Raja Ampat

Is Febuary a good time to go to Raja Ampat? Never been there and have been offered a free be but the air schedule looks like a killer having to fly from L.A. to Jarkarta to Sarong.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

Steve

Is Febuary a good time to go to Raja Ampat? Never been there and have been offered a free be but the air schedule looks like a killer having to fly from L.A. to Jarkarta to Sarong.

Thanks for any comments or suggestions.

Steve

Boats are diving there during our winter & fall months, so Feb should be ok. Just back from Nov trip from Sorong to Ambon. Good weather except for tropical showers. What boat would you be on? Air schedule should be straight forward, just long flight to Indonesia. Check Lion Air (or Wings) for schedule. Routing may be something like Jakarta or Depasar/Makassar/Sorong, or Manado/Sorong. Singapore connects with Silk Air to Manado. Probably an over night stay somewhere. My flight was Manado/Sorong on Wings dep 2pm, but not daily schedule.

Actually, the Raja Ampat is very good at any time of the year. The only exception is the southern part that is prone strong winds blowing up from Northern Australia during July and August. In the rest of the Raja Ampat, February occasionally gets more rain than other times of the year, and the visibility is reduced compared to July through September. However with the reduced visibility, manta sightings typically increase , and you may get a chance to snorkel with up to 30 mantas feeding at the surface in a glass-calm ocean. The water temperature hardly ever fluctuates, and ranges from 84 - 87 degrees.

Bear in mind, the Raja Ampat is not about perfect blue waters and 100ft viz. It is all about the staggering variety of marine life; more than any other tropical region on earth. It is all about that deep sense of excitement when you descend and you are greeted by the raw power of a tropical reef in full swing, of thousands upon thousands of creatures hell bent on survival, and to being witness to the greatest show on earth.

And when you are suffering through the long flights and bad connections, and you land in Sorong, (not nick-named 'so-wrong' for nothing)- be thankful that it is difficult, because if it were easy, the Raja Ampat would be no more...

Regarding flight schedules:

Jakarta is the best and biggest hub into Indonesia, with 3 flights a day to Sorong. But be prepared, you fly via Makassar, and each leg is approx. 2 hours. It is best to let your host organize the domestic flights for you to prevent any problems or misunderstandings.

You can use Bali as a hub, but the flight connections to Sorong don't work as well, and you waste valuable hours laying-over in Makassar (Makassar is exactly in the centre of Indonesia, and most domestic flights go through this airport).

Manado (the other international hub) is not recommended, unreliable and with few connections to Sorong.

Hope this helps

Thanks for the great feedback and info. I would be on one of the 7 Seas ships and, according to them, I should fly to Jakarta and then to Sarong. I prefer Singapore Air but before I go further with this, I wanted to see if the timing would be good for such an excursion. Been to Manado and Lembeh a few times and to Bali and Komodo once but never to Raja Ampat.

Steve