Travel

Stunning corals in less than 15 feet of water at the Citrus Ridge dive site, a popular day trip from Kri Island (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/13, 1/400s, ISO 500)
 

In February 2025, we made our first visit to Raja Ampat and chose Kri Island as our base. Kri is where diving first got a foothold in Raja back in the 1990s. During our visit, we stayed at both resorts operated by Papua Diving Resorts: Kri Eco Resort and Sorido Bay Resort.

After our fantastic experience at Kri Eco Resort, this article focuses on our equally wonderful stay at Sorido Bay. Both resorts were incredible places to uncover the underwater magic of Raja Ampat, and we were able to see firsthand why this is considered one of the world’s best dive destinations.
 

An aerial view of Kri Island as seen from the east: Sorido Bay Resort is nestled in amongst the trees in the foreground cove, while Kri Eco Resort is near the jetty, visible further back, on the right in this photo
 

Raja Ampat’s very first dive resort was Kri Eco Resort, established on the island by Dutch explorer Max Ammer, who pioneered diving in the region three decades ago. It began with a few rustic West Papuan-style huts, and although comfort has improved over time, Kri Eco still embodies that down-to-earth spirit and simplicity.

A few years later, Sorido Bay Resort was established as a more luxurious alternative for travelers seeking to indulge a little more while staying in one of the wildest corners of the planet. With only nine beachfront bungalows, the resort manages to offer high standards of accommodation without compromising on its sense of seclusion. Guests can choose among three accommodation categories: five Sentani bungalows (645 sq ft), two Kaimana bungalows (970 sq ft), and two Kebar bungalows (1290 sq ft). Each features air conditioning, luxurious bedding, an elegant en-suite bathroom, and—my favorite feature—a private camera room. We stayed in Kaimana #2 and absolutely loved it.
 

A serene ocean view from the front of a Kebar room
 

A tastefully decorated Kebar bungalow: All bungalows are elegantly furnished and provide a great setting for unwinding after a day of diving
 

Delicious buffet-style meals are served three times a day at a communal table, providing the opportunity to exchange stories with other guests about the day’s underwater adventures. Between meals, snacks are available in the cosy lounge adjoining the dining area. Keep an eye out for the local wildlife: a friendly cuscus bear occasionally visited the restaurant at dinnertime in hopes of stealing a piece of fruit, and the stunning Kofiau paradise kingfisher can often be spotted along the paths leading to your bungalow.

One thoughtful touch is the complimentary laundry service—simply drop your clothes in the basket provided, and they’ll be returned to your room, cleaned and neatly folded in no time. This is a real bonus when you could barely pack a pair of shorts between your camera housing, strobes and all manner of other underwater photography paraphernalia!

Beyond the comfort, cuisine, and attentive service, what struck me most was Sorido Bay’s unique setting. Nestled along a secluded cove, the resort overlooks calm turquoise water that doubles as an enjoyable shore dive and snorkeling site. Step just beyond the bay, and you’re right at Cape Kri, one of Raja Ampat’s most iconic dive sites. Sorido Bay Resort has also recently become the world’s first SEACAM Center. You can rent SEACAM equipment while staying at the resort, and learn from their ambassadors during photography workshops held at select times of the year.
 

Our very own camera room, complete with a rinse tub, towels, and an espresso machine! Underwater photographers are very well looked after at Sorido Bay
 

Sunrise at the communal dining table at Sorido Bay Resort

World-Class Diving

As fantastic as the resort itself is, it is the stunning underwater world that brings divers and photographers from all over the world to this spectacular place. Sorido Bay Resort is situated on the eastern tip of Kri Island, providing access to more than 30 dive sites—most of them a quick 5- to 20-minute boat ride away.

Each morning, a double-tank dive is organized, with a surface interval spent on an uninhabited island or at a picturesque Papuan village jetty. After lunch, afternoon dives usually depart around 3pm, followed by your choice of either a sunset or night dive. Certain days are devoted to ful-day trips, with up to three dives at more distant sites such as Melissa’s Garden, the Fam Islands, or Citrus Ridge, with a picnic in-between. The Papua Diving team was always attentive to guests’ preferences, so don’t hesitate to mention any site you’d like to visit—or revisit.

