Snorkel the Coral Triangle: Sulawesi, Halmahera & Raja Ampat

The expedition begins with pickup at Manado International Airport and embarkation onto the liveaboard vessel. The first two days are spent snorkeling the walls and reef flats of Bunaken Marine Park, one of Indonesia’s most celebrated marine protected areas, with stops at Raymond’s Point, Bunaken Timur, and Lekuan 2. Expect dramatic drop-offs, exceptionally clear water, and a level of fish density that’s rare even by Coral Triangle standards, along with early encounters with black tip and white tip reef sharks and green and hawksbill turtles. Days follow a relaxed liveaboard rhythm: morning and afternoon snorkel outings from the tender, with breaks aboard the main vessel in between.

Snorkeling continues at Batu Mandi and Sabora, where shallow reefs give way to soft coral gardens and some of the largest gorgonian sea fans on the route.

The only fully land-based day of the expedition. Travelers disembark for a guided wildlife walk through Tangkoko Nature Reserve, home to the tiny, wide-eyed Spectral tarsier, black-crested macaques, hornbills, and the endemic Sulawesi cuscus. By evening, the vessel departs for the crossing to Halmahera. 

Three days exploring one of the least-visited reef systems in Indonesia. Halmahera’s isolation is its defining feature. Here you can expect quiet anchorages, a local village visit, and reefs that see only a fraction of the traffic found elsewhere in the Coral Triangle. Highlights include Pulau Siko, a shallow manta cleaning station at Manta Point with regular sightings and black tip reef sharks, hard coral gardens and huge table corals at Sali and Proco islands, and increasingly technicolor reefscapes at Joronga and Pisang islands, where white tip reef sharks and eagle rays round out the sightings. On day 7, we will make an overnight crossing into Raja Ampat’s Misool region.

Three full days in what many consider the crown jewel of Raja Ampat. Misool’s remoteness and strict marine protection have allowed its reefs to flourish largely undisturbed, and the snorkeling here reflects it. We will snorkel Kapatacol and Wayil Island, where walls are draped in hard and soft corals, barracuda and dogtooth tuna swim past, and hawksbill sea turtles are seen.

A full and varied day pairing land and water. Travelers trek up to the Piaynemo viewpoint, a karst-studded lagoon view that has become the defining image of Raja Ampat, before returning to the water for two contrasting snorkel sites: Melissa’s Garden, prized for its coral coverage, and Harto’s Reef, where sightings of eagle rays, clown trigger fish, octopus, and the striking Napoleon wrasse are common.

A day built around Raja Ampat’s mangrove ecosystems. A morning birdwatching outing by boat is followed by snorkeling along a mangrove-fringed ridge, where hard and soft corals grow in the shelter of the root systems. This is a distinct habitat from the open reefs earlier in the trip, rich with schooling scad, cuttlefish, octopus, and nudibranchs.

Today we will go ashore to visit the village of Sauwandarek, a peaceful eco-tourism village on the southwestern coast of Mansuar Island. Home to a tight-knit community of fewer than 200 residents, the village is internationally renowned as the “Turtle City” for the massive green sea turtles that frequent its pristine coral reefs. Travelers are greeted by friendly villagers and children before returning to the water to snorkel directly off the village jetty and at nearby Yambuba Jetty, both known for large resident schools of sweetlips, along with Napoleon wrasse, bumphead parrotfish, and green and hawksbill turtles.

The final full day combines a birdwatching excursion in search of the red bird-of-paradise, one of Raja Ampat’s most sought-after endemic species, with a snorkel at Batu Lima, home to schooling batfish and barracuda alongside reef sharks. In the evening, the vessel makes the transit toward Sorong.

The expedition concludes with disembarkation in Sorong, marking the end of a 15-day journey across three of Indonesia’s most extraordinary marine regions.