Dive Review of Papua Paradise in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

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Papua Paradise: "Raja Ampat -resort based world class diving", Apr, 2024, by Graham McGregor, Kilmacolm, GB ( Top Contributor 44 reports with 27 Helpful votes). Report 12953.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Getting there and away It is a long haul to Papua Paradise Resort – no matter where you are coming from. You need to get to Sorong airport. There are direct flights from Jakarta, but only a couple a day (and they seem to all leave Jakarta at around midnight, getting in to Sorong around 0630). You can also connect via Makassar but most visitors are from Europe and the USA, making Jakarta the most convenient international airport for connectivity. I found Jakarta surprisingly easy to connect through. Most international flights arrive into Terminal 3, which is a nice, modern terminal. The domestic flights depart from Terminal 1 or 2, unless you book the Garuda flight to Sorong which leaves from T3. However, moving between terminals is quick and easy as a Skytrain connects all terminals. We allowed 9 hours for our connection and took a day room at the Anara Hotel which is attached to T3. 4 hours would probably have been fine. You can get an Indonesian Visitor Visa in advance online. You avoid queuing at Jakarta airport if you do this, although the procedure is a bit clunky! We were met at Sorong airport by representatives of Papua Paradise Resort, who took us to a nearby local hotel. Again, we booked a day room. Breakfast and lunch were complimentary. Papua Paradise appears to be the only resort in Central Raja Ampat which has a dedicated transfer boat from Sorong. Other resorts appear to require you to get a local ferry. The boat transfer took about 1hr 15 mins. Resort facilities and food This was our third stay at Papua Paradise Resort which has 16 “superior” and 10 “deluxe” over water villas. It is very much a resort for divers and snorkelers. The General Manager, told us that they limit the number of guests to 44 at any time. We had a “superior” villa configured with two (twin) single beds. The “deluxe” villas are a bit bigger and feature a king size bed, which I don’t think can be configured as a twin. The rooms are charming, of wood construction and feature the bed(s) a couch, a table and chair. There is a separate bathroom with shower and a decent outside balcony with a couple of chairs and a couple of loungers. The view is north west, so great for sunset! There is no air con but there is an over bed fan and a standing fan is provided. The resort offers a free laundry service, which was a real boon and meant we packed lighter than normal. It does take up to 3 days for your laundry to be returned. You have to pay for local Marine Park and other fees (about $100) locally The Dive Centre has a small air-conned room for cameras, with charging facilities. There is comfortable bar area and a roomy restaurant. The food was sufficient, always served buffet style. At breakfast, there was an egg station which will cook omelettes, fried eggs etc. to order. Dinner always had salad options, a soup, three meat/fish options and a vegetarian main plus vegetables. The food was generally tasty, although this isn’t haut-cuisine! They have a spa and also offer evening Hornbill watching cruises. The clientele was mainly divers, with some snorkelers. Mostly couples with virtually all from Europe or the USA. There is a spa. Apart from diving and snorkelling, the resort has bird watching including special trips to view rare Birds of Paradise. Diving There is a large covered jetty with a room to store your gear at night. Nitrox is free and constantly 31 or 32. I asked for a larger (1.5 litre) tank which was also free. The resort has 10 dive boats, of varying sizes holding 2 to 12 divers. Dive guides are allocated maximum 1 guide to 4 divers. However, there were 5 of us and we had our own boat and guide all week. There are three categories of dive site: “Local” dive sites which are about 10 to 20 minutes away. Further away sites which are up to 45 minutes away. Trips to both these categories of site are free. There are a few trips to further flung sites like the Fam Islands. These trips take up to an hour and a half and cost €75. If diving the local sites, you do two tank dives in the morning; return to the resort for lunch; do one tank afternoon dive and then have a choice of Twilight or Night dive. Further away sites involve a surface interval on a small island after the first dive; a pre-packed lunch stop at a local jetty and an afternoon dive before returning to the resort. Again, a Twilight or Night dive is offered. One of the local sites is a manta cleaning station. Although at the end of the manta season, (which runs December through April), we saw a couple of mantas up close on each of our 2 dives there. Most of the further away sites are at Cape Kri. The Cape Kri area itself is mainly wall/slope diving with some strong currents involving hooking in. We only had a couple of dives which involved hooking in not very strong current. The other area is Mansour, which involves diving on sloping areas around a number of jetties. The corals (hard and soft) are abundant, diverse and healthy everywhere. The fauna was also diverse. Macro lovers will appreciate the Pigmy Seahorses; Orang Utan Crabs; Nudibranchs; Pipefish; Peacock Mantis Shrimp etc. Although not overly shark-y, we saw sharks on most dives – mainly Blacktip Reef sharks; also, Whitetip Reef sharks. We saw Wobbegong Sharks on 25% of our dives. We saw a rare walking shark, albeit well hidden under a ledge. Stingrays; Bumphead Parrotfish; Cuttlefish, Stonefish were all spotted. The schooling reef fish were there in numbers and we saw Yellow Tail and Black Tail Barracuda; Black and Red Snapper; Jacks; Giant Trevally; Tuna; Sweetlips. Most people seemed to be on the resort’s “Unlimited Dive” package which was in the price and comprised 3 day dives and either a Twilight or Night dive. We completed 25 dives over 6 1/2 days. Dives were usually 60 minutes. All were good and several were great. We don’t particularly care for Night dives, although I heard they were good. Not many divers seemed to take up the Twilight or Night dives. We asked if we could complete the fourth dive as a day dive. Although not their normal procedure, the dive staff let us do this. Water entry is backwards roll and there is a ladder to re-enter the boat. You hand up your weights; then your BCD and finally your fins before climbing the ladder. The boat crews were great, they will assemble your gear; help you on with it and take care of your camera. Our guide was very knowledgeable and a good spotter particularly of macro critters. Time-consuming, although not particularly difficult to get to, Papua Paradise is a good dive resort with great quality of flora and fauna. Boats are uncrowded and (apart from a couple of dives at Cape Kri) we were usually the only divers on the site. The resort itself caps the number of guests and never felt particularly busy even when full. The Resort will provide you accommodation; “unlimited” diving and flights from/to Jakarta from about £2500 per person twin-sharing. I strongly recommend you go before the area gets much busier – which it will, given the quality of the diving.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Galapagos; Socorro; Palau; Sipadan; Truk; Malapascua; Komodo; Ticao Island; Maldives; Red Sea; various Caribbean; Cuba; Hawaii; Florida; Cozumel; Spain, Seychelles, Mauritius, Oman, GBR; Raja Ampat, Banda Sea
Closest Airport	Sorong	Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	28-29°C / 82-84°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	10-30 M / 33-98 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	?
Enforced diving restrictions	Generally dives lasted 1 hour
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities	N/A
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Papua Paradise in Indonesia/Raja Ampat

Papua Paradise: "Raja Ampat -resort based world class diving", Apr, 2024,

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 Papua Paradise in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat