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.
Part III · 2023
Indonesia Into the Coral Triangle
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.
Raja Ampat begins with seven days aboard a traditional phinisi, where manta rays, coral kingdoms and a hundredth logged dive collide with questions about medicine and the future. Komodo follows with stronger currents, sharks, dragons and one final descent before the long journey home.
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.
The Indonesia journal
Two liveaboards across the archipelago.
The Indonesia chapter follows two liveaboards in sequence, from Raja Ampat’s coral kingdoms to Komodo National Park’s currents, sharks, underwater forests and dragons.
After Indonesia
Two liveaboards end with a hundred logged dives, a divemaster card and the certainty that the sea will remain part of whatever comes next.
Bhinneka Tunggal IkaNational motto of Indonesia
Unity in Diversity
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.
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.