Snorkeling at MahaRaja- Sneak Peek Video
Raja Ampat is called heaven for divers for its incredible marine biodiversity and pristine reefs. You’d be surprised to know that you don’t need to dive deep to enjoy the beautiful world underwater. Snorkeling in the shallower reefs will expose you to an enchanting scenery.
Snorkeling allows you to discover the wonders of the sea at your own pace, follow the marine life around, or stay in one place and observe how they behave. If you are at the right place at the right time, you can find the fish mating, spawning eggs, having family time, or on the hunt.
At MahaRaja we have four different reefs that encompass the island each with unique characteristics and residents. During your visit you'll be able to enjoy the sight of various types of shark such as blacktip, white tip, wobbegong, nurse shark, and other species such as cuttlefish, octopus, squid, turtles, nudibranch just to name a few. Go to the edge of the reef towards the deeper side to look for the big fish such as jack, groupers, and turtles or stay on the shallow side to enjoy the sight of macro critters. Make sure to swim slowly and look closely!
To introduce you to the wonderful world of Snorkeling at MahaRaja, we created a visual guide to our reefs. All the photos are of course taken while snorkeling. We hope you enjoy it.
As you can see the high visibility and abundance of marine life at MahaRaja provides for a one of a kind snorkeling experience. If diving is not for you, the good news is that there are plenty of ways to enjoy the water. We are confident that you will see more than you can remember.
Would you like to add a little adventure while snorkeling? Keep reading.
Night Snorkeling
“Tonight we are going to see the incredible world of fluorescent marine life. What you see tonight, will be invisible to you during the day. Pick up your blue lights and let’s get in the water.”
The blue light excites the fluorescent colors of the corals and the marine life which are not visible to the eye during the day. At MahaRaja we exclusively use the blue light torch at night because the fish is blind to it and their sleep wouldn’t be disturbed. Don’t be surprised if you see the fish swimming directly to your face. They are probably fast asleep ;)
If you want to get a glimpse of how it looks, do a quick search for fluorescent night snorkel.
Freediving
Have you ever taken a quick dive underwater to take a closer look at a fish while snorkeling? Imagine if you could stay underwater for a couple more minutes and go deeper. That’s what freediving is. Free of all the diving equipment, you can swiftly dive down and explore the depth for a few minutes. The good news is that you can become a certified freediver in a day.
The basic freediving training can get you to depths of 10 meters and more. Of course as with any other water activity you have to take the side of safety, dive with a partner and follow the guidelines. We would like to introduce free diving certificates at MahaRaja in the future. Until then, you can look up a myriad of resources online and check out PADI’s freediving course to get more information.
