Triton Bay Kaimana West Papua : Indonesia Best Hidden Underwater Paradise

“The last, best place. A natural wonder. The heart of diversity. So many superlatives have been heaped upon Indonesia’s West Papuan region that I was a bit skeptical. But when the Seahorse’s cruise director called me and told me about an exploratory cruise to Triton Bay, Misool and other Raja Ampat dive sites, I was in. I had to see this place for myself. And you know what? It’s all that it’s cracked up to be. It’s really that good.”
“MSY Seahorse is the first dive live-aboard to start operating the Fakfak route in 2006. The Seahorse has varied itineraries and has been a pioneer in exploring the reefs around the Irian Jaya area. The crew has also been discovering new dive sites on every voyage in the Fakfak-Triton Bay area.” – Tim Rock for AsianDiver – April 2008

Triton Bay : Of all the tropical reefs we have seen in our combined 70 years of diving, Triton Bay is at the top of the list for fish diversity, soft corals and topside scenery.’
‘For us, as adventurers and lovers of exotic dive travel, probably the best thing about Triton Bay is that it remains largely unexplored, and liveaboard divers still have the opportunity to dive on untouched reefs’ Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock
Rightly described as a ‘species factory’ by leading marine scientists, the region’s dive sites are swarming with fish and almost every nook is occupied by an exotic invertebrate.
Indonesia’s Raja Ampat islands have become one of the most famous places to go diving in all of Asia thanks to the area’s pristine coral reefs and incredible diversity of marine life. 11 day diving liveaboard from Raja Ampat to Triton Bay, exploring the amazing underwater world of western Papua.
The Republic of Indonesia is the largest archipelago in the world comprising 17,504 large and small tropical islands fringed with white sandy beaches, many still uninhabited and a number even still unnamed.
It contains a mixture of deep basins and shallower waters. This area is known for its underwater beauty and extensive biodiversity and while liveaboards have been visiting other areas of Indonesia for some time, diving is relatively new to Triton Bay, and it has been only since the middle of this decade that liveaboards have ventured there due to its remoteness and the complexity of stocking up on provisions in the town of Kaimana.

Black Beauty [courtesy: Rod Klein]“Habitat, habitat, habitat,” says biologist Mark Erdmann, who sites the reason for the incredible explosion of life in this region… “Extensive fringing reefs, wave-pounded drop-offs, calm deep bays funneling upwellings of nutrients, sand flats, mangroves, sea grass meadows—all in an area that’s isolated and still for the most part intact.”
There is a price to pay for the great biodiversity in Triton Bay. Visibility is not generally good especially in comparison to the rest of Indonesia, due to the incredibly nutrient-rich water, but this is easy to overcome due to the sheer amount of life in and around the reef. This may not be a dive destination for every diver and if you want clear water diving and big fish on all dives this may not the place for you. Yes there are giant groupers, Napoleon wrasse, eagle rays, a few sharks, schooling barracuda and jacks, but all this does not happen on every trip. This area changes, water clarity changes, and critters are not always there.

Typical of the area is the site Black Forest owes its name to the black coral which truly resembles a forest on the slopes at this particular point of the dive-site. In all reality it should be called White Forest given that the polyps of the black coral in this area are really white; it is the skeleton which, once dried, gives it this color.
It’s also quite common to find sleepy wobbegong sharks not too far from the surface and with a bit of luck, on the night dives, the oddly strange walking shark; but in a place of such biodiversity, don’t be surprised if you hit on a new species without even knowing it, lucky diver!
Two other Triton divesites stand out: Larry’s Heaven (named for the late Larry Smith) and Little Komodo (also named by Larry).

Posted in: Tourism Indonesia