Join This Incredible 23 Day Safari to Snorkel Three of the Best Snorkeling Places in the World
April 12 – May 4, 2025
Outstanding snorkeling, boutique resorts, what more do you need? This exciting Alor Bunaken and Raja Ampat snorkeling trip will take 14 snorkelers to explore some of the most bio-diverse and abundant reefs in the Coral Triangle, and will offer opportunities to snorkel with big sea turtles and majestic manta rays. We have snorkeled all three Indonesia destinations and highly recommend them all.
Note: The itinerary for this trip recently changed. If you have any questions, please contact our partner on the form below.
You will first explore Alor from the seculded Alami Alor Resort. The colorful diverse coral reefs there will blow you away, and the sparkling abundance of reef fish will delight you. There is also the possibility of coming across some of the ocean’s most iconic inhabitants, like a superpod of dolphins and melon-headed whales, giant ocean sunfish (mola mola), and even blue whales, as you travel to snorkel sites.
Your second stop is Bunaken National Marine Park in North Sulawesi, and you will be staying right in the park at the remarkable Siladen Resort. You can expect to snorkel shallow reefs and walls fringing the islands and the Sulawesi “mainland” inside the park. Reefs have a great mix of soft and hard corals and have many fish in good variety. Bunaken is known for its many turtles, which you will see on nearly every snorkel. It is also an area known for tiny gorgeous creatures like nudibranchs and has innumerable anemones with resident colorful anemonefish.
Your third and final destination will be Raja Ampat where you will stay at the wonderful Papua Explorers Resort. Located near the Dampier Strait, you will see lush soft corals, sea fan forests, and hard coral plateaus. You will have many chances to see manta rays, wobbegong (carpet) sharks and epaulette (walking) sharks, as well as several types of turtles, and a variety of colorful reef fish.
This trip is being run by our partner and friend Ben and his team. Based in the U.K., they are experts in the Coral Triangle, run amazing excursions, and have a great appreciation for the underwater world.
This small group trip is exclusively for snorkelers. It is a unique opportunity to experience a 23 day guided remote adventure filled with fantastic reefs, and beautiful landscapes. Each of the resorts you will be staying at are exceptional and unique, with fantastic food and service.
Watch This Video for a Peek at What You Can Expect
The Alor Bunaken and Raja Ampat Snorkeling Trip Itinerary and Map
Alor, Bunaken and Raja Ampat are all in the country of Indonesia in Southeast Asia, and they are all in the area known as the Coral Triangle. The Coral Triangle has the most biodiversity of ocean life in the world.
This snorkeling trip begins when you arrive at the Jakarta Airport. You will check into a comfortable hotel and meet your tour leader and fellow snorkelers at a welcome dinner.
Later, you will check out and catch an early morning flight to Alor, via Kupang. Once you arrive you will be transferred by private car to the Alami Alor Resort. You will spend seven nights at this beautiful resort.
Then, you will be taken back to the airport to fly to Bali, via Kupang, for a one night stay. The next morning you will continue your journey and fly to Manado. Once you arrive, there will be a car transfer to the port where you will board the boat that will take you to the Siladen Resort. You will spend five nights at this wonderful resort.
After checking out of Siladen Resort, you will be transferred back to Manado for a one night stay in a comfortable hotel. Early the next morning you will catch your flight to Sorong.
Once in Sorong, you will be transferred to the port where you will board the boat that will take you to the Papua Explorers Resort. You will spend seven nights at this stunning resort.
After being transferred back to Sorong, your group will have one last flight back to Jakarta where the trip ends.
About Snorkeling Alor and the Alami Alor Resort
You will be staying at the Alami Alor Resort for seven nights. Alor is very remote, and very few tourists visit the area. That, combined with a lack of destructive fishing practices, means that the reefs are exceptional, unspoiled, and full of unique life. The other reason the reefs are so healthy and full of unique life is that Alor has strong currents, that flush the area with nutrients.
The Alami Alor Resort has a wonderful house reef to explore. It is a shallow shelf, accessed from the pier, that is full of coral life, small reef sharks, nudibranchs, spadefish, mandarinfish, crustaceans, and lots of other reef fish.
For six days, your group will snorkel nearby reefs from small boats twice a day, returning for lunch. Every spot you visit in Alor is very unique, from plateaus of colorful reefs, with clouds of small reef fish, to larger drop-offs, with larger species. Just some of the unique life you can see in Alor are mola mola, dolphins, frogfish, mandarinfish, and blue whales.
Alor is very special in our hearts for how untouched and diverse the reefs are. While you will see lots of fish, particularly a crazy abundance of smaller reef fish, and larger fish schools of spadefish, fusiliers and jacks, what really stands out for us about Alor is how incredibly diverse the fields and walls of coral life are, and how healthy they are. Every spot we visited seemed like a different ecosystem, with very different colorful corals, sponges and anemones, and the most marine biodiversity we’ve seen.
