Reefwander
A school of striped batfish hovers beside a sea fan inside a sunlit reef cavern in Raja Ampat.

Raja Ampat · Indonesia · Reef

Batu Lima

Five Rocks: a repeat-request reef to around 24 m

Area photo: Buena Ventura · CC BY 3.0

Batu Lima means five rocks in Indonesian, and it is one of the sites divers here ask to repeat: guests regularly come back to it more than once in a trip. Descending on the north-eastern side takes you to the maximum depth of around 24 metres, and the reef runs unbroken from here along to the Biodiversity house reef.

Where it is and how deep

Depth profile of Batu Lima: typical dive to 24 m (to 80 ft) 18 m · Open Water30 m · Advanced40 m · Recreational limit24 mtypical dive
Depths on a shared scale to 40 m (130 ft); dashed lines mark common certification limits.

0.4494° S, 130.6991° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.

The dive

The described route drops in on the north-eastern side, which is the deepest part of the site and takes you to a maximum of around 24 metres. From there the dive works back shallower across the reef, which continues without a break along the shore to the Biodiversity house reef in front of the Biodiversity jetty, so there is more ground here than a single dive covers.

Beyond that the site is thinly documented. No shallow depth or visibility figures have been published for Batu Lima, and no species list either, so the plan comes from the area rather than the site: brief on the tide, keep the profile conservative given the 24 m maximum, and expect the guides to shape the route on the day. What is on record is that divers ask to come back to it.

Marine life and season

The sources we used don't single out particular species here.

Month-by-month season rating for Batu Lima
JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
PrimePrimePrimePrimeGoodGoodFairFairFairGoodPrimePrime

Season follows Raja Ampat: October to April is the drier stretch and November to April the manta season at Manta Ridge; July to mid-September can bring strong winds and rough seas.

Questions divers ask

How deep is Batu Lima?+

Descending on the north-eastern side takes you to the maximum depth of around 24 metres. No shallow figure has been published for the site.

Sources

  1. Batu Lima dive site — ScubaGo
  2. Biodiversity House Reef dive site — ScubaGo

More dive sites in Raja Ampat

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A WWII American P-47D lying between 26 and 33 m

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Pinnacle

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Pinnacle

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Channel & pass

Occasional scalloped hammerheads on the deep edges of a tidal channel

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