Raja Ampat
Seven days aboard a traditional phinisi unfold through coral gardens, powerful currents, manta cleaning stations, remote islands and a career crisis arriving through barely functioning ship Wi-Fi.
Reflections of a Roving Doctor · Part Three · Chapter III.II
Indonesia Into the Coral Triangle
The road leaves home almost as quickly as it reached it, carrying the journey east across Indonesia for two extraordinary liveaboards - first through Raja Ampat, then among the reefs, currents and dragons of Komodo National Park.
Two voyages east
From Raja Ampat to Komodo.
Indonesia begins with flights, transfers and the long approach to West Papua, where seven days aboard the Sea Safari VI reduce life to a simple rhythm: dive, eat, sleep, repeat. The journey then crosses the archipelago for a second liveaboard through Komodo National Park.
What begins among Raja Ampat's manta rays and coral kingdoms continues through Komodo's underwater forests, chaotic currents, sharks and prehistoric islands. Across both voyages, the doctor and the divemaster finally meet on equal ground.
RouteRaja Ampat > Komodo National Park
15Days aboard
2Liveaboards
100Dives reached
III.IIPart Three chapter
Before the liveaboards
About Indonesia.
Meet the archipelago’s land, people and history before travelling to its remote eastern edge.
Country
An immense island republic united by the Garuda, the red-and-white flag and a national identity built across extraordinary cultural and geographic diversity.
Read CountryLand
Volcanoes, rainforests, coral seas and more islands than any single journey could explore create one of Earth’s most varied natural landscapes.
Read LandPeople
Hundreds of ethnic groups, languages and traditions coexist across the archipelago, embodying the national ideal of unity through difference.
Read PeopleHistory
Maritime kingdoms, spice routes, colonial rule, revolution and independence shape the story of the world’s largest archipelagic state.
Read HistoryThe Indonesia journal
Two liveaboards across the archipelago.
The journey unfolds from Raja Ampat's coral kingdoms to Komodo National Park's currents, sharks, underwater forests and dragons.
Komodo National Park
A second liveaboard aboard the Neptune One moves through underwater forests, Indian Ocean swells, chaotic currents, shark-filled reefs and the islands of the Komodo dragon.
After Indonesia
Two liveaboards end with a hundred logged dives, a divemaster card, Komodo's final descent and the certainty that the sea will remain part of whatever comes next.
What Indonesia becomes
The scalpel and the sea.
Raja Ampat and Komodo turn two diving expeditions into a final confrontation with identity, ambition and the shape of life after the gap year.
Wonder
Manta rays, coral gardens, underwater forests, sharks and impossible biodiversity return diving to the realm of pure awe.
Crossroads
A surgical interview arriving mid-ocean forces the future of medicine back into a life temporarily ruled by the sea.
Belonging
Raja Ampat's hundredth dive and Komodo's final descent confirm that home can exist beneath the surface as surely as it does on land.
Bhinneka Tunggal IkaNational motto of Indonesia
Unity in Diversity
The complete gap-year journal
The final voyage goes beneath the surface.
Read the complete Reflections of a Roving Doctor collection, from the first departure through Central America, South America, Antarctica, Raja Ampat, Komodo and the final return home.
The sea releases the traveller.
Indonesia ends after two unforgettable liveaboards, from Raja Ampat's manta-filled reefs to Komodo's dragons, currents and final silent bell, as the journey turns homeward once again.
Continue with Malta Part II.These entries are personal reflections written at particular moments during the journey. Memories, opinions and practical details may have changed since publication.