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Welcome to Bigkanu, a touring liveaboard dedicated to exploring and revealing the great beauty of Raja Ampat.
With either 5 or 10 day trips, departing from Waisai most Sundays, to us, its a lot of fun revealing the extraordinary beauty of Asia's most unique natural wonder to our guests.
We are priced at either €980 for 5D/4N trip, or €1890 10D/9N voyage and pitched at adventure travelers and divers without tanks. Our aim is to get you to the truly exotic places that few boats dare go.
Raja Ampat is almost unchallenged as the most exotic living waterway in Asia. We have designed one of most unique boats in Asia, built specifically for Raja Ampat' a rather extreme needs. Please excuse us if we are a bit fun-crazy with travel curiosity, suffering a mild overdose of that, 'whats around that next corner', obsession.
Bigkanu is an 80ft long, 9 cabin, all alloy, motor sailing trimaran. There is no boat like it, outside of Hollywood's Waterworld. Built to expedition grade specs, with twin trimaran tenders, and a shallow draft, the boat can squeeze down coral rivers, back-up onto beaches, and shelter alongside rickety village wharfs, all places where no other liveaboards can reach. At 40ft wide, we are more stable than a billiard table, fear not seasickness .
This is a sort of, step off the stern, a nature's-fun-park-afloat, kind of gig. We like to get wet and have fun.
We carry 7-11 guests, and of the 70 odd liveaboards in Raja Ampat, we are amougst the 3 lowest priced, and our lower price happily attracts the more interesting and energetic of fellow travellers.
To us as hosts, with such a wondrous nature based experience for our guests, it's a lovely privilege.
I am guessing you may have seen the photos, and read some views about Raja Ampat, so I will go light on you the, "world's most rich biodiversity" but be assured, Raja Ampat is the most extraordinary waterway in Asia. Nothing beats it. If there is something more spectacular, please send photos.
On our trips, it is snorkeling along the coral drop offs, and wandering the beaches and villages where the, 'up close and personal' experiences unfold, and this is where Bigkanu trip is a lot different to the dive boats trips.
We depart from the ferry wharf at Waisai, so nearly all flights arrive in early in the morning,it's simple to jump the 9am/2hour/$8 fast ferry out of Sorong on most Sundays, and you are in islands by 11.30am, ready to depart after lunch, after we meet you at the ferry.
Aboard, everyone gets a semi private, small, well ventilated cabin. A local crew of captain, chef, engineer and deckie deliver you an ever changing destination, whilst cooking up a dinner party 3 times a day. Your only responsibility is to have fun.
Each meal is an aft deck chat fest, and a few nights of each trip, we set up the dining table on beaches or village wharfs. Our food is cross cultural and fun, and we aim to return you healthier than when you arrived.
We pay your park entry fees, the boats park entry costs, the Wayag/ Kabui village fees, as well port fees, charged at €120 onboard, with the other extra cost being your alcoholic indulgence.
Bigkanu is now part of a bigger Floatilla.club team, with new partners and owners. We are expanding into Asia's first floating villa, and a camp-aboards, all under construction now. Everything we design, 😅 the is quite a lot different, so if you posses a quiet streak of adventure, and fun filled curiosity, hit us up with an enquiry, and maybe come join us. We have no automated booking system, we prefer to chat by email or What's Ap, and make sure you are happy and feel organised, before asking for any money.
We love touring Raja Ampat, it's a knock out destination, come and see it for yourself.
Bigkanu has a 5 and a 10 day trip, both departing on a Sunday after lunch, and both designed to suit the incoming flights from Bali or Jakarta. Nearly all flights into Sorong are red-eye flights arriving early , so if you are inbound from Europe, or Australia, you just need an initial flight to get you to Jakarta or Bali on a Saturday evening/night, and you will be aboard the boat the next day.
We depart from the islands themselves, 75km offshore of Sorong, at an island hub called Waisai.
We do this, so as not to waste your holiday,
passage making. A fast ferry departs each day from Sorong, at 9am, 3km from the airport, well timed to link with incoming flights.
