For something different in the Raja Ampat I can certainly recommend ‘The Passage’, usually made as a day trip away from the technicolour reefscapes that the region is perhaps better known for. The journey itself is worth making, we passed through a stunning network of jungle entrenched islands of the wider known Waigeo area to get to this channel of water that combines eerie mangrove shores with shallow water corals and fans.
We waited on the banks for the right time to enter, get it right and The Passage actually becomes more of a river which makes for an exhilarating drift for the final part of the dive. As the leaves started to move around us we entered to find a gentle manageable current, sticking close to the banks meant we had plenty of time to take some photos, looking up at gorgonian fans backdropped by hanging forest is quite brilliant.
Towards the end of the dive the general procedure is to stick nice and close to your buddy and move to a more central area of The Passage to make the most of the current. By now it had picked up and we were pushed along quite rapidly whilst finding cover behind the big boulders – a great dive and altogether something completely different. The photos only give a vague idea of how unique this wonderful habitat is.
You can dive this region of Raja Ampat from the Sorido Bay Resort.
