We have an upcoming boat trip in 2026 January to Raja Ampat north area (From Sorong). We would like to spend a week before this trip on KRi island.

Do you have any recommendations for dive base and accommodation? We would prefer relaxed diving with many photo/video options, so a good house reef is preferred.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions

Marcell

I was this year bei Tabari... forgot it... I can't recommended it. No house reef to dive.

It's depending of the budget but my experience was not really good ( the main problem was a group of 10 french divers, from Paris... they was ... no I'll say not more... ☹️🤮 )

If you want to read my report in french it is here Séjour plongées aux Raja Ampat et Lembeh du 23/02 au 18/03/2025 - Compte-rendus de voyages - Plongeur.com - Le site de la plongée sous marine

It's easy to translate.. If you have some question feel free to ask me in MP. You can write in german.
It's easier for me as english ;)

@Nikolausz

We spent 10 days at Sorido Bay (Cape Kri is a 5 min boat ride away...)

It's more expensive than most of the dive resorts in the region, but it was really (really) good (food, service, diving...)

The house reef is right off the dock. There were a number of turtles, a few black tip reef sharks, and several (large) cuttlefish that seem to fairly used to seeing divers (did not flee - just backed up and watched us).

Thanks for the input. We have narrowed down our selection to Yenkoranu, Warahnus and Turtle dive centre-homestays.

Has anybody experience with those?

2 hours ago, Nikolausz said:

Thanks for the input. We have narrowed down our selection to Yenkoranu, Warahnus and Turtle dive centre-homestays.

Has anybody experience with those?

No, but I had really good feedback from Tarzan Diving. The problem was I didn't find an available home stay when I organize our trip.

8 hours ago, Nikolausz said:

Thanks for the input. We have narrowed down our selection to Yenkoranu, Warahnus and Turtle dive centre-homestays.

Has anybody experience with those?

Yenkoranu, a lot - but last visit was in 2017 and things have changed radically, so I really can't vouch for them.

All i can say is that it was the first homestay with a somewhat reliable diving operation, with guides that were working on liveaboards (Jason for instance), and excellent, especially around 2015.
Started by the Sauyai family, traditional clanic "owners" of Kri / Mansuar Kecil.

Spent a lot of time there, "helping out" as well. Now it's really grown into something else, so you would need to look into recent reviews. I really don't know who's working there anymore, most of the guides I still know are working on boats on the Komodo-Raja routes.
At one point they had some individuals then foreign couples run the dive operation, really not sure how it is nowadays as it's a complicated working environment 😅

I'm sure you have already, but do check https://www.stayrajaampat.com


Yenkoranu homestay on an early 2015 morning - the treeline to the right started being cut with the 2016 homestay boom. Max Ammer's Papua Diving / Kri Eco Resort is further down on the left.

Edited August 23Aug 23 by bghazzal

If Sorido Bay is to expensive checkout its cheaper version, Kri Eco resort. These resorts lie a few hundred meters apart and both are Max Ammer's Papua Diving resorts. Some years ago we spend two weeks there and really enjoyed the place and the dives. Professional management and great dive guides.

Edited September 11Sep 11 by Floris Bennema

My favourite place in Raja is Papua Explorers. Lovely rooms, good food, great guides - I actually prefer diving R4 from there, as opposed to a liveaboard (6:2 guide ratio and can go back to sites I like, spend more time taking photos, etc).

5 hours ago, vkalia said:

can go back to sites I like, spend more time taking photos

That really a good argument... a second is the price, a stay in a resort is sheaper with more comfort (it s ma opinion )

13 hours ago, CaolIla said:

That really a good argument... a second is the price, a stay in a resort is sheaper with more comfort (it s ma opinion )

True. Papex, for examples, is something like 2900 euros a week at retail for an on-water bungalow (we saw a walking shark hunting while sitting on our deck!), great food and 4 dives a day for 6 days. Their liveaboard, Coralia, is a LOT more.

I like liveaboards for hard to get to places (like Manuk) - but after doing 2 Raja-Ambon crossings, i am off next month for 20 days and will be staying in Banda Niera: I suspect i will get much better dives in, and better photos as well.

Thanks everybody for the recommendations. We booked the Turtle dive centre-homestay. I will write a short trip report next year when we're back.

Best

Marcell