Sardines Reef is one of the favorite dive spots; don’t miss it! This dive spot is an oval-shaped patch of coral reef located in the middle of the ocean. Around the reef are many Fusilier fish, Surgeonfish, Snapper, Damselfish, and butterflyfish. All of these fish provide food for predators such as Barracuda, Spanish Mackerel, Giant Trevallies, and some Jacks. If you are lucky, you may encounter some gray reef sharks.
Chicken Reef
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 3m – 30m
Current: Mild – Strong
Chicken Reef is one of the shallow reef dives. Even with its similar topography to other sites, Chicken Reef delivers a vastly different set of species. The reef has an enormous number of magnificent marine life, in particular large numbers of reef fish and, of course, many black-tip reef sharks.
Kabui
Level: All levels
Depth: 5m – 15m
Current: None – Mild
Kabui is a secluded beach with a sandy bottom and coral reefs scattered everywhere. With a fairly shallow depth, Kabui is a dive spot suitable for beginner divers who are looking for a quiet dive spot. You can dive around hard and soft coral bombs. On some occasions, you can also see turtles and blue spotted rays in between the abundance of healthy marine life.
Otdima
Level: Intermediate – Advanced
Depth: 5m – 25m
Current: Mild – Strong
Otdima is a slap bang in the middle of the Dampier Strait, between the islands of Gam and Kri. This is a dynamic and fun dive site aptly named because of the different, unexpected currents. This is an atoll where currents can multiply and come from many directions. As a result, there are many schools of fish, turtles, and sharks here. The currents here depend on the movement of the tides, so they are unpredictable. To dive Otdima, you need at least 15 – 20 dives or an advanced certificate.
Saporkren
Level: All levels
Depth: 3m – 18m
Current: None – Mild
Saporkren is located on Waigeo Island, close to the capital city of Waisai. This dive site is one of the best dive sites in the area. Here, you can find common seahorses, 3 types of clownfish, pipefish, octopus, and flamboyant cuttlefish. This place usually dives at night, but day diving is also good.
Melissa Garden
Level: All levels
Depth: 5m – 30m
Current: Mild – Strong
Melissa Garden is one of the top dive sights in the world. The underwater scenery offered at this place is simply beautiful. If you dive at a depth of 20 – 25 meters, you will be on the sandy edge of the reef, where there are schools of large fish and gray reef sharks. Moving slightly up the reef, you will find a fantastic coral and fish life diversity.
Start Your Raja Ampat Diving Liveaboard
Raja Ampat is a remote archipelago best explored via liveaboard. With distances between islands quite far, a liveaboard tour offers the most convenient and comprehensive way to dive at multiple spots.
By joining Raja Ampat Liveaboard, you don’t have to go back and forth from your accommodation and cross the islands because you will stay on a luxury boat that will take you to many good dive spots. In addition, you don’t need to bother looking for lodging or boats because everything is already available in the Raja Ampat tour package.
Consider choosing a Raja Ampat liveaboard with a duration of 4 to 11 days so that you can explore all the best dive spots in Raja Ampat. Choose a trusted and certified tour operator such as Komodo Luxury.
Komodo Luxury is a tour operator certified by TripAdvisor and has more than nine years of experience providing the best sailing experience in Raja Ampat. Komodo Luxury offers private Raja Ampat tour packages designed to match your needs and preferences perfectly. We don’t offer one-size-fits-all itineraries—instead, we personalize your journey, tailoring every detail to your desires. This way, you can experience Raja Ampat exactly how you dream it.
Enjoy an intimate sailing experience with a boat dedicated exclusively to you. Contact us now to make your Raja Ampat diving liveaboard dreams come true!
