Raja Ampat is home to the world's richest reefs. Located at the heart of the Coral Triangle, the region sprawls over 180,000 square kilometers and boasts the majority of the world's reef-building corals. In fact, in an area the size of two football fields, scientists discovered more than six times as many coral species as live in the entire Caribbean Sea. |
Raja Ampat has over 700 species of mollusks and 1,200 species of fish. Counted among those is the newly discovered 'walking' epaulette shark, commonly seen on night dives on our house reef.
In 2006, Misool Eco Resort reached an agreement with the local village and secured the rights to 200 sq km of see surrounding our resort island, Batbitim. Inside this Marine Protected area (MPA), all fishing, cyanide fishing, bombing, shark finning, harvesting of turtle eggs and shellfish are prohibited.
|
'walking' epaulette shark. Photo by Tom Scherer |
Seven additional MPAs were established in 2007 due to the joint efforts of Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, The Coral Reef Alliance, and the local Indonesian government. Raja Ampat is now a Marine Park, using a tag system similar to Bunaken and |
Click to enlarge a map of MER's dive sites |
Thanks to our extremely remote location, we are able to offer the variety and quality of live aboard diving combined with all the comforts of a land based resort. The diversity of Raja Ampat's underwater topography is simply astounding, abounding in all manner of reef systems.
We've explored over 60 dive sites within a one-hour boat ride of our resort, and there are many more waiting to be explored. We are pleased to offer you 20 world-class dive sites within a 10 minute ride from the resort. Some of the more famous dive sites (all within the 200 sq km Marine Protected Area we established in 2006) include Fiabacet, Boo, Manta Mountain, and Gorgonian Passage. |
Visibility is generally 25+ meters, with temperatures around 26-28 degrees Celsius (78-82 degrees Fahrenheit). You can expect to dive an wide selection of coral covered walls, reef flats, caves and swim throughs, gentle sea mounts, placid lagoons, and current-raked pinnacles. |
The clear waters surrounding Misool Eco Resort are patrolled by massive schools of hunting fish, manta rays, wobbegong sharks, tawny nurse sharks, guitar sharks, dolphins, whales and turtles.
You'll also find blue ringed octopus, schooling bumpheads, Napoleon wrasse, giant clams, Mandarin fish, flame file shells, ghost pipefish, frog fish, a wide variety of nudibranchs, and several species of elusive pygmy seahorses. Epaulette sharks and mobula rays are resident upon our house reef.
National Geographic Magazine's September 2007 issue featured "Ultra Marine," a story on Raja Ampat's reefs by famed underwater photographer David Doubilet. You can view the slide show on NG's website here.
Click here to see our slide show of more photos from reefs surrounding Misool Eco Resort.
|
photo by Justin Ebert
|
Wobbegong shark. Photo by Will Postlethwaite |
Raja Ampat's staggering abundance of marine life is due in part to its remarkably low population density. The islands are primarily porous karst limestone. The lack of fresh water and dearth of flat land has limited the human population to a few small beach areas.
The few resident Papuans continue to employ traditional, low-impact fishing techniques, using a simple hook and line from dug-out canoes. Unlike most parts of Indonesia, Raja Ampat's reefs are locally managed, with villages retaining ownership and fishing rights.
|
Raja Ampat's reefs have been found to be remarkably resilient to coral bleaching and disease. Powerful ocean currents from the Pacific Ocean are forced through Raja Ampat, washing coral larvae westward and repopulating reefs throughout South East Asia. As the world's reefs are further degraded, it becomes more and more critical that we conserve these important reefs.
We aim to protect and
revitalize both our natural surroundings and the community in which
we operate. The environmental aspect of conservation is inextricably linked to the social one - without these reefs, the local community would collapse. We are committed to demonstrating to our hosts, our
guests, and the local government that tourism can support their
economy with much more favourable terms than mining, logging, overfishing,
or shark finning.
|
pygmy seahorse. Photo by Emma Dover |
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