The €8 and 2.5hour fast ferry arrives at Waisai wharf around 11.30am, where a Bigkanu crew member will find you. If you have had a long sleepless trip from Europe, consider crashing in a hotel in Sorong to recover on the Saturday, and catch the Sunday, 9am ferry.
It's takes us a few hours to get settled aboard, as the crew deal with the somewhat unhelpful harbour masters and pay the different park officials to get port clearance on a Sunday. That €120 park and port fee we ask, has to be paid to an array of different and disorganised officials, so please bring a some local currency, along with beer money.
On the returning day, either day 5, or day 10, we get back to Waisai ready to catch the 9am ferry back to Sorong, and the timing is designed to get you on the early afternoon flights back to Bali or Jakarta, OR, if you are staying longer in Raja Ampat, you can be picked up by your long boat/ speedboat that morning. Even better, come stay at our fab floating villa.
Sorong and Waisai are typical of Indonesian untidy urban life, and remember, it's the equator here, so start hydrating, and go with the flow when you arrive ....it's safe, everyone knows how to help, the ferry wharf can be chaotic but a bit fun, and the fast ferry is a mass snooze zone.
Once aboard Bigkanu and moving, it's a whole different world. The contrast between the city and refreshing purity of the islands is wonderful.
Unlike 90% of the Raja Ampat liveaboards, Bigkanu operates all year round rather than migrating to Komodo mid year, primarily because Bigkanu can be parked in tucked away, protected bays where the Phinisi fleet cannot go. Added to this, we are not in the business of deep water diving in rough offshore locations.
There is a windier season in Raja Ampat of 15-25 knot breezes, which is no big deal, but half the Pacific ocean makes its way into the Indian Ocean via Indonesia, so when you get wind against tide, we opt out of the runs to Wayag on the 10 day trips, and head to Piaynemo and the fabulous beaches of Fam instead, generally only for July August and September .
5 DAY ITINERARY
€980
There is something special about Bigkanu, with its 90cm draft, that makes our 5 day trip a treat. Its called Kabui Bay.
At the end of Kabui Bay, is a maze of limestone karst islets, in a tranquil setting, of deep forest. A highly unusual coral river about a kilometer long links Kabui Bay with the ocean, and a tidal run down this river pays Humphrey Bogart and the African Queen a fun tribute, for tidal river running fun. With a shallow draft, Bigkanu can circumnavigate Gam Island entering Dampier Straight from its southern end, revealing the really exotic jungles that the dive Liveaboards only see in the distance. Our shallow draft is the key.
Kabui has a choice of many beautifully serene bays, and its hard to pick whether to anchor inside the jungle fjords, or alongside a lone wharf with its own cave hut and beach.
Kabui Bay is not a coral viewing kingdom, but once out of 'the river', heading back into Dampier Straight, the snorkeling comes alive as we make out way up Dampier Straight via the Yanggelo channel coral gardens, overnighting at Yanggelo, Beser Bay and Friwen Island, This is what could be described as Raja Ampat central, where much of the resort, homestay and diving is focused.
Depending on wind and tide, we try to come alongside a couple of villages in Dampier Straight, such as Sawingrai, Arborek, Yenbuba or Friwen, as these cute, ex Lutheran missionary influenced villages, are quite the fun exploration.
Our focus on these trips is as much about above the water as below, as Raja Ampat is not just a great dive destination, its lots more.
From its tribal integrity, to it's amazing forests and deep bays, its a pity the scuba guys miss some of the best parts.
We often end up at Friwen Island on night 4, with its lovely beach, and a chance to eat ashore alongside the village.
For anyone planning to stay a couple of weeks in Raja Ampat, one of the great frustrations is in the expense and difficulty in seeing beyond the homestay or resort, as there is simply no decent transport system around the vast wonderland that is Raja Ampat.
Our 5D/4N lap of all the main highlights of Raja Ampat, is the perfect compliment to a shore based stay at a resort or homestay, and great cure for Raja Ampat cabin fever. The 5 day trip returns to Waisai on a Thursday morning before 9am, in case you want to catch a ferry to an afternoon flight.
