Calico Jack · Indonesia · 12D/11N
You'll embark on an extraordinary dive journey across Indonesia, exploring a minimum of 34 distinct underwater environments. Each day promises a rhythm of exploration within diverse dive sites, where walls drop into the abyss and vibrant reef flats teem with life. Expect exhilarating drift dives along channels, propelled by gentle currents revealing schools of fish and intricate coral formations. You'll encounter majestic manta rays gliding effortlessly, reef sharks patrolling their territories, and the fascinating, elusive pygmy seahorses tucked away in their miniature worlds. Exploring the dynamic waters, you'll discover both monumental pelagic encounters and the intricate wonders of macro life. The diving experience here offers a comprehensive immersion into Indonesia's rich marine biodiversity, showcasing both its grand scale and its delicate details.
Meet & greet at the airport. Group transfer to the port. Onboarding, meeting the crew & briefing. Guests are picked up at their hotel or Sorong airport and transferred to the harbour, where the crew welcomes them onboard Calico Jack. Following refreshments and a short tour of the ship, guests are briefed on safety, diving operations, and life onboard. The vessel sets sail at approximately 11 am (or when the last guest has boarded) and cruises through Sele Strait to reach the East of Misool, a navigation of roughly 12 hours. This allows time for guests to get acquainted with the ship, set up dive gear & cameras, and meet and socialise with other guests and the crew.
Misool is located South of Raja Ampat and features steep rocks with vertical walls, soft, colourful corals, and sea fans. The itinerary includes visits to the following areas and dive sites around East Misool (weather permitting): 1) Balbulol (No Contest, Dangerous Kayak, Love Potion, Number 9, Pet Rock) Schools of platax, snapper and bump head parrotfish are found at these dive sites, including barracudas and jacks surrounding the pinnacles. The vessel anchors for the night in a hidden lagoon, an anchorage inside a narrow bay enclosed by towering rocks. Guests explore another lagoon by dinghy. As night falls, Palm Cockatoos can be seen and heard roosting along the rainforest edges. 2) Daram (Candy Store, Warna Berwana, Andiamo) Andiamo is a large reef with a submerged pinnacle covered in sea fans and surrounded by schools of fusiliers and batfish. Black tip reef sharks and napoleon wrasse are also found here. Candy Store is covered in giant sponges, soft corals, and sea fans. In the valleys, schools of fusiliers, butterfly fish, and barracuda gather. 3) Warokaraket/Boo Island (Shadow Reef, Jamur Boo, Yellit Kecil or Besar) + Night Dive Shadow Reef (Magic Mountain) is a notable diving site in Raja Ampat. An offshore pinnacle with a long and narrow ridge, it features shoals of bannerfish, pyramid butterfly, and yellow snappers on top of the ridge, stalked by giant trevallies, orange-spotted jacks & longnose emperors. The ridge descends, with yellowtail barracudas patrolling the upper sector and white tip and grey reef sharks found under large coral tables. At the end of the peninsula is a cleaning station where oceanic manta rays are cleaned by wrasse and other reef fish. Boo Rock (Jamur Boo) features "windows" or rounded openings on the end of the largest rock that pierce the reef from the surface down to five meters. The two rocks are connected underwater by a reef with soft corals and fish. Marine life includes reef sharks, parrotfish, surgeonfish, schooling batfish, fusiliers, snappers, moray eels, a wide variety of nudibranchs, unicornfish, octopus, and green turtles. Yellit Kecil's main characteristic is the large number of nembrotha nudibranchs that can be observed on the ridge. 4) Wayilbatan (Dunia Kecil, Barracuda Rock, Four Kings, Wedding Cake) + Night Dive The Wayilbatan area has dive sites with a range of marine diversity and topography. At Wedding Cake, schools of batfish, trevallies, barracuda and pygmy seahorses congregate. In the afternoon, guests have the opportunity for kayaking and paddle boarding amongst the lagoons. Four Kings dive site comprises four underwater pinnacles covered in soft coral and colourful tunicates. Divers can swim from one rock to the next. The site features soft corals, abundant fish life, and turtles. 5) Yilliet (No Contest, Dangerous Kayak, Love Potion, Number 9, Pet Rock) A short morning navigation leads to the Fiabacet area for diving. The reefs here feature colourful soft corals and sea fans. A deep underwater ridge connects the islands of Boo in the East to Kalig in the West. In certain areas, the ridge becomes shallower, forming dive sites including Batu Kecil (Tank Rock), Nudi Rock, and Whale Rock. This area has one of the most extensive reef systems in Raja Ampat, offering a range of marine diversity. Marine life includes abundant fish, pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs, colourful anemones, and reef sharks. 6) Wagmab (3 Rocks, Goa Farondi) Located 20 km from Misool Island, the islet of Farondi is a dive site known for its landscape of tunnels, caverns, boulders, and colourful walls. The western face of Farondi Island has two large caves with a shallow reef and a cliff north of the headland. Here, a shallow garden of stony corals gradually becomes a sandy slope which is home to large gorgonian fans and barbican pygmy seahorses. Goa Besar, south of Farondi, consists of superficial shelved gardens of yellow-coloured soft corals, wall tops with plate corals, leather corals, yellow and purple sea squirts, and hollows filled with coral shrubberies, sponges, and red ornamental ghost pipefish. Tunnels in the caves feature green soft coral trees and sponges and house night-time snapper and sweetlips. Late in the afternoon, after the third dive, the vessel departs North and sets sail for an overnight cruise to Penemu Island, a navigation of approximately 12 hours.
