Raja Ampat, Indonesia

It should still be fine in March/April, though that's getting near the end of the "season" in RE. I used to have a chart showing monthly variation in rain and sea conditions, but I can't find it at the moment. We had rain a few days last year, otherwise perfect weather (and the rain helped with our fresh water problems) - that was the only time I've been before.

Anyway, it's not like you're going to change your plans if I told you the weather wouldn't be perfect, right?

I strongly urge you to check out the REA (Rapid Environmental Assessments) for RE on The Nature Conservancy's Coral Triangle Center website

TNC Coral Triangle Center

Click on reports on the left-hand side. There are two very useful reports there:

- Donnelly R., Neville D., Mous P. 2003. Report on a rapid ecological assessment of the Raja Ampat Islands, Papua, Eastern Indonesia, held October 30 – November 22, 2002. Report from The Nature Conservancy Southeast Asia Center for Marine Protected Areas, Sanur, Bali Indonesia. 246 p (pdf, 5,500Kb). High resolution version (pdf, 15,250 Kb).

Or jump Here

- Erdmann M.V. & Pet J.S 2002. A rapid marine survey of the northern Raja Ampat Islands (Eastern Indonesia). Report from Henry Foundation/The Nature Conservancy/NRM/EPIQ. 36 p (pdf, 699 Kb).

Or jump Here2

There is also a very good REA done by CI (written by Sheila McKenna, Gerald R. Allen and suer Suryadi) that used to be up on the site, but it seems to have been removed.

The only problem with the direct flights between Manado and Singapore is that I don't get to meet people who would otherwise be transiting Bali.

Robert

I certainly didn't intend that last post to be a converation stopper. I hope it's only because people have downloaded the Rapid Ecological Assessment on Raja Empat from the TNC site and are busy reading it!

Frogfish

Well, Steve did say to bring reading material for Sorong.

I did read some of the REA, very interesting stuff for an old marine ecology student like myself.

Of course I wouldn't cancel my trip because of weather concerns. I was mainly wondering what kind of currents, vis, temps, to prepare for.

www.iriandiving.com has some good sections on weather/rainfall/water temp etc if you want to look at it....pretty good resort too, by the way!

We flew into the armpit of PNG known as Sorong in may this year. We had greased the agent in Manado with a bribe so all the bags went as we were boarding a month long dive trip back to bali. I'll post more later on this trip. All the air conections are skechy in these parts. Plan for the worse hope for the best. Manado was way better than Sorong for time spent.One of the great flights on this trip of many flights was the Manado to Sorong leg -the pilots invited me up to talk story and were very interested in diving and a month long boat trip. Got to take cockpit photos like in the old days.Do not forget to sample the home made icecream at airport in Soprong. just kidding about the ice cream. Mark