The breath-taking Indonesia yacht charter destination – Raja Ampat has been visited by a record number of Superyacht Captains in the last six months, as reported by Richard Lofthouse and Jimmy Blee from Asia Pacific Superyachts.
The fabulous Indonesia yacht charter location - Raja Ampat
Among the visiting vessels, Jimmy refers to ‘Captain Rick’ from a well-known 50 metre Superyacht, who told him: “This place is truly amazing – the diversity of activities we can offer our guests combined with the natural beauty and friendly people make Raja Ampat the perfect cruising location for us. We love the place.”
A Raja Ampat cruising journey takes you through one of the world’s most exceptional marine areas and stunning sea and land scenes. Renowned for its biodiversity, Raja Ampat encompasses over 40,000 sq. kilometres in the northeast seas of the Indonesian Archipelago where the Pacific becomes the Indian Ocean.
The resulting currents stir up nutrient-rich water in the tropical climate, nurturing magnificent coral reefs and unparalleled marine life. A main attraction of Raja Ampat is the seascape, with incredible diving that reveals the most bio diverse coral reefs in the world. Above water is fantastic as well with islands cloaked in tropical jungle filled with unique flora and fauna, karst forests of rare orchids, sea eagles, tree kangaroos and beautiful birds of paradise.
Being located right on the equator, the Raja Ampat islands boasts amazing natural rainforest and thousands of species of birds, highlighted by the much sought after ‘Bird of Paradise’.
To get a sense of Raja Ampat history, other land attractions include a visit to North and West Waigeo where you can see a traditional bamboo flute (suling tambur) performance. World War II caves, where the Dutch and the Japanese army built bunkers and a place where locals will sometimes perform a war dance, are on North Waigeo.
Lofthouse notes, “The feedback we get from the diving in Raja Ampat starts at ‘breathtaking’ and ends when ours clients run out of superlatives! All of our clients, both Owners and Captains, rave about their Raja Ampat experience.”
A Captain in the area for 17 years, Jimmy Blee adds: “After having the privilege of guiding recent boats, such as Octopus, through Raja Ampat I can honestly say it is my favourite destination in Indonesia to cruise. The jungle, the people, and of course the seaways are magnificent. It is a challenge to service boats in this remote part of the world but through persistence we have all the logistics and systems in place to provide everything our clients need.”
