Raja Ampat by Private Sailboat WHSE144

Come explore the beautiful Raja Ampat by private sailboat both above and below the water. Join me for hiking, diving, sailing, local food and remote hard to access spots as we sail through one of the world’s top dive destinations.

Welcome to Raja Ampat

Welcome to Raja Ampat! There are three ways to get to this magical place: plane, ferry or private yacht. I was lucky enough to be invited aboard the Oyster 62 Uru when they stopped in Raja Ampat halfway along their circumnavigation of the world.

We sailed for 9 days from Papua Guinea to reach Sorong, the largest city in the province of West Papua and the jumping off point for Raja Ampat. Many of the people are migrants from other Indonesian Islands, resulting in a mixture of cultures and different religions. Churches and mosques sit side by side as a testament to the diversity of Indonesia.

Exploring Raja Ampat

Sorong is known as the gateway to the famous and beautiful Raja Islands. Sarang means ‘deep and turbulent ocean’ and comes from the Sari language of the Banten people who first settled in the area.

After 9 days at sea, Dan and I were given some time off in Sorong and we spent two days kicking it back and staying at one of the overwater bungalows to enjoy some of the luxuries of land before leaving the bustling city for the outer islands.

Markets and Fresh Seafood

Dan and I rented a scooter and headed to the market to stock up on fresh seafood. We bought squid, tuna, and other local catches to have for dinner that night.

Fueling Up

Before we left Sorong, James, the captain of the Uru, tied the boat alongside a fuel bar to take on some more diesel. The Uru is capable of holding 18,000 L of diesel and we used most of it up on the long motor to get to Indonesia.

Crossing the Equator

We were about to cross the Equator and D hadn’t crossed it yet, so they’re pows so we were going to Christen them with a bucket of salt water over the head as we crossed.

Let’s cross it – hey for Neptune! Oh James is Neptune? Yes, the captain is Neptune. Jing Jin passing the equator face shot!

Wag Island

Our next destination was Wag, a cluster of limestone formations about 70 nautical miles from Sorong and in the heart of Raja Ampat. It looks like it leaped straight out of Candyland! It’s comprised of a series of limestone gumdrop-shaped mountains called ksts.

The ksts again as coral reefs during a time when Raja Ampat was submerged beneath the ocean once. The rocks hit the water and basically go down in a straight vertical cliff, which makes anchoring right up close to them super easy.

Hiking Up Coral Cliffs

We arrived just as the sun was setting. I’ve sailed almost halfway around the world solo on my own boat but nothing I’ve seen so far prepared me for this type of beauty.

Down and I hopped in the dinghy for a sunset hike up one of the gumdrops to see what sort of view we could find of the island. We definitely were not disappointed! Basically, it’s just raw Coral up here!

Local Shrine

We found a shrine hidden away in the rocks with money, rice, and cigarettes. It was the rice that tipped me off that it was a shrine because they give food and money as offerings. I’ve never seen cigarettes as an offering before but it’s pretty cool – it’s just hidden away in this rock!

Shark Sanctuary

Today, we’re going to go see some sharks in a shark sanctuary. The entire island of Wag is a national park and nobody’s allowed to live permanently on the land. There’s a ranger station and locals take turns staying on the island as rangers for two-week rotations each year.

The Rangers make sure there’s no illegal fishing going on and nurture a little sanctuary of mostly blacktip reef sharks. They allow tourist boats to come swim with the sharks, and I imagine they must feed them to attract them to the spot because I can’t think why so many sharks would congregate in front of that one specific beach.

Beautiful Anchorages

We left Wag to head back to Sorong because my time on the Uru was coming to an end. We’d done a bunch of dives with their equipment in Wag and Dan and I planned to do some dives with the local dive company as well out of Sorong to round off our trip.

Indonesian Food Tour

The next day, we met Ten, our dive guide, and he invited us to come out with him tonight. He’s going to show us the restaurants where they sell traditional Indonesian food which is really exciting!

So we rented a scooter and we’re going to go in a bit and meet him in town for serving some hey boss, how you uh where is this cafe that we’re heading to? I can’t find it on the maps! Okay, you’re just going directly!

Dinner with Local Guides

Now we are at a restaurant going to try some local food and Ten has his one sock flip flop fashion! Oh I need dig up my shoes, you have to dig up the key. Very securely, I think he thinks that!

Night we’ll grow more keys, nice! This is our hotel room!

Farewell to Indonesia

On my last day in Indonesia, Dan took me to the ferry that goes to Bali where I’ll then get on a plane to Townsville and back to my little Geck who’s been waiting patiently for me in the marina.

I’m on the ferry from Wesi to Sorong, said bye to Dan. He dropped me off on the scooter we had my backpack, uh this guy that I packed all my stuff in and then my little carry-on backpack and a snack bag which is very important and then our our all our dive stuff and then Dan’s backpack for the weekend.

The Journey Home

So it’s really funny we’re all Laden down on the scooter! This is the first leg of my journey back so I take the ferry to Sorong, then a taxi to the airport and then it’s two flights to Bali night and Bali and then tomorrow afternoon I fly out to Sydney and then to Townsville. It’s going to be a long trip!

Already miss everyone! Thanks for watching this video. I put out new videos on YouTube every two weeks and for my patrons you guys get a snack on the weeks I don’t put out full YouTube. This edit has been a marathon because I’m currently working my way up the Great Barrier Reef in Australia on Geck.

Staying Connected

Just sort of had this realization that I’m going to be out of sell internet Wi-Fi etc for the next 3 weeks and realized that I have to do some edits to sort of stockpile stuff so I did a snack for my patrons and then I just spent just did this entire edit in one sitting and it’s almost 10:00 at night and I am so tired but I got it out and it was really fun reliving all these silly experiences.

So anyway, I really hope you guys enjoy this one when it comes out. I will be somewhere south of the Taurus Street maybe in it who knows um thank you for your patronage my patrons um it’s my primary source of income uh the only other one is ADS generated on YouTube so I do appreciate everything that you guys donate to me and it is what keeps me going on this trip.

Connect with Wind Hippie

If you’d like to become a patron my Patreon is patreon.com/windhippie and for one-time donations I have a PayPal paypal.me/hippy! And I just appreciate every little bit you guys give me keeps me going so I can keep making these videos for you. Thanks Tish for helping me remember to get these things edited being my little manager thank you guys for your comments on my videos.

I read all of them, like all of them for the most part and think that’s it oh I do have merchandise! Everything is in the links below easy to find and I’m going to go to bed. I will see you guys patrons next week on Patreon and YouTubers I will see you in two weeks with another YouTube okay good night!