Cenderawasih Bay

The days here do not look like normal diving. Boats tie up alongside the fishing platforms early and stay put, and the animals come to the boat rather than the other way round: you get in, hang under the nets and stay until you are cold or low on gas, then repeat. Sessions run on snorkel or on scuba depending on the hour and the operator, and a code of conduct applies throughout, with no touching and a wide berth given to the flanks and tail. It is common to log more hours in the water across one of these days than on a conventional three-dive schedule.

Away from the platforms the bay is a large, quiet body of water ringed by fringing reef, sloping coral shoulders and the occasional wall or submerged pinnacle. Currents are usually gentle and the reef diving is unhurried. Hard coral is in good condition, though fish density is generally reported as lower than in the better-known parts of Papua, and the bay's long geological isolation has left it with fish found here and in few other places, which is much of what brings divers back a second time.

Itineraries generally work the platforms first and fill the rest with reef, jetty and the war material scattered around the bay: hulls and aircraft from the Pacific campaign, some shallow enough to dive, though identifications are often local and not always firm. Harbour wrecks near the gateway ports commonly bookend a route. Anchorages are far apart, so whole days go to steaming, and weather can reorder a schedule at short notice.

This is a destination for one thing done properly. If a repeatable, unhurried whale shark encounter justifies several flights and a long boat trip, the bay earns the effort; anyone after dense reef fish, varied macro or short travel is better served by Raja Ampat or Sulawesi. It also asks for self-sufficiency, since the bay is a long way from medical help, so conservative profiles, dive insurance and patience with delays matter more here than any particular skill in the water.