Dive Review of Papua Diving/Sorido Bay Resort in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat

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Papua Diving/Sorido Bay Resort: "Diver's Dream Resort", Dec, 2018, by Valera Sakhnenko, ON, CA ( Sr. Reviewer 11 reports with 11 Helpful votes). Report 10846 has 2 Helpful votes.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I am afraid that I could not imagine a better dive resort than Sorido Bay Resort (SBR). We learned about Sorido Bay Resort from a French couple, whom we met at Misool Eco Resort. They told us that they had 40 dive trips to Indonesia, and, in their opinion, Sorido Bay Resort was #1 dive resort. So, my wife and I ‘took a dive’ and booked 2.5 weeks with SBR for December 2018. SBR is a very small Resort - maximum 18 guests, but it is rarely full to 100%. This, along with the outstanding staff led by Chris, Jade and Rebeka, created a very welcoming, family-like atmosphere. All cottages are very spacious and they are located on a nice sandy beach, about 10 meters away from water. Design and quality of construction are very good. Everything in the Resort is well-thought out and built to last. Grounds at Sorido Bay are very nice, as there is a sandy beach, and you could go to another resort (Kri), which is just around the corner (about 15 - 20 min away), and has very good house reef, which is good for snorkelling as well. The only what we did not like at the resort is Indonesian food. Our diet is very close to a whole plant vegan diet, and we struggled a bit. Other people (not vegetarians/vegans), although, were quite happy with their food. Boat transfers are fairly short (less than 2 hrs) and very convenient. On a way back you could be in Sorong by 9 am, so you could catch a flight the same day, and do not 'waste' a day of your vacation on a transfer to and stay at Sorong, compared to resorts that are 3-4 hrs away from Sorong. Diving was fantastic. I was overwhelmed with the variety and number of fish and beauty of corals. ‘Dive guide to divers’ ratio is 1 to 3, but most of times for me it was 1 to 1. At Caribbean I used to write down fishes I saw. Here it was meaningless, because of the variety and number of fish and corals. Mantas were on top of each other and on top of divers (at Manta Dropoff site). There were many blacktip sharks, wobbegong sharks, crocodile fish, schools of bump head parrotfish, huge schools of jacks, barracudas, sweetlips (everywhere, but specifically at Cape Kri at 40 m), etc., etc., etc. Near Fam Islands we saw very big pod of dolphins (~100), but at the distance. I did not do the small staff, but some people did, and they were quite happy. Current in Sorido Bay area could be very strong, but guides are very careful to avoid any troubles. First of all, the see floor is at about 30 – 40 m only, so you could not get much into troubles to begin with. Secondly, at dive sites with strong current guides instructed us to stay at a depth with a mild current (lets say at 15 – 20 m), and only at the end of dive, when you ascend higher, you got picked up by current, and it is like a ride on a high speed train – a lot of fun. At one ‘manta’ site (Manta Dropoff), they actually secured a rope to accommodate a safety stop, because the current was very strong. In any case, fish is where the current is, and on a number of occasions we had to move to another dive site because there was no current (and not much fish). At another site (Manta Drop Off), we’ve been waiting for current for a few hours, and a lot of mantas came with the current. At the resort, we met number of couples, who after trying various resorts in Raja Ampat 'settled' at Sorido Bay Resort, which in their opinion is the best. We liked it too, and although our 'policy' is not to go to the same place twice, we booked with Sorido Bay Resort again for December 2019. You could see some videos from this trip here: [youtube.com link]
Websites	Papua Diving Sorido Bay Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, North Sulawesi, Raja Ampat, Hawaii
Closest Airport	Sorong	Getting There	Toronto-Hong-Kong-Jakarta-Sorong
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	26-28°C / 79-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	10-15 M / 33-49 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 min, 30 meters, but with special arrangement could be 40 m
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	Squadrons
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There is a ‘camera room’ in each cottage, which includes a long table, a camera washing sink and international plugs. Every guest is provided with a ‘camera taxi’, which is a glorified wheel barrel. I found this arrangement is more convenient than having a designated camera room. At the same time, they are in the process of building a designated camera room. On boats they have crates for cameras, but I had my own beer cooler bag.

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Papua Diving/Sorido Bay Resort in Indonesia/Raja Ampat

Papua Diving/Sorido Bay Resort: "Diver's Dream Resort", Dec, 2018,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Papua Diving/Sorido Bay Resort in
Indonesia/Raja Ampat