“Raja Highlights 2010-2016”

Video by Linda Johnston

Displaying male Red Birds of Paradise (Video Capture)

More than 1500 islands make up the Raja Ampat archipelago off the Bird’s Head of West Papua. These islands and their surrounding coral reefs support the richest tropical marine bio-diversity found anywhere in the world. The area includes 4.6 million hectares of diverse marine habitats and is home to more than 1,000 species of fish, 700 species of mollusks and some 540 species of hard corals (75% of the World total!). Larger marine life includes sperm whales, baleen whales and even orcas coming through this area and there are green turtle nesting beaches on the island of Sayang in the North.

Paddle-flap or Eschmeyer’s Rhinopias (Video Capture)

Some of the highlights of a Raja Ampat cruise with the Seven Seas include the great diving, snorkeling and cave exploring around the rocky islands off South East Misool, the coral reefs of the Fam Island group, the fish and manta rays of the Dampier straight, the critter diving at Batanta and in Aljui Bay, and of course the great karst formations of the Wayag Archipelago up North. Kayaking among the bee hive shaped karst formations in the Wagmab Island chain in the South is nothing short of stunning, and scattered deserted beaches throughout the Raja Ampat islands make for excellent sunset hideaways. Village visits are unique throughout this region, birds of Paradise can been seen at various locations, and an enormously extended Atoll can be found around Ayau Island in Pacific waters in the far North. Of course, for the real adventurers willing to explore this vast archipelago, there are many islands and reefs still unexplored and many new highlights yet to be discovered…

Reef Manta (Video Capture)

Linda shares a video compilation, the highlights of filming in Raja from 2010-2016.  After enjoying the “Video Capture” images click, HERE, to watch the animals in action!

Linda Johnston, originally from the UK, and her husband Karl Klingeler are old friends of the BHS.  They have lived in Indonesia for over a decade and are presently the cruise directors of the live aboard Seven Seas.