Eastern Fields

I am planning a dive trip in Dec/Jan & plan to visit Eastern fields or Raja Ampat.

I have been to Raja before (Land based) so I am leaning towards the Eastern Field trip.

I have a valid PNG visa (had to cancel a trip on the Febrina last month) & it’s an easy journey from Oz to Port Moresby compared to flying into Sorong for RA.

I have a few questions.

1.Anybody been to both locations? Which did you prefer? Perhaps Raja would offer greater variety in diving (i.e mangroves, manta dive, drift, macro dives) compared to 10 days offshore reef diving.

2.Is it standard for the EF trip to dive the local PM sites (Susie bommie & other macro sites?) or is this just a back up in-case the weather is bad offshore? Should I plan a few days in PM after the trip to check out these sites

3.Is there any shelter out at EF? I realise its offshore with no land in sight. (I am concerned about spending 10 days in rough waters. I’ve been on several live-aboards & generally do not suffer seas sickness, but its not much fun if you are constantly rock & rollin!)

I have been to EF once and Raja four times.

1. I prefer Raja. We have 2 more trips booked to Raja. You get more variety and soft corals in Raja. That said, if I made a list of top ten dive sites I have visited, three from EF would make the list. Also, if you want to do the blue water mangroves of Misool in Raja, you need to ask. I hear no one is scheduling them. They may still do them on request. Apparently the crocodile was spotted again.

2. We did Susie's Bommie upon our return. It is best to ask the dive op exactly what the schedule will be. We spent 2 nights in Loloata before the trip and dove some macro sites.

3. No shelter provided by land, but you are anchored to the gentle side of the reef structure, so it was very calm.

As George says

R4 = biodiversity

R4 can be done from land but my personal fave sites are the Fiabacet Islands, Wagmab etc... which can be done from MER. I could dive those sites for weeks and not be bored. That said, for a truely diverse trip, one has to get on a liveaboard to see all the areas.

Eastern Fields has tons of fish (numbers but not diversity) , a bit more pelagics in a smaller area (except the sharks which were fished heavily!). R4 hasn't any real shark action either. But loads of fish including anthias and the biggest school of bumpheads I've ever(and probably will ever) seen. It's open sea so if you get hit by weather, it can get rough. Nothing like Cocos or Wild Coast rough in my limited experience.

There is an alternative to Loloata, and that's staying in PM itself and diving with the Dive Center. John tends to go where you want and does pick up etc. I enjoyed myself staying on the main island, chatting with the locals and expats at the hotel (Airways). Food is better at Airways and interesting restaurants like 168.

Don't just look at the obvious famous sites. The plane wrecks also offer some nice CFWA. I'm been itching to go back and get a CFWA of a ghost pipefish with the plane in the background.

If I were you, I'd do both areas at least once. Definitely try R4 on a liveaboard and the Misool area.