Raja Ampat · Indonesia · Wall · Drift
Koi Island
Drift along a sloping wall with sharks and fish schools
Area photo: Buena Ventura · CC BY 3.0
A sloping wall ten minutes by boat from the Soul Scuba Divers centre, dived as a drift from 5 metres down to 40. It is one of the shark sites close in to the dive centre, with schooling fish along the wall and sharks working the water off it while the current carries you along the reef.
Where it is and how deep
0.5529° S, 130.6951° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
The reef starts at about 5 metres and runs down to 40 as a sloping wall rather than a sheer one, which makes it easy to sit at whatever depth the day calls for. The dive is a drift: you go in, settle onto the slope and let the water move you along it, so the plan is about depth and timing rather than about navigation.
Sharks are what people come for, along with the schools of fish that hold along the wall. Both are best watched by keeping a little off the reef and looking along it and out into the blue, rather than following the coral face. Because the site is dived on the current, everyone surfaces where the water leaves them, so a surface marker and a boat that knows the drift are part of the dive. The run from the dive centre is only ten minutes, so this is a site that can be slotted in when the tide is right.
Marine life and season
- Reef fish swarms
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good | Fair | Fair | Fair | Good | Prime | Prime |
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
What can you see at Koi Island?+
The published description is sharks and schools of fish along a sloping wall. No species-level list has been published for the site, so treat the sharks as the draw rather than a guarantee.
Sources
- Koi island dive site — ScubaGo
More dive sites in Raja Ampat
Blue-spotted stingrays on the sand below the jetty slope
Wall
A drift from schooling fish on the point to macro on the slope
Coral slope on the doorstep, averaging 12 to 16 m
Fish fill the water before your BCD is finished deflating
Reef sharks and giant trevallies patrolling a coral seamount
Coral bommies from 5 to 40 m with schooling fish
Pinnacle
Trevally and tuna in numbers that block out the light
Pinnacle
Cleaning stations on the summit, mantas on the flanks in season
Similar dives elsewhere
A 15 to 40 metre wall with the strait's most consistent pelagics
Gorgonians and soft coral on a limestone wall, averaging 20 m
A sharp wall to 40 m under a broad shelf of coral
A sheer Pantar Strait face dropping to 90 metres