There are those destinations that just keep calling to you. Once you see photos or an advertisement from the place, you can’t stop thinking about it. Suddenly you see it everywhere — magazine articles, travel deals on the web, your friends mentioning it. Then the usual excuses — like I can’t afford it, it’s too hard to get to, I can’t get enough time off — don’t matter. You just have to go.

For me, that was the case with Raja Ampat. It was a magical place, just beyond my reach. There was always a reason why I couldn’t go and I was putting it away for years. I think I was a bit afraid that between my imagination, the idea of the region I had in my head and reality, I would be disappointed. It was safer to leave it be, keep it on the bucket list.

Things changed last year, when I decided to drop my live-aboard job and explore the Pacific. I wanted to go back to Palau, where I started my diving career, and see if it was the way I remembered it. From there, Raja Ampat was just around the corner (a meager 630 miles as the crow flies). There was no excuse not to add it as a destination (although I had to fly through Manila, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Sorong to get there – 5030 miles, give or take). After New Year’s in Palau, I got on the plane to head to Raja Ampat’s Misool area.

I invited some friends along on the trip and we met in Jakarta, two hours before our midnight flight to Sorong, West Papua, the gateway to Raja Ampat diving. Our plane touched down just after 7 a.m. and we were picked up by the Misool Eco Resort’s staff. The journey was not over yet — we still had a 4-hour boat ride to get there. It’s as remote as it gets, but we were soon to discover that it’s worth all the trouble.

Waking Up in a Dream

Exhausted after the days of travel, I fall asleep to the gentle sound of waves lapping against the pilings of my water bungalow. It’s not till the next morning, when I realize this place really is the stuff of legends – the view is nothing short of stunning.

Across the water, steep slopes of the rugged limestone islands get painted golden orange by the rising sun. Some shores are lined with white sand beaches and palm trees, but mostly they’re just rock shooting straight up. The water surface is smooth as glass, the sky clear blue. Topside, this archipelago made up of almost a thousand islands and islets, is truly fascinating, shaped by tectonic plate movement, changes in sea level and erosion. It’s especially evident in Misool area, where you can find caves full of stalactites and stalagmites.

Raja Ampat is in the heart of the Coral Triangle – the most biodiverse and rich underwater ecosystem in the world. The Triangle is an area bound by Malaysia, Indonesia, New Guinea and the Philippines. This is where the Indian and Pacific Oceans meet, which accounts for some of its incredible marine diversity, with over 1500 species of fish and 75% of all of world’s known corals.

Literally translated as “Four Kings”, the name comes from the origin legend, and the short version is that a woman finds six eggs, out of which four hatch to become kings. They settle on the four biggest islands: Misool, Salawati, Batanta and Waigeo.

Historically, the four rajas were appointed by the sultan of Molukas in the 15th century, to take seat on the four islands.

Magical Misool

Raja Ampat has only recently been “discovered” for tourism due to its remoteness. Meanwhile a lot of the islands have functioned in the “old ways” – away from globalization, pollution and overexploitation, which helped in preserving this nearly pristine environment.

The archipelago is quite big and most live-aboards offer itineraries focusing on one part or the other and it will most likely take more than one trip to visit most points of interest.

I was lucky to spend five weeks at Misool Eco Resort, nearby the Misool island, southwest of Sorong.

Misool area is a special place – possibly the only one in the world, where the biomass (the amount of life per cubic foot of water) has doubled over the past couple years, according to a recent study by Conservation International. The reefs are colored with soft corals and sea fans and the water column is teeming with fish life.

It’s not only the clean waters rich in nutrients that are responsible for the abundant life, but also some very dedicated people working with the locals to preserve this area – the Misool Baseftin foundation and its ranger patrols.

In 2005, the owners of Misool Eco Resort, Andrew and Marit Miners, established the first No-Take Zone, which in 2010 expanded to a total of 465 square miles. The area was leased directly from the local community and it wasn’t hard to explain the idea, since Raja Ampat has a long tradition of “closing” and “opening” areas for fishing in order to maintain sustainability, called “Sasi”.

The success of this conservation project lies in involving the locals, who actively participate in protecting the No Take Zone as Rangers. They patrol the waters, preventing and sometimes stopping illegal fishing in the area.

The efforts of Misool Eco Resort’s and Misool Baseftin’s staff have clear benefits. Healthy, rich reefs are paradise to divers and underwater photographers, as well as scientists from all over the world.

In the dive community this area is known for signature dive sites like Boo Window. You can dive here all day every day and even though the site itself is quite small – you can easily navigate all the way around in a single dive – it’s different every time. The “windows”, large openings in the rock island, look differently depending on the time of day and the direction of the sun.

The reef on the site is rich in soft coral and sea fans. The dive guides know where to look for creatures like the white frogfish and a resident wobbegong shark. A big school of golden spadefish regularly visits the site and occasionally you can spot a large stingray sleeping on the tip of the reef.

What the reefs amaze with the most is the incredible mass of soft corals in all imaginable colors. Sites like Fiabacet Pinnacle or Yillet can keep you occupied for hours, taking photos or just swimming around, looking for sea kraits and scorpionfish.

As far as critters go, you’ll find everything from pygmy seahorses to oceanic mantas in Misool. There are a couple species of the former to be found, with Bargibanti’s pygmy seahorse being the most common. You don’t need to dive down to 120 feet to find them either – I was lucky to take photos of one on a sea fan just under Misool Eco Resort’s jetty, in 40 feet of water. Keep an eye out for Raja Ampat color variation of the Denis’ pygmy as well.

Some of Misool’s most sought after macro life includes candy crabs, a large variety of nudibranchs and harlequin shrimp. The guides with their keen eyes seem to spot them without a problem, although most of the creatures are well camouflaged.

You won’t see many sharks around (more about that in an upcoming blog), but there are some species worth looking for. The resident tassled wobbegong sharks can be regularly found on some dive sites (including the house reef).

This is also the only place you can find the endemic Raja Ampat epaulette shark, known as the “walking shark”. This nocturnal species is known for “walking” along the reef using its pectoral fins – you won’t see it swimming, but if you disturb it, it will “run” away. You are likely to spot them on a night dive at Epaulette City.

One of the most famous and most visited dive sites in the area is the Magic Mountain. This underwater mound is usually hit by strong currents bringing in nutrients and is a beacon for all kinds of fish life. Huge schools of fusiliers and golden spadefish circle the top of the mound in 40ft of water, resident wobbegong sharks hide under ledges and occasionally an epaulette shark can be found. If you’re lucky a rare in this area grey reef shark or a black tip shark will pass by.

The main attraction of Magic Mountain comes from the blue water though. On the top of the ridge there is a cleaning station which attracts the graceful manta rays. It’s the only known place in the world where you can see both reef and oceanic mantas at the same time. Why do they come here and where do they go when they’re away?

Stay tuned for the next episode of this blog to learn all about Misool’s manta rays and what it’s like to be the only researcher studying mantas in Indonesia full time.

Aleksandra Bartnicka has traveled the world as an underwater photographer. Originally from Warsaw, Poland, Aleks has lived and worked on Palau and is the former photo pro aboard the Aqua Cat in the Bahamas. To see more of her work and read her blog, visit Project Stillwater.