Cenderawasih Bay

The Largest Marine Park In Indonesia, And One Of Very Few Places On Earth Where Whale Sharks Can Be Found Year Round Because The Fishermen Here Feed Them · Nabire, Central Papua

WHALE SHARKS GO WHERE THE FOOD IS, WHICH IS WHY THEY ARE ALMOST NEVER RELIABLE. Cenderawasih Bay is the exception. FISHERMEN HERE WORK FROM BAGAN - floating platforms with nets slung beneath them - and whale sharks learned to come and suck small fish from the netting. Rather than driving them off, THE FISHERMEN CAME TO TREAT THEM AS GOOD LUCK AND FEED THEM, and the result is an aggregation that is present ALL YEAR ROUND and encounters that last as long as your air does, with animals that are entirely unbothered by you. IT IS ALSO PROVISIONED, which is exactly the argument people have about Botubarani and elsewhere, and this row is not going to pretend otherwise. The bay is the largest marine park in Indonesia, with hard coral, wartime wrecks and very few divers, because getting here is hard and most people arrive by liveaboard, booked months ahead - which is why the reefs and the wartime wrecks here are almost entirely undived.

Cenderawasih Bay, Nabire, Central Papua, Nabire, Central Papua, Indonesia

THERE IS NO GATE. Access is by BOAT, and almost everyone arrives on a LIVEABOARD - trips run out of MANOKWARI, BIAK OR NABIRE and are booked as multi-day charters months ahead. NABIRE HAS FLIGHTS from Jayapura, Biak and Makassar and is the usual land base, with a small number of simple guesthouses and day boats out to the bagan. A PARK FEE APPLIES and is normally handled by the operator. THE WHALE SHARKS ARE PRESENT YEAR-ROUND, which is the whole point of this place, though numbers vary. ENCOUNTERS HAPPEN AT THE BAGAN AT DAWN, when the night's catch is being worked. PAPUA'S PERMIT AND SECURITY SITUATION CHANGES - check current advice. Bring cash; banking outside Nabire is minimal.

Cenderawasih Bay on Spottos · Explore more places on Spottos