Most of this trip is in sheltered waters, so it can happily run all year round, and for anyone nervous about sea sickness, this is a safe option. We can reverse the direction of the start and finish to suit the winds.
Most likely, 3 of the 4 nights of this trip will be tied to a wharf or to limestone karst islets, bow and stern, so its a very swim friendly trip. We are not forced to anchor 500m from shore, like the phinisis, and many of us like swimming where we can see the bottom or be close to shore.
So if time or budgets is limited, and you are not a scuba expert, don't miss the chance to say you saw Raja Ampat, and come hop aboard.
Expect to see all sorts of weird and wonderful sea creatures, mad parrots, the odd toucan, the visiting dolphins, and the odd manta. Time it right, and all the whale porn stars are in town. Oddly enough, some of the most amazing fish life, is right under the village wharfs.
If you know the month you wish to travel, message us and we will reply with which of the Sundays we will be starting the 5 day trip, as we have to lock in dates for agents in early 2024, and for those with more time, who want a dose of the truely exotic, try the 10 day trip itinerary.
5D/4N €980
Park and Port Fees €120.
Beer the only exclusion .
Enquire here .
10 DAY ITINERARY
The Bigkanu 10 day irinerary came about through a love of what is possibly the most beautiful karst island lagoon on earth, a place called Wayag, about 50km off the north west corner of Raja Ampat.
For many years, we visited Wayag each Tuesday, and melted into its serene beauty, kicking ourselves when we had to leave, when we really wanted to just live there for a month. It's gorgeous.
Conical limestone islets pop out of the aqua lagoon in what is one on the most fascinating geological wonders on earth.
So we are extending our time in Wayag, to at least 2 or 3, heaven filled days there.
For those who remember to old Maldives, and those coral ringed, flat atolls housing little fishing villages, well, they still exist, enroute to Wayag, and not a single liveaboard visits them, untill now. So we are going to pioneer an overnight stay at these quaint village wonderlands like Mutus Here, and you the young kids rule, and the old fishermen potter with their nets under a coconut.
There are no tourists here, not a one. Its a step back into the slow lane, a great reminder that life in the west has become quite hectic.
There are around 3 months of the year, July August and September, when we divert from Wayag, and head to Piaynemo, and in years past, we have been the only liveaboard capable of sneaking inside Piaynemo via it's rather tight and shallow entrance. In August, we often have the place to ourselves, and while Piaynemo gets busy, we can sneak into quiet hidden bay inside Piaynemo, and tie up between two karst islets.
With the wind pouring in from the south in August, it's fun to head to the calm and sheltered leeward back beaches of Fam island, in an aqua anchorage, and for beach life, Fam is Fun.
Inside the shelter and majesty of Kabui bay, we also get extra time in August, to explore much of this wondrous jungle lined bay.
(To flesh out the full itinerary for the 10 trip, scan the details of the 5 day trip, as nearly all the 5 day itinerary is part of the longer trip.)
For many, the highlight and holy grail of any visit to Raja Ampat is seeing Wayag, and /or Piaynemo, so it's with great delight, that we now offer a full indulgence in these places, and we ourselves love the idea of chilling, snorkeling and building beach fires at Wayag. We go about Wayag in a very different way, as Bigkanu can lay a bow anchor, and fall back clean onto the beach so you can step ashore from the transom, where our crew deliver drinks and food to the fireside dining table ashore. It's a heavenly experience, we love it.
There are some truely exotic components to Wayag, with 2 fabulous scramble climbs to to top of the bullet shaped karst mountains with spectacular views.
Outside of the lagoons, Wayag is fringed with fabulous coral. Inside the lagoons, there are some drift dives, with the inflowing current, that are more fun that big dipper.
Occasionally, mantas come clean up to our anchored boat, to put in 2 hour shows, so expect the unexpected. We have to pay to enter here, but it is included as part of that 120 Euro park fee we collect, and there many places we must pay to play in the park and it is this money important to an otherwise fairly impoverished but beautiful island existence.
Welcome to Big Kanu Raja Ampat Raja Ampat Adventure Snorkeling Trips Private Charter Rate for Up to 8 Pax : €1390 Per Day Full Board ...
