Natural awe

Dunia Baru’s

As beautiful as many of the above-water views are in Raja Ampat, the real show is often underwater or on land, where encounters with animals and nature can be astounding.

This remote part of Indonesia is hard to reach (it’s five flights one-way from New York’s JFK International Airport), it is considered a marine protected area and its geography is inhospitable to development. These are great qualities when it comes to saving the ecosystem, including the endless fields of healthy, vibrant coral reefs. Near Penemu, onboard PADI scuba instructor, Ramon Estrada, looked out from the aft deck and considered all the other places he’s explored underwater, from Mexico to Egypt, Thailand, Cuba, Belize and the Galapagos Islands. “These three little islands right here,” he said, “have the healthiest bed of hard coral I’ve ever seen. It’s amazing.”

More than 1,300 species of fish have been identified in Raja Ampat (some say 1,500), along with 10 times the number of hard coral species found in the Caribbean. Every one of our dive and snorkel excursions led to schools upon schools of fish, some of them swimming through one another in shockingly clear water. Even if we stayed down for an hour, the coral and fish stretched well onward into the distance; the underwater photos shown above were taken with a wrist-mounted GoPro camera, without a flash.

The flights to and from the yacht in Raja Ampat come by way of a stopover in Bali, which is about an hour’s drive from Ubud, the town made famous in the Julia Roberts film Eat, Pray, Love. At Ubud, you can visit the Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary (monkeyforestubud.com), where long-tailed macaques will take bananas and sweet potatoes from your hand—or from your bag, or from anything else they can get into.

My charter aboard Dunia Baru this past November was one of the first since the yacht launched, which meant itineraries were still being worked out and crewmembers were still learning what interests Western charter guests. While liveaboard diveboats number in the dozens in Raja Ampat, there are just three locally based crewed yachts that Western charter brokers regularly recommend. Silolona, launched by the Konjo in 2004, has long dominated the luxury scene with excellent client feedback. Dunia Baru launched in early 2014 as a competitor, followed by 214-foot (65.2-meter) Lamima, which launched late last year and had her first charter clients during the winter holidays.

“I’m hoping these Phinisi-style yachts are at the start of an evolution here, like the one we saw with gulets in Turkey,” says charter broker Missy Johnston of Northrop & Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters, which arranged our Dunia Baru trip. “The boats are traditional in style for their regions, but the owners are making them far more luxurious, to meet the standards that charter clients from around the world expect.”

Dunia Baru’s captain recommends itineraries that stay within the southern part of Raja Ampat, where the scuba sites are ambitious enough for occasional divers, there’s great snorkeling for nondivers and plenty of coves and caves exist to explore. Trying to see the whole of the region is impossible during even a two-week charter; Raja Ampat spans some 15,000 square miles. We covered about 400 nautical miles across both the northern and southern regions in seven days on Dunia Baru, and the schedule felt ambitious, with overnight motoring, passages as long as 15 hours, early morning anchor drops and several activities each day. If time allows, plan for a two- or three-week charter at a more leisurely pace, so you can enjoy the handful of beaches and tons of water sports between restful naps on the foredeck sunpad.

Also expect to see a lot of, well, nothing in terms of manmade structures and objects. During our first four days aboard, the only aid to navigation I saw was a chunk of Styrofoam tied out as a reef marker at an inlet. The stars shine brightly here, with no civilization or manmade light ashore, and whatever you have for entertainment on the yacht is all you are going to find.

That’s wonderful for those of us who enjoy solitude, and it makes exploring nature’s rhythms all the more adventurous.

For more information: Northrop & Johnson Worldwide Yacht Charters, 401 848 5540, njcharters.com