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Critters & Pelagic

Oct-Apr

Raja Ampat

UD Rating – 4 Star

Dewi Nusantara

The best way to dive Raja Ampat!

The majestic Dewi Nusantara offers outstanding style, comfort and unforgettable diving itineraries around the Raja Ampat archipelago, Banda Sea and the Komodo National Park.

The magnificent Dewi Nusantara is a three masted wooden motor boat with a design that takes you back to the classic sailing days. To set Dewi apart from all other boats operating around Indonesian waters is the design based on inspirations from stylish European and American vessels of that elegant sailing period. A trip aboard will give you the opportunity to extensively experience and explore some of Indonesia’s premier dive locations inside the internationally known “Coral Triangle” area.

Dewi’s air conditioned cabins are all individually designed and adapted for either twin or double use, all fitted with its own elegant en-suite bathroom, reading lights, desk and chair, 220V power points and clothing storage. The master suite is ideal for a special occasion with a double bed and sumptuous furnishings, a jacuzzi bath and 180 degree views over the ocean from the rear of the boat.

The friendly and experienced crew members that originally come from all over Indonesia are always up for a laugh and happy to assist with your every need, whether it is a game of chess, an ice cold drink on the sundeck or to get you into a tender for a magnificent dive. The main deck houses most of the Dewi’s facilities including a huge dive deck and a large indoor camera room with a work bench of 8 meters long with individual power outlets and spotlights under the castle deck. Perfect for the keen underwater photographer and videographer. The boat is also equipped with Nitrox facilities and will be offering rebreather diving in the near future.

The meals prepared aboard consist of an international mix with a local flair. The chefs and kitchen crew are always happy to accommodate any special dietary requirements when informed in advance. Certain special dietary and beverage requests may not be available on a consistent basis due to the remote nature of the trip location.

The Ultimate Diving team will offer you the best flight connections at the time of booking at an additional cost

Route Options

Experience magical up-close encounters with pelagics and photograph the stunning corals and the marine creatures they house at Raja Ampat.

Raja Ampat on the western tip of Papua New Guinea also known as “The Four Kings”, represents the main islands of Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool as well as an additional 1500 sand and small rock islands with amazing channels, mangroves, caves and tunnels home to over 1000 species of fish. At the beautiful island of Mansuar you will experience up close encounters with majestic manta rays. Jef Fam, a group of unique islands, offers sightings of wobbegong and epaulet sharks as well as sites covered with colourful hard and soft corals.

With an overall length of 57 meters, there are eight spacious air-conditioned staterooms that can be adapted to either twin or double use, each with its own ensuite bathroom. Her discreet and attentive Indonesian crew of 18 is complemented by four dive-masters who all have a long experience in the area. With her state of the art diving equipment Dewi Nusantara has become the ultimate live-aboard diving platform in Indonesia.

Starting and finishing at Manokwari, our 11-night Cenderawasih Bay cruises offer nine and a half days of spectacular and varied diving, with between two and four dives per day and many fascinating land excursions along the way.

The diverse underwater and stunning topside worlds of Indonesia have combined to produce yet another wonderful destination, with something very special for every adventurous diver and intrepid traveller the world over. Let Dewi Nusantara be your luxury home away from home in this beautifully unique part of the world.

Like the graceful manta ray, whalesharks are great favourites with divers and just seem to glide though the water, without a care in the world, feeding on microscopic plankton and other small organisms while all you have to do is keep up with them for a photo or video scene. Now we present a whaleshark encounter like no other, the Cenderawasih Bay Big Boys an awe-inspiring and humbling experience.

Fortunately for us and more so for the whalesharks, the local fishermen took their presence as a good luck omen and in time struck up a relationship with them, to the point where they can now hand feed the sharks the same as you would a cow.

The Cenderawasih National Park - covering 14,000 square kilometres and Indonesia’s largest, is half as much again bigger than that of Raja Ampat and has some splendid diving, even without the Indonesian Throughflows’ natural currents.

The World War Two remains of the US Navy and Japanese invaders conflict over Papua New Guinea left some extravagant wrecks and reefs.

Due to its inverted architecture, the Cenderawasih reefscape is one of the few places in the world where it is possible to observe and photograph marine species that normally live in far deeper water.

In the Arfak Reserve, it is reckoned that 320 bird species have been recorded, with around 50% of these endemic to the region.

Facing north out into the vast Pacific Ocean, Cenderawasih Bay has features that are rare, even when taking into consideration the incredible range and diversity of diving in other parts of Indonesia. In contrast to many of the other Indonesian dive centres of excellence, Cenderawasih is the only one not to be greatly affected by what is known as the “Indonesian Throughflow”.

