Raja Ampat Diving in October: The Quietest Start to the Season

By Salah Teman · 5 August 2026

Most guides say the Raja Ampat season runs November to April. Boats start moving in late October, and that fortnight is one of the most underrated windows in Indonesian diving.

Why early season is worth it

The reefs do not change in a fortnight. What changes is how many people are on them. By December and January the Dampier Strait has boats queuing at Manta Sandy and Cape Kri; in late October you can have a site to yourself. On a 12-guest boat that difference is amplified — small group, empty site.

Conditions

Water sits at 27–30°C, effectively the same as mid-season, so a 3mm long wetsuit is plenty. Early season can bring more variable weather than the settled middle months, and that is the honest trade-off: slightly less predictable surface conditions in exchange for far fewer boats.

What you dive

Everything the main season offers. Cape Kri, which holds the record for the most fish species counted on a single dive. Blue Magic for mantas and wobbegongs. Manta Sandy’s cleaning stations. Melissa’s Garden in the Fam islands for the healthiest hard coral in the region. Arborek Jetty, the best snorkelling stop in the strait and the one non-divers remember.

Who October suits

Divers who have been to Raja Ampat in peak season and did not enjoy sharing it. Photographers who want sites without other divers in frame. And anyone whose annual leave does not line up with Christmas.

Trip length

Early-season departures tend to run 7 nights, enough to cover the Dampier Strait and the Fam islands properly without the long southern run to Misool.

Booking

Late October departures are often the last to fill, because most people do not realise the season has started. That works in your favour if your dates are flexible.

Check dates and availability

Our live schedule shows every departure with cabin-by-cabin availability, so you can see exactly what is open before you enquire: booking schedule. The KLM Teman is a 36-metre Indonesian phinisi taking 12 guests in 5 ensuite cabins with a crew of 10 and a Cruise Director.

Related: best time to dive Raja Ampat, Cape Kri, Manta Sandy, liveaboards for non-divers.

Salah Teman

Salah writes for Teman Liveaboard, the owner-operator of the KLM Teman. The Teman is a 36-metre Indonesian phinisi, handbuilt in Sulawesi and launched in 2017, carrying 12 guests in 5 ensuite cabins with a permanent crew of 10 and a Cruise Director. The team behind her has more than 20 years sailing the Indonesian archipelago. The boat works Komodo National Park from June to September out of Labuan Bajo, Raja Ampat from November to April out of Sorong, and runs Banda Sea and Ring of Fire crossings between the two seasons. The dive site guides on this blog are written from the operator's own logs and itineraries, with conditions, seasons and equipment guidance checked against the dive team who work these sites every week. Where a detail depends on the day — depth on a given tide, or where a current will take you — we say so rather than guess, because that is a briefing the Cruise Director gives on the boat, not something a web page can promise.

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