Diving takes place every day except Saturday, the staff’s rest day. However, guests may still enjoy self-guided shore dives from Sorido’s jetty to explore the sheltered bay.
 

A blacktip reef shark patrols the shallows at Melissa’s Garden, a dive site well known for being jam-packed with corals as far as the eye can see and a staggering diversity and density of fish life (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 500)
 

While hard corals reign supreme in the shallows at Melissa's Garden, the deeper areas of the site include some spectacular soft corals, saturated with gorgeous colors—provided you have strobes to bring them out (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/11, 1/200s, ISO 500)
 

Right beneath the Sorido jetty, a large anemone is home to photogenic clownfish. Mandarinfish and plenty of other fun critters provide lots of subject matter for a photographer on a self-guided house reef dive (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/16, 1/100s, ISO 500)
 

The resort’s dive boats are comfortable and limited to six guests per boat, plus guides and crew—something I greatly appreciated as an underwater photographer. I have seen other boats carrying groups of 12 divers or more, which can be quite chaotic, and from a photographic perspective, diving with that much company would make it hard to compose a wide-angle shot without bubbles in the frame.

All the dive guides and crew members know these waters intimately; some have logged over 10,000 dives in the Dampier Strait alone! That expertise is invaluable, as much of Raja Ampat’s marine life flourishes in areas with strong currents. Understanding and anticipating these currents is key to diving the right site at the right time. To that end, a guide always jumped in first to check the flow, occasionally prompting last-minute site changes to ensure we got the best conditions underwater.

While new divers may feel uneasy about currents, they are the reason why Raja Ampat’s reefs are so vibrant and filled with life. You’ll be diving with a reef hook, and the guides are always happy to help if you’re new to using one. During our stay, we only needed to use those hooks every few dives.
 

Several morning surface intervals were spent on the uninhabited island of Mioskon, which has several excellent dive sites in close proximity

Breathtaking Biodiversity

The waters around Raja rank among the most biodiverse on the planet. In 2012, marine biologist Dr Gerry Allen famously recorded 374 fish species on a single dive. That was at Cape Kri, right in front of Sorido Bay Resort! From megafauna like oceanic mantas with 15-foot wingspans to the most diminutive inch-long Denise’s pygmy seahorse, our cameras had little downtime underwater!

Between November and March, nutrient-rich water brings an abundance of plankton that attracts both oceanic and reef mantas, and we even spotted a few whales from the boat. The June-to-September period offers clearer water, but is considered “low season” in Raja Ampat, due to stronger winds. However, given Sorido Bay Resort’s location at the tip of Kri Island, the crew is usually able to pick dive sites sheltered from wind chops.

We visited during February, the peak season around Sorido. We brought both macro and wide-angle setups, but ended up shooting mostly wide angle. That was not for lack of macro life, but because of the lush coral gardens and abundant fish life, including schooling barracuda, batfish, surgeonfish, and glassfish—just to name a few. The dive plans also naturally lent themselves to wide-angle work, especially those dives where we drifted with the current.
 

My wife Lena observing a tasseled wobbegong. These ambush predators rely on their spectacular camouflage to remain hidden from both predator and prey (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/11, 1/100s, ISO 500)
 

A classic sight at select Raja Ampat sites are schools of brightly colored sweetlips, as here at Sawandarek (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/13, 1/100s, ISO 500)
 

At a site named Manta Ridge, while you hook onto the reef in the current, manta rays pass very close on their way to a cleaning station—a truly exhilarating experience (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/13, 1/250s, ISO 500)
 

This melanistic manta came a bit too close! (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/13, 1/200s, ISO 500)
 

Despite all that waxing poetic about Sorido Bay’s wide-angle opportunities, I did meet a few compact shooters, replete with Olympus/OM System TG cameras, who focused exclusively on macro, and their guides tailored dives accordingly, avoiding current-heavy sites to hunt for small critters. So, by no means rule out Raja Ampat if macro is your passion, but if you enjoy both worlds, you’ll want to make the most of these unique wide-angle photo opportunities.