Also of note about Alor, and probably one of the big reasons the reef is so healthy, is because there is a large tidal range, and with that strong currents in the area. This flushes a lot of water through the reefs, full of nutrients. Because of this, Alor is a place to snorkel with a very experienced guide. Because of the currents our guide would often have us dropped off at one end of a reef, we would drift with the current, and we would be picked up at the other end of the reef by our boat.
The resort has two boats with shade covers that hold six guests plus crew. So each day your group will go out in two boats. These boats are big enough to handle a bit of weather, but small enough to drop you off and pick you up right up close to the reefs. You drop into the water from the sides of the boats, and get back on from solid stainless steel step ladders on the side of the boats (you can just see the ladder retracted in the picture below). You return to the resort for lunch between outings.
Alami Alor is an intimate resort situated on a remote and quiet bay which combines luxury accommodation and delicious locally inspired food. There are seven waterfront bungalows, and it will be only your group at the resort. The bedroom is air-conditioned, and there is an open air garden bathroom. There is a pool next to the community building and many comfortable outdoor seating areas.
Guests can enjoy full breakfast, lunch, and dinner served in the dining room, family style, at the communal dining table. They serve an assortment of dishes influenced mostly by tropical Indonesian and Asian style, but also international cuisines. We found the food to be healthy and delicious, with excellent cocktails available at your own cost.
Alami Alor can accommodate most special diets such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and so on.
About Snorkeling Bunaken and Siladen Resort
The snorkeling in Bunaken National Marine Park is full of colorful vibrant reefs with high biodiversity. The 343 square miles of marine park boast an astounding variety of hard and soft corals, many sea turtles, giant clams, butterflyfish, triggerfish, and a variety of other fish species. Bubble and carpet anemones with red, orange, and yellow clownfish are everywhere. And watch for the tiny bright spots that are nudibranchs on the reefs.
There are some currents in the area, but your guides will make sure that you are snorkeling with them and will not need to swim against them.
The island reefs start very shallow near shore, then drop off into steep walls that plunge down into great ocean depths. These depths create ocean currents that bring cooler waters and nutrients, which is one reason why the reefs are so full of life and healthy.
There will be four full days of snorkeling, at different unique reef areas. You can also snorkel from the nearby house reef anytime you choose.
The Siladen Resort snorkel boats are large wooden boats with shade covered areas for getting on your gear, and also a sun deck. You will also find a toilet and fresh water soak and rinse tanks on board. Exiting the water is via a ladder on the side of the boat.
When it comes to an exclusive island experience Siladen Resort is hard to beat. Siladen Resort and Spa is set around a large pool, with bungalows dotted around the manicured garden and beachfront, each with ensuite facilities, air conditioning and private patio. The resort faces west towards the mountain island of Manado Tua and the gorgeous sunsets.
Your private, well-appointed accommodations are meters from a white sand beach with beautiful garden views.
The villas have ensuite open-air bathrooms, air-conditioning, a desk, TV, and private patios.
The restaurant is usually set up under the trees on the beach for lunch and dinner and in an open air dining room for breakfast. It serves an excellent and delicious mix of international and local dishes, usually buffet style. They are able to accommodate guests with special dietary requirements with prior notice.
There is a bar next to the pool with access to the beach where you can have a drink after your long day of snorkeling.
The resort has a full service spa where you can choose to pamper yourself with a massage or scrub.
About Snorkeling Raja Ampat and Papua Explorers Resort
You will be staying at the Papua Explorers Resort for seven nights. The resort is located in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, in the Coral Triangle, which is the most bio-diverse marine environment in the world.
You may have heard of the incredible underwater biodiversity of the Coral Triangle area of Indonesia. Well, Raja Ampat is known to have the most species of marine life in all of the Coral Triangle. There are nearly 1,500 species of reef fish, 600 species of hard corals, seven giant clams species, seven species of sea turtles, and 57 species of mantis shrimp. And pelagic life is abundant in the area.
You will have unlimited access to the house reef and six days of three boat snorkel sessions per day. On both the house reef, and the many other reefs close by that you will visit by boat, you can expect to see healthy coral gardens dense with hard and soft corals in perfect snorkeling depths. You will find large volumes and varieties of fish schools, and will have good chances seeing bigger fish such as manta rays, reef sharks, and schools of barracuda and jacks.
Why is there so much life around the Papua Explorers Resort? The resort is located on the edge of the Dampier Strait, in the central region of a marine protected area. The strait pumps nutrient rich waters through the area which supports an abundance of marine life, large and small.
You will experience a great variety of underwater ecosystems, all close to the resort, from shallow fringing reefs to sea mounts, walls, mangroves fringed by reef, and manta cleaning stations.
