Only one liveaboard dive boat has 15+ years of operating experience in Raja Ampat: Pindito. Back in 1992 Pindito’s master and owner, Edi Frommenwiler, needed to find a new destination to cover when the rainy season descended upon Komodo and the Nusa Tengarra route Pindito normally sailed.
Trusting his intuition Edi took a chance and headed north from Flores by way of the Spice Islands. He had a hunch that the waters between Nusa Tengarra and the west coast of Papua (then called “Irian Jaya”) might hold some good diving. What he discovered on the northern end of his journey was the most biodiverse coral reef ecosystem in the world: he had discovered “Raja Ampat”.
In November of 2002 Conservation International (C.I.) in association with world-famous Australian ichthyologist Dr. Gerald Allen conducted “rapid assessment” fish counts in Raja Ampat. Marine Biologists worldwide were stunned by the results. Allen reported that this area forms the absolute apex of marine fish biodiversity in the world. It is the holy grail of marine fish speciation.


