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Maritime Festival 2010 Raja Ampat is a momentum of Raja Ampat, West Papua, to introduce yourself to the world especially as a maritime tourism destination internationally. Waisai, Raja Ampat, (Finroll) - Maritime Festival 2010 Raja Ampat is a momentum of Raja Ampat, West Papua, to introduce yourself to the world especially as a maritime tourism destination internationally.
Festival which opened Staff Advisor to the Minister of Culture and Social Institutions of Tourism field, Drs. Surya Yuga it was overrun by thousands of visitors, mostly domestic tourists, people from 17 districts of the district's seventh birthday, and also foreign tourists.
Raja Ampat Marine Festival 2010 was held on the beach Waisai Beloved (WTC), Waisai, the capital of Raja Ampat from 3 to 9 May.
The Raja Ampat regent, Drs. Marcus Wanma M. Si, said the Raja Ampat now being likened to primp like a girl to lure the men. "With more and more beautiful primp and is expected to be many men who would be enamored of its beauty," he said.
Raja Ampat is located at western tip of Papua island and right on the head of the bird has 610 small islands and four major islands, including Pulau smalldam, Batanta, Salawati and Misool.
Raja Ampat Islands with an area of about 46,000 km2 is "coral triangle" (coral Triangle), which consists of Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Timor Leste, and Australia.
The area of supporting life the world's richest marine biodiversity, which generally centered on an extensive coral habitats.
With abundant natural resources, local government continued to make strong efforts to build infrastructure such as infrastructure or facilities that can attract domestic and foreign tourists to visit this region.
Regent said that through this festival, it wanted to introduce myself, especially the tourist potential of maritime tourism in the eyes of both national and international.
According to Regent, Raja Ampat, inaugurated on May 9, 2003, and a new even-aged seven years, saving 537 animals or more than half the coral reefs of the world and identified as many as 700 species of molluscs (soft animals) as well as 1104 species of reef fish.
Besides Raja Ampat has also been a major tourist destination and also nautical marine researchers from abroad in recent years. The researchers then declared the district as the heart of the triangle of coral reefs worldwide.
The festival is expected to deliver the Raja Ampat to the world stage and become a major maritime tourism destination and targeting about 1,000 tourists visited this year.
Series of art performances and cultural and tourism exhibition is testimony to the readiness of the Raja Ampat answer the challenges the tourism industry, said the Regent.
Various competitions were held at the festival including photo and video contest in order to document the charm, the charm of nautical tourism in Raja Ampat, with locations in waters off South Misool district.
There was also a Dragon Boat race in the waters Waisai Beloved (WTC) and the orientation of underwater diving competitions and a parade of traditional transportation, culinary tourism and traditional handicrafts.
Minister of Culture and Tourism Ir. Jero Wacik speech delivered in the Expert Staff of Minister of Social Institutions of the field, Drs. Surya Yuga highest appreciation to the Government of Raja Ampat, who staunchly continue to carry out infrastructure development especially in support of the local economy and tourism sector.
Ministers hope that with the implementation of the Raja Ampat 2010 Maritime Festival will be held up as the Raja Ampat region of nautical tourism on the world stage.
In addition the Minister also hopes to bring the various flagship programs will be able to drive foreign tourists and tourists to visit the Raja Ampat archipelago.
The inauguration was marked by a kind of drum or drum penabuhan by Surya Yuga, and begin with a variety of dances such as dance Wor, a local traditional dance as a welcome greeting to the guests and dance which depicts the Coral Reef coral reefs and marine fish and aquatic animals should maintained so as not extinct due to act of the hands of ignorant.
"The sea is the future of the Raja Ampat. From the sea we eat and from the sea we live," said Regent, adding to the hard work, less talk and a lot of work.
He appealed to all the good elements that ranks governments, politicians, practitioners and wider community, to join hands to preserve the natural wealth and to ensure unity after the success of this district to reach the ideals of the world as a maritime tourism destination.
11:36 PM
The archipelago is a place of great potential to serve as a tourist attraction, especially diving tourism. Raja Ampat Islands waters according to various sources, is one of the 10 best waters for diving sites around the world. In fact, it may also be recognized as number one for the completeness of underwater flora and fauna at this time. Dr John Veron, coral expert from the Australian experience, for example, within a site was revealed, the Raja Ampat Islands located in the westernmost tip of the island of Papua, about 50 miles northwest of Sorong, has the best reef areas in Indonesia. Around 450 species of corals could be identified during the two weeks of research in that area.