Beneath the surface swarms of small fish such as damsels, fusiliers, and anthias mill about on the reef flats, while not too far away large schools of tuna, trevally, and mackerel congregate. Spadefish, surgeonfish, and barracuda gather under docks and around reef points, while angelfish and butterflyfish decorate both the reef flats and jagged coral towers. Expect fields of soft corals like you’ve never seen them before, and hard coral reefs are healthy and abundant as well.
Papua Explorers has a large fiberglass speedboat with a full canopy that is used for the daily snorkel excursions. It has plenty of room to store items that need to stay dry, like cameras. The boat has a large wooden ladder, but no toilet on board.
At Papua Explorers Resort your overwater bungalow is built in traditional Papuan style with local materials, but with modern comforts. All bungalows are equipped with a bathroom, including a shower with hot water, a ceiling fan, a mosquito net, a working desk, and a comfortable seating area.
The rooms do not have air-conditioning, but with the rooms being over the water and with the ceiling fans, they are cool. Enjoy sunsets and sunrises on your spacious veranda, with a hammock and comfortable lounge chairs. You also have your own stairs down into the sea. There is satellite based WiFi internet available in the common areas.
The resort restaurant also sits over the water, and is an excellent place to view the stunning surroundings. You will be served traditional Indonesian cuisine as well as international comfort foods and snacks between snorkels. The resort can accommodate most special diets such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and so on. But, it is a remote destination and specific food items may not be available.
Trip Details and How to Sign Up
This is a small group trip and we expect it to fill quickly. Your spot is reserved with your deposit. Contact Ben below for deposit instructions.
Trip Date:
April 12 – May 4, 2025 – Two double occupancy rooms available.
Trip Price:
$10,250 US per person (Twin/Double Share)
Single Person Supplement: $2500 US
The initial deposit for this trip is $800 US per person. At twelve months before departure there is a $1000 US per person interim deposit. At six months before departure there is a $1000 US per person interim deposit. The final balance will be due three months before departure. A few payment options are available including debit and credit cards.
Individual travelers – Ben will happily find someone of the same sex for you to share a room with to avoid the single person supplement. If he cannot find you someone, no single supplement surcharge will apply.
Inclusions:
- 1 day stay at a Jakarta hotel with dinner
- All flights, transfers and connections, includes 44lbs luggage allowance on flights – Jakarta – Alor – Bali – Manado – Sorong – Jakarta
- 7 nights Alami Alor Resort in a Seafront Bungalow Double Occupancy with full board
- 12 boat snorkel sessions over 6 days in Alor
- 1 night at a Bali hotel with all meals
- 5 nights Siladen Resort in a Garden Villa Double Occupancy with full board
- 4 full day snorkeling tours in Bunaken
- 1 night in a Manado hotel with all meals
- 7 nights Papua Explorers Resort in a Deluxe Bungalow Double Occupancy with full board
- 18 boat snorkel sessions over 6 days in Raja Ampat
- Unlimited house reef snorkeling at all resorts
- Services of guide from Ben’s team and local snorkel guides throughout
- Marine park fees for Alor, Bunaken, and Raja Ampat
Exclusions:
- International flights and visas
- Snorkeling equipment rental
- Gratuities
- Travel insurance (recommended)
- Health insurance (compulsory)
- Soft drink and alcoholic beverages, and general sundries
- Spa services
Trip Organizers
Ben and his U.K. based team are the organizers and leaders of this trip (more about them below). Galen and Nicole from TropicalSnorkeling.com are promoting this trip, but all signups, trip organization and payments are made to and managed by Ben’s team. TropicalSnorkeling.com does receive a referral fee in exchange for promoting the trip, at no extra cost to attendees.
How to Sign Up or Learn More?
Use the contact form below to contact Ben and his team to request more information about them and express your interest in signing up. They will get back to you shortly with full details.
More About Ben and Our Partnership
Ben (pictured with Nicole) is our friend and snorkeling trips partner. He and his team are based in the U.K. and have over 20 years of experience guiding in Asia and beyond. He has been running his own business since 2010 and is primarily offering guided snorkeling trips, but he started with diving. He began offering snorkeling specific trips because he was aware that snorkelers often get the short end of the stick when thrown in with divers. He and his team love the freedom and low stress of snorkeling, and are very aware of the different needs of snorkelers versus divers, in terms of the reef depth, and calm surface conditions needed.
From our experience going on some of his snorkeling trips we found them very well organized, the guides were fantastic and very helpful, and the underwater experiences were exceptional. Snorkeling groups really get the benefit of all of Ben and his guides’ years of experience in the water, and with different resorts and liveaboards.
All of his trips are small groups of 12-18 guests, or with a similar ratio of snorkelers to guides. These are premium trips including nearly everything you will need, accommodation, meals, transportation, and more.
His company is licensed and insured. Barring extreme circumstances they do not cancel trips.
Learn More About the Resorts
Papua Explorers Resort Website