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Sardine Reef, Raja Ampat Raja Ampat, the large area of ocean to the east of West Papua’s Bird’s Head Peninsula, contains over 600 islands, and probably even more dive sites. Picking one is hard, but Sardine Reef – an oval-shaped underwater hill on the east side of Kri – makes for an easily accessible and representative ‘sampler’ of the Raja Ampat experience.

Soft coral, gorgonian fans, black coral bushes and slopes of coral heads populate the entire Sardine Reef area, and large schools of fusiliers, sardines, damsels, bannerfish, butterflyfish, sweetlips and snappers frequent the site, picking tasty morsels out of the current.The pelagics often visit too, with barracuda, giant trevallies