Triton Bay is a “hard to reach” diving destination in the south-west corner of Papua.

Diving in Triton Bay is a rewarding adventure in one of the regions in the world with the most biodiversity. Do read on for my review of Triton Bay dive sites

This region offers magnificent diving that includes beautiful soft coral, giant sea fans, black coral forests, large schools of fish and much more. We encountered a few Wobegon sharks but what makes Triton Bay really special are the colourful corals and soft corals.

The Triton bay area was only surveyed in 2006 ( 5 years after Rajat Ampat) and scientific found amazing things lying down there in the water.

The diving area is not easy to access as you need to fly via Sorong to Kaimana. You can either stay at the Triton Bay dive resort or dive it with a liveaboard.

During our three days of diving in Triton Bay, we didn’t encounter a single other dive boats.

There are plenty of beaches and islands at Triton Bay. Here you can test your diving skills and explore the natural beauty of this part of the earth…

Let’s have a look at some of the lovely and widely diving sites that are there in Triton Bay.

 

Triton bay dive site: Little Komodo

This beautiful and inviting dive site is located on Saruenus island that has four major diving sites where you can have some of the best dives around Triton bay.

Little Komodo is the most sought-after diving site there with its huge boulders and soft corals acting as the most appealing features.

This dive site is called little Komodo for its usual strong current. When we dove it, there was no current.

There is a lot of black corals and soft corals. There is a wall about 20 meters down, but this area is often inaccessible as it has a strong down current. The wall can only be accessed in low current condition and is absolutely stunning. The colours of the soft corals were utterly astonishing. Pastels colours. Millions of fishes were swimming by. Probably one of the most colourful, beautiful and fishiest reefs I have ever seen.

I can see where Triton bay gets its reputation for fantastic diving

Triton bay dive site: The Aquarium or Larry’s heaven

The other major dive site on Saruenus island is the Little Drift in the western part and the Aquarium ( also called Larry’s delight).

The site got its name from Larry Smith, an American guy who traveled on his own boat. He was the first to dive and document many places in Indonesia.

This dives site is full of beautiful black corals. Some of the most beautiful corals I have ever seen, It is also very fishy. From yellowfin barracuda, Bumphead parrotfish, and anchovies to devil rays, wobbegong sharks ( one was heavily pregnant!) as well as solar-powered nudis and pygmy seahorse. There are so many animal varieties that you could come across. The coral garden is fantastic.

Triton bay dive site: Bo’s Rainbow

If you are in for a shallow dive with smooth sandy slopes, then Bo’s Rainbow is totally your place to go diving too. This is not the most amazing site in Triton Bay but the gentle currents make it very safe for beginners. Even if there is a strong current in the Triton Bay region, there are safe diving spots at Bo’s Rainbow where you can go diving without any fear.

Triton bay dive site: White Rock

White Rock is a lovely and refreshing diving spot that has an underlying charm and an invitingly rugged beauty. It is the smaller rocks of the two rocks standing out of the water. There are gentle sandy slopes there with several species of fishes which are hard to find anywhere else. There you get to dive among the impressive species of frogfish and wobbegong sharks as well. This dive site was a bit less impressive than the other places we dove while in Triton Bay

Triton bay dive site: Batu Jeruk

Batu Jeruk is a Dive site on the other side of Aduma island. Its name in Indonesian means the orange rock. It received this name because soft orange corals cover the dive site.

The corrals are again totally spectaculars, and there are many fishes around this is a gentle drift.

The most beautiful part of the reef is 12 to 15 meters deep. There is also a channel at five to six meters and lots of fish concentrate in that area

Diving with Whalesharks in Indonesia

About 1 hour away from Triton bay, in Bitsjara Bay, it is frequent to encounter whales sharks.

Fishing bagans are fishing boats that stay in the same place for a few weeks at a time.

They use strong lights to attract fishes into their nets during the night. In the morning, when they raise their nets full of fishes, small fishes fall through the cracks and attract whale sharks and dolphins looking for an easy meal.

It is, therefore, possible to dive under those bagans boats and spend time with those amazing creatures.

On our dive there, we got lucky to dive with five whales sharks and a few dolphins.

The whale sharks were really not afraid of us and would come very near. It was even a bit scary how close they would come as they are really really big ( think 5 or 7 meters).

We quickly came to realize that they were gentle and quite good at maneuvering their huge bodies so we could relax a bit and enjoy the very close encounter.

 

Conclusion

These fantastic diving sites at Triton Bay are all yours to explore and have fun at. Unless you are a marine biologist, there are probably a bit less impressive than Raja Ampat because there are fewer big fishes and the visibility is often poorer. Triton bay is hard to reach so perhaps a better fit for people on a liveaboard cruise or divers who have already explored most famous destinations in Indonesia ( Komodo, Maumere, Alor, Tulamben,…) and looking for the next frontier. I did my trip with Ilike liveaboard and had an amazing trip. You can see my full trip review here.