Exploring Uncharted FakFak

Tim Rock & Miyuki Konda · Issue 42, May/Jun 2008 · pp. 50–53

Products mentioned: Tokina 10-17, Nikon D200, Aquatica Housing, Ikelite DS125 Strobes, Sigma 10-20

The last best place. Natural Wonder. Heart of Diversity. The new Mecca for divers. So many superlatives have been heaped upon Indonesia’s Raja Ampat region that I was a bit skeptical. But when The Seahorse’s cruise director Alberto Reija called me and told me about an exploratory cruise to Triton Bay and other Raja regions I told him I was in. I had to see this place for myself. And you know what? It’s really good diving. It is all that it’s cracked up to be. It’s a pretty special place. But what was even more special was the area we explored at the start of the trip. This was Triton Bay and FakFak. And it’s simply amazing. Reefs in this oddly named “coral triangle” include tracts off the coasts of Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and East Timor. They are the ocean’s more diverse and are home to roughly 600 species of reef-building coral. I was …