Dive Review of
Grand Komodo Diving/Raja Ampat in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

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Dive Conditions

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Overall Rating

Leatherback Turtle Expedition, guided by Save Our Leatherback Turtles
founder and director, Larry McKinna, who is a walking encylopedia on the
rare turtles.  Fourteen people, and tweleve days on the Grand Komodo's MS
Raja Ampat, a new, very comfortable dive boat in the beautiful Indonesian
traditional style.  Superb service, excellent food, lots of smiles--our
fourth trip with this outstanding company:  www.komodoalordive.com.  Owner
Reno and her staff are great, and make all arrangements; I went early to
visit Java and Tian made all hotel and plane reservations, all at very good
prices.  DM Hary [and three other DMs] is outstanding, and will take divers
into tiny villages to sample the culture.  The Trip:  Two days in
Leatherback area, and one night watching 4 enormous 1000 pounders, 9
footers, laying their 80 eggs, covering them up, and going back to the
ocean.  Lots of fabulous pictures of turtles, and the local aborigine
people, who put on a traditional turtle dance for us to bring them ashore,
and then marveled at how they looked on camera.  A special night: 
www.leatherbackturtles.org.  Then 10 days diving the Raja Ampat area;only
saw one other diveboat.  Last time in this area, 2003, we saw 14 new
species; this time 9, including sea moth, white nudibrach, black leopard
wrass, baramundi cod, and a blue-ring octopus.  All that besides the usual
epaulette and wobegon sharks, pigmy seahorses, hawkbill turtles, banded
pipefish, crocodile fish, scorpion fish, stonefish, lionfish, lobsters,
cuttlefish, large schools of barracudas and jacks, and 4 or 5 banded sea
snakes, including one 9 footer.  Unfortunately, reef sharks are down, so
would someone please tell the Chinese to stop ordering shark fins and
instead use Viagra... This was a fabulous trip, and it was so educational
to dive these waters while learning so much about, and helping, newborn
Leatherback Turtles.     

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