I would recommend trading some night dives for sunset dives. Dusk brings a surge of activity: schools of fish racing across the reef, predators cruising in from the blue, and that electric “energy in the water” that made these dives truly special.
 

A tiny Denise’s pygmy seahorse, photographed on a coral fan at Cape Kri. Have a chat with your dive guide if this is the sort of subject you like to shoot, as they’re hard to find for the untrained eye! (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter Octo housing, AOI UCL-05L diopter, Backscatter Mini Flash 2, f/16, 1/160s, ISO 200)
 

Raja Ampat has no shortage of macro subjects, but they’re just easy to forget as the scenery is so spectacular! (Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark IV, Olympus M.Zuiko 60mm f/2.8 Macro, Backscatter Octo housing, AOI UCL-05L diopter, Backscatter Mini Flash 2, f/11, 1/160s, ISO 200)

Beyond Scuba

Raja Ampat is such a well-known diving mecca that I was expecting to meet only hardcore divers who wouldn’t rest unless they’d had at least four dives a day (yes, I’m one of them). To my surprise, several guests at Sorido Bay Resort weren’t even scuba divers—they came for snorkeling, birdwatching, kayaking, and simply unwinding amongst stunning nature. This included repeat visitors, which says a lot about the resort’s appeal beyond scuba diving.

If you’re reading this article, you’ll be well aware of the challenges faced by our oceans—plastic pollution, warming seas, habitat degradation, and more. As travelers, our spending choices matter, and this is particularly true when planning a trip to Raja Ampat. By staying at Sorido Bay Resort or Kri Eco Resort, you directly support Papua Diving’s conservation initiatives, which extend well beyond minimizing their own environmental footprint. The company funds scientific research in the region, provides hands-on training and employment opportunities for local Papuans, and works with government authorities to develop strategies to stop plastic waste from ending up in the ocean. For more details, see the “Conservation in Action” section of my article on Kri Eco Resort. Papua Diving’s commitment to protecting Raja Ampat under Max Ammer’s leadership is truly inspiring.
 

A barracuda school in the blue off the reef at Blue Magic (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/13, 1/200s, ISO 500)
 

Since I started diving in 2007, I’d heard countless stories about Raja Ampat, and I was eager to experience it for myself one day. In the end, both our “eco” and “luxury” stays on Kri Island more than lived up to our expectations. The sheer density of marine life—especially around Cape Kri—is astounding, from shimmering baitfish clouds to giant oceanic mantas. Simply put, it’s a dream destination for underwater photographers, particularly if you prefer wide angle. Being land-based meant focusing on one of Raja Ampat’s four regions, yet the 30-plus dive sites around Kri kept us more than busy, and we loved being able to revisit our favorites.

Choosing to stay with Papua Diving felt meaningful—an experience that combines world-class diving with tangible support for local communities and marine conservation. Whether you prefer to enjoy it in luxury at Sorido Bay Resort or in simplicity at Kri Eco Resort, your stay will help safeguard the very reefs that make Raja Ampat so special.
 

An oceanic manta at Blue Magic: We were fortunate enough to see mantas every time we dove at this site (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/11, 1/400s, ISO 500)
 

My wife Lena snorkeling in the lagoon right out in front of Sorido Bay Resort (Sony a1, Sony FE 28–60mm f/4–5.6, Nauticam NA-A1 housing, Nauticam FCP-1, dual Backscatter Hybrid Flash, f/22, 1/200s, ISO 800)
 

The friendly local cuscus bear, eyeballing the dinner table with hopes of stealing a snack!
 

The author would like to thank Papua Diving and the teams at both Kri Eco Resort and Sorido Bay Resort for their hospitality and for showing off the magic of Raja Ampat.
 

About the Author: Nicolas Remy is an Australia-based pro shooter and founder of online underwater photography school and community, The Underwater Club, with members in 18 countries. He serves as an ambassador for Nauticam and Mares, and chairs the jury of the prestigious DPG Masters photo competition. Nicolas’ images have been widely published in print and digital media, and have won over 40 international photo awards. To see more images by Nicolas and his wife Léna, visit their website, www.nicolaslenaremy.com.