Continued exploration of the East Misool area. The exact dive sites are chosen by the cruise director each day based on currents, weather and tides, drawing from the operator's standard Misool pool: Balbulol (No Contest, Dangerous Kayak, Love Potion, Number 9, Pet Rock), Daram (Candy Store, Warna Berwana, Andiamo), Warokaraket/Boo Island (Shadow Reef/Magic Mountain, Jamur Boo, Yellit Kecil/Besar), Fiabacet (Nudi Rock, Tank Rock, Whale Rock), and the Wayilbatan/Wedding Cake area. Typically 3 day dives plus 1 night dive.
Dive sites: Balbulol, Daram, Boo Island (Shadow Reef), Fiabacet, Wayilbatan, Whale Rock, Nudi Rock
Continued exploration of the East Misool area. The exact dive sites are chosen by the cruise director each day based on currents, weather and tides, drawing from the operator's standard Misool pool: Balbulol (No Contest, Dangerous Kayak, Love Potion, Number 9, Pet Rock), Daram (Candy Store, Warna Berwana, Andiamo), Warokaraket/Boo Island (Shadow Reef/Magic Mountain, Jamur Boo, Yellit Kecil/Besar), Fiabacet (Nudi Rock, Tank Rock, Whale Rock), and the Wayilbatan/Wedding Cake area. Typically 3 day dives plus 1 night dive.
Dive sites: Balbulol, Daram, Boo Island (Shadow Reef), Fiabacet, Wayilbatan, Whale Rock, Nudi Rock
Continued exploration of the East Misool area. The exact dive sites are chosen by the cruise director each day based on currents, weather and tides, drawing from the operator's standard Misool pool: Balbulol (No Contest, Dangerous Kayak, Love Potion, Number 9, Pet Rock), Daram (Candy Store, Warna Berwana, Andiamo), Warokaraket/Boo Island (Shadow Reef/Magic Mountain, Jamur Boo, Yellit Kecil/Besar), Fiabacet (Nudi Rock, Tank Rock, Whale Rock), and the Wayilbatan/Wedding Cake area. Typically 3 day dives plus 1 night dive.
Dive sites: Balbulol, Daram, Boo Island (Shadow Reef), Fiabacet, Wayilbatan, Whale Rock, Nudi Rock
Continued exploration of the East Misool area. The exact dive sites are chosen by the cruise director each day based on currents, weather and tides, drawing from the operator's standard Misool pool: Balbulol (No Contest, Dangerous Kayak, Love Potion, Number 9, Pet Rock), Daram (Candy Store, Warna Berwana, Andiamo), Warokaraket/Boo Island (Shadow Reef/Magic Mountain, Jamur Boo, Yellit Kecil/Besar), Fiabacet (Nudi Rock, Tank Rock, Whale Rock), and the Wayilbatan/Wedding Cake area. Typically 3 day dives plus 1 night dive.
Dive sites: Balbulol, Daram, Boo Island (Shadow Reef), Fiabacet, Wayilbatan, Whale Rock, Nudi Rock
The vessel arrives at Penemu's My Reef dive site in the early morning. Divers explore one of the largest populations of fish in the area. The site is notable when the current is strong. After breakfast, dives are conducted at Melissa's Garden, a site known for its extensive hard coral reefs, and Galaxy, a large reef with abundant marine life. In the afternoon, after the third dive, guests take a short boat tour to Penemu and walk up to the viewpoint above Penemu's star-shaped lagoons. There is time for kayaking and paddleboarding amongst the karst limestone landscape before sunset and dinner onboard.
The day starts with early navigation to the Wofo Island area, the most northern point of the cruise. In the morning, dives are conducted at Wofo's Black Forest, traversing a deep black fan landscape and rising to a shallow reef. The second dive is at Wofo Tembok (a wall dive) and the next is at Teman Wofo. The evening is spent on the beach with a Calico Jack beach BBQ party. The crew socialises with guests. Activities include relaxing on bean bags under a pagoda, exploring the beach, and observing local hermit crabs.
An early morning navigation brings the vessel to the Mangrove Anchorage in the passage of Gam and Yangeffo. Dive sites in West Waigeo include Citrus Ridge, Mayhem, and Way Pretty Shallow. In the right conditions, currents can bring schools of barracudas, three species of fusiliers, trevallies, batfish, bump head parrotfish, wobbegongs, as well as black and white tip reef sharks.
After a morning in the mangroves, a short journey is made to dive at Lalosi, a hard coral sea-mount with a diverse range of sea life when currents are strong. The next dive is at Manta Sandy, a Manta ray congregation spot and cleaning station. Divers can observe manta rays feeding on plankton and being cleaned by several species of wrasse and butterfly fish. In the afternoon, the vessel moves to Arborek in Dampier Strait. Guests visit the local village to see the traditional way of life before a night dive at the Arborek Pier. The posts at Arborek Pier in the shallows are covered in soft corals, with pipefish and cuttlefish deeper below. On the reef, giant clams are found among soft corals, providing shelter for hermit crabs, flatworms, and skeleton shrimp.
Diving is conducted in the morning at Cape Kri, a site with large concentrations of big fish. Large schools of trevallies, barracudas, bannerfish, sweetlips, tuna, and snappers congregate at these sites. Large grey reef sharks can also be seen. In the afternoon, there is time to relax on a secluded beach at Kri before the vessel sails back to Sorong, arriving later in the evening.
After breakfast, guests and crew exchange photos and contact information. The crew of Calico Jack assists with disembarkation and provides transport for guests to their hotel or the airport.