The Southern King — Sorong → Sorong · 7 days
Sorong → Sorong · 7 days
What happens when reefs are left alone
Twenty years ago, these waters were heavily fished, including for shark fins. Today, much of Misool is closed to fishing and patrolled by the villages that own the waters. Fish numbers have increased several times over inside protected zones, sharks have returned and manta populations are growing.
The Southern King
7 days
Sorong → Sorong
When
From December to February
The route
Sorong · Sele Strait · Daram · Fiabacet · Boo · Pele · Balbulol · Sorong
The diving
Mantas · Sharks · Wobbegongs · Walking sharks · Mobulas · Soft coral · Pygmy seahorses · Silversides
Beyond the Reef
Away from the dive sites, marine lakes lie hidden inside the islands and short climbs lead to limestone viewpoints over the archipelago.
On the cliffs, ancient red-ochre handprints, fish and figures remain from people who passed through thousands of years ago.
Unhurried
Short distances, open days
The boat leaves Sorong in the evening and runs south overnight through the Sele Strait, so the first morning already begins among the karst islands. From then until the final evening, distances are short and there are no more night passages. That leaves the week flexible.
The order can change with wind, current and conditions, and there is time to move beyond the familiar sites to quieter reefs, rarely photographed walls and bays where the only other boat may be a village canoe.
Daram
Small life in open water
On the eastern edge of Misool, ridges and rock towers rise in open water.
Barracuda hang off the corners, Spanish mackerel cut through the blue, and tiny red-and-white Santa Claus pygmy seahorses hide among the sea fans.
Fiabacet & Boo
Where the action builds
Further southwest, the diving changes gear.
Reef mantas move over the seamounts and cleaning stations, while fusiliers, snapper, batfish and sweetlips gather in dense schools. Grey reef sharks patrol the drop-offs, wobbegongs rest beneath table corals and walking sharks appear in the shallows after dark.
Pele
When the walls come alive
At Pele, the cast changes again.
Large groupers hold the reef, mobulas pass through in loose groups and batfish gather in the blue. When the silversides arrive, they can fill overhangs and entire sections of wall, drawing predators in from all around.
Balbulol
Where the reef turns
kaleidoscopic
Balbulol brings layers of soft coral and sea fans, with frogfish sitting in the open and nudibranchs hidden among the color.
In the afternoon, the tenders enter the lagoon system, threading between limestone into still green pools that only reveal themselves once you are inside.
That evening, the boat turns north through the Sele Strait for the overnight passage back to Sorong.
