Getting to the islands:

Once you land in Sorong, you can get a private boat to the selected islands (generally the homestay you will stay at would offer this pick-up service) or you can catch the ferry to Waisai which is the more popular and cheapest option and get a shared boat to the island from the Waisai harbour. You will more likely than not find people travelling to the same island from here and you can share the boat fees for a better price per person. 

Note: the only way to travel around the islands is by small private boats which can get quite pricey so its worth to plan your island-hopping journey from beforehand and to consider the costs to get from one island to another so you can be prepared for the expense. StayatRajaAmpat.com gives a good breakdown of travel costs for your reference. We didn’t realise how expensive this can get. It will feel like the prices are a bit excessive and transportation will take a good chunk of your Raja Ampat overall budget. Our experience has also been that generally the accommodation you are due to visit next will offer better prices than the accommodation you are leaving from. We recommend checking with both, to get the best possible price.

Choosing your accomodation:

Generally, the homestays are run by locals who build their own huts on their own land and rent them out. The typical accommodation in Raja Ampat will consist of basic beach hut made with wood and bamboo (either water bungalows or beach bungalows which are not directly over the water) some will be ensuite but generally not. Most seem to have shared bathrooms. Good to note that many of them do not offer freshwater showers or internet and the electricity is also generally only available during certain hours of the day for example 6pm till midnight. Many of these accommodations are full board and therefore provide 3 meals a day. You can find very decent prices. We stayed at some good ones and paid between 32 to 40 euro per person per night on full board basis. Food wise some will be better than others with better variety and better quality and portions. Be sure to check out the reviews on the booking site but also on google too. If you book in advance, you will find availability at the best homestays that have good food and bungalow options for the best experience.

Note: some islands are known to have more pest problems. Kri island is one of those which seems to have a rodent healthy population. Once again, the reviews would normally point out if previous guests had such encounters. If you decide you wanted to try out these homestays anyway, just ensure to keep ALL your food, soaps and toothpaste outside so they hopefully wont venture in your huts … preferably they should be hung outside. Having said this, you should prepare to encounter some animals like snakes, frogs, big lizards and geckos and rodents. You are after all in open huts living in the wild.

Diving and snorkelling:

It wouldn’t be a blog about Raja Ampat without a section on diving and snorkelling. These are the most popular activities to do in Raja Ampat which is no surprise given it is one of the top diving destinations in the world and for good reason! The variety, colours and size of the corals, fish and marine life you will find is exceptional and visibility is excellent too. It is truly magical. The homestays can help you out to book any snorkelling tours or diving trips. Many of them offer this service themselves or have good contacts to share. Many of the dive sites can also be done snorkelling too. We were lucky to have a homestay (Lukeson Homestay) which offer to take guests to do both on the same tour. They will have the diving gear for the divers and snorkellers can get off at the same spot and will be given instructions too for the best snorkelling experience at each site. Price was 350 IDH per person for the snorkellers and 800k IDH per dive for the divers. 

If you wanted to enjoy as much snorkelling as possible, we recommend to also chose homestays which have good snorkelling spots just in front of the bungalow. Many of them do, however, we also encountered a couple that do not so, do take this into consideration if snorkelling is high on your priority list! 

Regarding diving, there is a long list of dive sites all over Raja Ampat. You might want to plan your dive sites according to the kind of marine life you would like to encounter. The dive centres and homestays can generally help you with that too. Prices will increase for dive sites that are further out due to high fuel costs and sometimes lack of fuel supply. Price per dive will range between 600k and 800k per person per dive including equipment and an additional fee for fuel if the dive sites are further out. Diving here is exceptional but can also be quite challenging due to the strong currents in these areas. We have experienced some really strong currents (full moon ones!) which meant we needed to be hooked on to corals by the instructor to not be taken by the current… we must admit, we never in a million years thought a current can be so strong … the power was exceptional to the point where we needed to hold on to our masks and regulator to keep them in place as we looked around to see the marine life swimming past. The good thing about currents is that this attracts lots of fish who enjoy currents so it’s a sight to see. We recommend you have some good experience and that you are generally a confident diver before diving at certain sites also remember that full moon = strong current… important to ask, ask and ask so you are comfortable and will have a good experience.Article Sponsored Find something for everyone in our collection of colourful, bright and stylish socks. Buy individually or in bundles to add color to your sock drawer! 

One other consideration is the quality of the dive masters / instructors for the safest and most enjoyable experience. We did find that some more local dive schools might not be up to standards that we are used to and generally expect in Europe for example. If you chose to dive with them do not expect your dives to be verified on your apps. Moreover, you will need to be experienced and confident enough to do your own safety checks and do not be shy to ask as many questions as needed to feel safe and comfortable.