Vessel Details

Guest Numbers 18
Length & Width 47 metres long and 12 metres beam
Engines 2 x 500 HP Nissan twin turbo diesel units
Generators Twin generators - 220 volts
Number of Cabins 8 double and twin deluxe cabins and 1 master suite
Salon & Dining Area Large lounge and both indoor and outdoor dining areas
Entertainment Dewi Nusantara has a multi-system TV unit for digital video camera playback, a compact disc player, a DVD player and iPod docking player in the main salon.
Emergency Equipment Oxygen system with 100% demand /Medic First Aid Kit
Equipment Rental There are six full sets of scuba equipment ranging from small to extra-large at USD300 per trip
Dive Deck Large dive deck with camera room
Full Set of Equipment Other than dive cylinders, weights and weight belt at USD300 per trip

Available Experiences

ITINERARIES AVAILABLE IN THIS DESTINATION

Marcelina

Friday, 06 December 2013

Fabulous Fiji by Marcelina Jesus on Sport Diver Magazine

Lured by the promise of world-class reefs and adrenaline-fueled shark encounters Marcelina Jesus ventures to the wild islands of Fiji.

Fabulous Fiji by Marcelina Jesus on Sport Diver Magazine

What Our Customers Have To Say

Reviews from our Clients, Journalists, Photo Pro's and our own Experts

Our reviews and blogs are an additional guide to evaluate of the holiday is exactley what you are looking for or not. Some love an Eco-Resort, some love air-con and a flat screen TV, we aim to ensure you get what you are looking for, at great value for money.

10 nights aboard the Dewi Nusantara

We have been very happy with the service we have received from Marcelina at Ultimate Diving for our diving holidays at Layang Layang (2013) and Raja Ampat (2015). The latter especially was not easy to arrange, flights were cancelled and changed and her suggestion of overnight in Manado worked very well. We will certainly use Ultimate Diving again.

Steve & Carole

Manta Sandy

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Manta Sandy also known as Manta Mantra is one of the signature dive sites in Raja Ampat located at the far end of Mansour Island. As the name implies the sandy bottom is a great place to watch these magnificent underwater creatures. The cleaning station is only 12 metres away and here you can watch the mantas being cleaned with some staying as long as 10 minutes.

  • Min Dives: 10
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth:

Whale Rock

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

The rocky islet has a distinctive whale shape when it is viewed from the south, hence the name. Due to the exposed position of the island, most dives here are drift dives, and it will be enjoyable for divers to drift along the gently sloping reef beautifully encrusted with corals and sponges.

  • Min Dives: 6
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth: 18

Boo Windows

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

The dive site showcases large underwater windows that rest just below the surface. Aside from this, the site is dripping with soft corals and schooling fish.

  • Min Dives: 6
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth: 18

Sardine Reef

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Soft coral, gorgonian fans, black coral bushes and slopes of coral heads populate the whole Sardine Reef area. Large schools of fusiliers, sardines, damsels, banner fish, butterfly fish, sweetlips and snappers frequent the site, picking tasty morsels out of the current. Triggerfish and predators such as barracuda, Spanish mackerel, Jacks and giant trevallies can be seen as well. At the top of the food-chain, black tipped reef sharks, white tipped reef sharks and even grey reef sharks usually cruise the surroundings.

  • Min Dives: 6
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth: 18

Cape Kri

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

At the Northeast point of Kri island the currents sweep into a channel between Kri and the small island of Koh. At this point beneath waters churning in the current, huge schools of Big-eye trevallies, Barracudas and Snappers can be seen hanging over the drop-off. At the base of the reef an ancient snagged anchor rests next to a bommie with a dense school of Banded sweetlips. A large shallow coral garden crowns the reef top with blacktip reef sharks patrolling amongst the overlapping maze of hard corals with feeding hawksbill turtles. Car-sized Queensland groupers down to the diminutive ever-present pygmy seahorse can be seen on this phenomenal dive site.

  • Min Dives: 6
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth: 18

Arborek Jetty

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

While down in the coral rubble on the slope around the jetties you will find jawfish, pipefish and other critters. Further down are several bommies which are home to some schooling sweetlips and numerous critters.

  • Min Dives: 6
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth: 18

Melissa's Garden

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

The dive site features an oval-shaped reef with a flat top where extended areas of coral gardens impress divers with their intense colors and beautiful forms. Bright soft-coral outcrops, sponges, and masses of crinoids are densely scattered between impressive hard-coral formations, where a large array of small marine creatures found their shelters.

  • Min Dives: 6
  • Dive Type: Boat Dive
  • Diver Level: Open Water Diver
  • Max Depth: 18
Dates Duration Route Room Type Price
19 May 2024
30 May 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583
13 Jul 2024
23 Jul 2024
10 Nights Dewi Nusantara Cenderawasih Bay Master Suite £6825
18 Aug 2024
28 Aug 2024
10 Nights Dewi Nusantara Cenderawasih Bay Master Suite £6825
30 Aug 2024
10 Sep 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Cenderawasih Bay Master Suite £6825
5 Oct 2024
16 Oct 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Standard Twin Stateroom £6383
17 Oct 2024
28 Oct 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583
10 Nov 2024
21 Nov 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583
22 Nov 2024
3 Dec 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583
4 Dec 2024
15 Dec 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583
16 Dec 2024
27 Dec 2024
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583
28 Dec 2024
8 Jan 2025
11 Nights Dewi Nusantara Raja Ampat Master Suite £7583