BOAT LIFE: In Search Of World's BEST DIVING!

Welcome to what has been described as the last paradise. Raja Ampat, an archipelago made up of over 1500 islands, most of which are completely uninhabited and unspoiled. It's so good to see that places like this still exist. A place where jungles of rich culture transition straight into the richest marine environment in the world. Boasting the highest biodiversity anywhere on planet Earth, it's a place where giants of the ocean glide over the pristine coral reefs. If you enjoy the underwater world, this is simply as good as it gets. And for the next six weeks, I'm excited to explore it and share it with you guys. While a lot of my greatest memories came from growing up on the other side of Papua. A little bush shelter over here and my table here. Being back in this part of the world with my oldies, the ones that shared it with me all those years ago, is going to be pretty special. So subscribe if you're new here, I've got a feeling this is going to be one hell of a trip. G'day guys and welcome back to a brand new series. We've just left our first anchorage there and if that's anything to go by, the next month is going to be absolutely incredible. Some of the most beautiful islands I've ever seen coming down onto pristine coral reefs, teeming with fish life, we had manta rays, we had dolphins, dugongs in the anchorage. It was absolutely incredible. The way this series is going to work, it's going to be playing out on two separate channels. Of course here on the B2B Adventures channel and there will also be episodes with Fran and I on the B2B Castaways channel. So make sure to subscribe to both of them so you can stay updated with the adventure. We've now got about a 20 mile steam to the next group of islands. It's not quite windy enough to put up a sail yet but we'll see how we go. This entire area has been on my bucket list for a number of years now so it's pretty special to be out here finally exploring it. We'll have the cameras rolling and we'll see how the day plays out. I've just spotted the fins of some manta rays here up ahead. Yeah this is the big run of them. So out in the middle of the deep passage here there's a seamount or a patch of reef which comes up out of the depths and what that does it creates an upwelling and attracts a heap of fish life that are attracted here due to the nutrients in the water. On the surface here it looks like the water's boiling. There's so much life. That's all fusiliers but there's actually fins coming out of the water which we assume have got to be manta rays. So we're going to put the drone up check it out. Although the current's ripping here we're going to try our chances to have a dive on this spot. It looks pretty special. As the bubbles clear from my mask and I descend down the giant mantas take my breath away. I quickly notice that there's two different species. The reef manta ray which we commonly see but also the far larger oceanic manta ray whose wingspan can reach 11 meters wide and it's actually very rare to be able to swim with these guys. But it's something else that actually catches my eye here. Looking past the mantas the entire bottom is covered in life. Hard corals, soft corals, sponges, fish. I've never seen anything like it. Raja Ampat boasts the richest marine biodiversity on planet earth. 1,800 species of fish, 600 species of coral. 75% of corals found around the world are found right here in Raja. The waters are so nutrient rich that all the corals are actively feeding with their polyps out trying to out-compete their neighbours for competitive real estate. Sponges are pumping water through. It's honestly overwhelming. Taking a moment to look closer at the bottom your eyes adjust to the macro world where all sorts of crazy critters are going about their day. The corals conceal some of the most amazing critters on the planet. Like the pygmy seahorse, perfectly camouflaged to the fan corals they live on. Crayfish and cowrie shells hidden amongst the caves and crevices. But don't forget to look up and look both ways because this reef is like crossing a highway of mantas. That would have to be one of the best dives I have ever done. That was incredible. Just the volume of fish life was unreal. There was so, so many fish. The biodiversity of corals was something like I've never seen before. The entire bottom was covered in just a range of species of corals. Absolutely amazing. That is as pristine as diving gets anywhere in the world in my opinion. Now we're just motoring. There's not enough wind to sail. So we're just motoring on to the next group of islands that we're going to use as a bit of a base camp for the next few days. Holy, how's this for an anchorage? So there's this gigantic gorge here with really deep water in the middle. We're bringing the catamaran right on in but it's going to be pretty tricky to anchor because the water's so deep in the middle. So we've come in in a tender. We're going to have to like tie off to the cliffs on each side. A few moving parts but let's see how we go. We've got the bow line secure on the rocks here now and then over the other side we've got a stern line. We're going to pull them both tight and sit the catamaran right smack bang in the middle. It means we'll be able to go scuba diving literally straight off the boat and come over and drift along these edges here. This is just an incredible, incredible spot. What do you reckon captain? Is it secure? Sounds good. Mum seems to think it is anyway. What do you reckon mum? What an amazing spot. So it's just glassed off beautifully this afternoon and either side of us here on these cliffs there's just vertical wall drop which we're about to jump in and dive. So we're going to throw some scuba gear on and drift along here and see what we can find. Well a lot of the diving I've done previously has been looking for the biggest animals I can find. This dive with mum is quite the opposite. We're searching for some really interesting tiny creatures that seem to be from another planet. We're swimming along the vertical wall and as your eyes adjust in the caves we start to notice that the walls are covered in various life. Like the nudibranchs that are a favourite to spot for divers or the scary looking clams that close shut if you get too close. We spot a feather star swimming up the water column to try and find a better spot to perch up in the current to feed. This is a magnificent anemone. While the clownfish that call it home naturally claim most of the attention if you zoom in and look past them you'll see some other crazy critters. Anemone shrimp. Their body is almost entirely transparent. They seem to dance around the anemone and they help to keep it clean. I hear an excited scream from mum's mask and know that she's found something pretty special. Whoa, what the... An electric file clam. I have never seen anything like it. While the pygmy seahorses are great to look at they just don't quite fill you up and we are relying on the ocean for seafood on this trip. Thankfully we caught a beautiful vermicula trout yesterday while spearing with some of the guys from the local village. One of our favourite fish to hunt they aren't actually found around mainland Australia where we spend most of our time so anytime we can come across these guys they are my number one target species. And a beautiful vermicula coral trout. This guy should keep us pretty well fed for a couple of days. Now, thanks for watching the episode guys. I do hope you enjoyed it. Subscribe to the channel if you're new here and we'll see you bright and early tomorrow for a new one.