A team of experts from Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, and National Oceanographic Institutions (LON) Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) was assessed rapidly in 2001 and 2002. The result, they recorded in these waters there are more than 540 hard coral species (75% of total species in the world), more than 1000 species of reef fish, 700 types of mollusks, and the highest record for gonodactyloid stomatopod crustaceans. This makes 75% of coral species in Raja Ampat world. No single place, with an area having the same number of these coral species.
There are several areas of coral reefs that are still very good condition with the percentage of live coral cover up to 90%, namely in the Dampier Strait (the strait between P. and P. smalldam Batanta), Kofiau Islands, Islands and South East Misool Wayag Islands. Types of coral reefs in Raja Ampat is generally the contours of the reef edge to the steep slope. But it was also found atoll type and type of burns or taka. In some places like in the village Saondarek, when the lowest tides, can be witnessed stretch without a dive and coral reefs with their own adaptations, these reefs can still be alive despite being in the open air and direct sunlight.
Unique species that can be encountered when diving is some kind of dwarf sea horses, wobbegong, and manta rays. There are also four endemic fish king, namely Eviota king, that is a kind of fish gobbie. At Manta Point inlying Arborek Dampier straits, you can dive with the Manta Ray was accompanied by several heads of benign like when you dive in Derawan Islands, East Kalimantan. If you dive at Cape Kri or Chicken Reef, you can be surrounded by thousands of fish. Sometimes a collection of tuna, giant trevallies and snappers. But a tense if we are surrounded by a collection of fish, barracuda, although in fact it's relatively harmless (which is dangerous if we see a solitary barracuda or alone). Reef sharks are also frequently seen, and with luck you can also see the turtle is still eating sponge or swim around you. In some places like in Salawati, Batanta and smalldam also seen Dugong or sea cow.
Because the area of many islands and narrow straits, so most of the dives at a particular time has a tight flow. It allows also for the drift dive, dive, following a strong current with water so clear, while through the collection of fish.
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When I was Live On Board in Raja Ampat, we managed to drop by in one of the resort owned by The Papua Diving (1st dive operator in Raja Ampat). This resort called Sorido Bay.Located in the lagoon of Kri area. Kri has the best dive site in the whole Raja Ampat area. This is the best offer if you want to dive in Raja Ampat and stay in a resort, because it's surrounded by the most beautiful dive site.
When we stopped by, thank god the Manager was kind enough to show us around.
From the jetty, I show this beautiful wooden structure on the white sand beach. Sorido Bay is very modern resort with the touch of traditional Papua style. It was perfect for your diving experience.
Each resort/room has air con, TV, refrigerator, hot and cold shower, etc. They have WIFI also!
If you want to know about Sorido Bay or Papua Diving, just check its website. And here's some cool photos of it.
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Raja Ampat is huge, 50,000 sq km, with hundreds of islands and an astounding diversity of habitats, which translates to wildly different diving experiences from pelagic drift dives to magic muck dives and even some habitats that are special to Raja Ampat such as clear water mangroves with corals growing right next to them! There are thousands of potential dive sites. Exploration is still continuing, and on every trip there are chances for new and amazing discoveries. Even on a 12 day trip you will only have a chance to see some of what Raja Ampat has to offer. Browse over the map to see what each site could offer you!
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The easiest way to get to Raja Ampat is to fly to Sorong via Jakarta or Singapore. Domestic travelers can also fly via Makassar or Manado.From Jakarta or Bali: Merpati, Express Air, Batavia Air and Lion/Wings operate daily flights from Jakarta to Sorong (with stopovers in Ujung Pandang/Makassar and/or Manado)
From Singapore: Silkair operates regular flights from Singapore to Manado. From Manado to Sorong regular flights are offered by Lion Air and Merpati. It is easiest to check with a local Indonesian Travel agent or directly with the airline for the lastest domestic flights available.
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Raja Ampat diving is superb just about all year round. The term High Season is of little meaning here since there is such an expanse of sea visited by only a few liveaboards that "diver soup" is not really a danger. May to September is light rainy season, and Mid-July to mid-September sees some small surface swells, but not usually serious enough to interfere with your enjoyment.11:26 PM
Raja Ampat has over 700 species of mollusks and 1,200 species of fish. Counted among those is the newly discovered 'walking' epaulette shark, commonly seen on night dives on our house reef.
In 2005, Misool Eco Resort reached an agreement with the local village and secured the rights to 400+ sq km of sea surrounding our dive resort island, Batbitim. Inside this No-Take Zone, all fishing, cyanide fishing, bombing, shark finning, harvesting of turtle eggs and shellfish are prohibited.
Seven additional Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) were established in 2007 due to the joint efforts of Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, The Coral Reef Alliance, and the local Indonesian government. Raja Ampat is now a
