• Internet access (fairly reliable but slow 2G signal)
• Cute village nearby, but not aggressive
• Good diving nearby
• Close enough to Waisai to make a day trip for groceries
• Good holding (though deep) and good protection in most weather
• Friendly dive resort nearby
• Easy in and out, could even anchor at night
We probably spent about 30 nights anchored off the north coast of Friwen in June and July. Our general anchorage spot was in 22 meters at 00-28.174 S / 131-41.564 E. We never dove the spot, but one day we had glassy conditions and we could see the bottom clearly. Nice flat sand, good holding. If we stayed far enough east, we could pick up a weak cell signal from Waisai.
The village was clean and neat and friendly. We enjoyed watching the locals fishing off the pier when the fish were running. (They asked us not to scuba dive under their pier, for fear we would scare off their fish).
For diving, we went over and talked to the Biodiversity Eco Resort, a 5 minute dinghy ride across to the SE end of Gam. We negotiated some excellent offseason rates for diving, and made 22 dives with them. They have an excellent dive operation, and a nice small resort (max 14 guests). We went in for dinner several times by prior arrangement ($15 USD pp per dinner), and found the food always good.
http://rajaampatbiodiversity.com
They may not be as welcoming during high season, as they are a small operation, and if their rooms are full their boats may be full. But it is worth making contact to see if they could accommodate you for a few dives. Having some flexibility in your schedule would help. They go to all the same dive sites everyone else does, and there are no other locations that we know of that have such a protected anchorage from both northerly and southerly winds.
Of course, the diving was spectacular!
We not only enjoyed diving with them, but formed lasting friendships with several of the guests staying at the resort. The night before they left, we had them out on Soggy Paws for sundowners.
If you want to dive the area on your own, a number of good dive spots are within dinghy distance, including Batu Lima and Friwin Bonda (in the Bird's Head Seascape book) and Fernando’s Spot, off the NE end of Friwin. With a big dinghy you could also easily do Mike’s Point (also in the book).
We did several dives out in the Straits from a cruising boat (a friend’s catamaran). We would either have a non-diver drive the boat while we were down, or do “two up, two down”. It’s impossible to do the Cape Kri, Sardines, and Blue Magic dives without a surface boat, because of the ripping currents.
Bird of Paradise Tours: Simon is still doing the Bird of Paradise tours. He, Martin, and Martin’s wife Nellie are related somehow. They all live in the small village that is due north of the Friwen anchorage.
When we were there with 4 catamarans in May, Martin’s wife Nellie (who speaks good English) came out with Simon (who does not) and told us the price was 300K IDR per person. We couldn’t budge her down from that price, even with a group of 5 people. Though we did get her to throw in breakfast at here homestay afterward. We went anyway, and it was well worth it. Nellie’s and Martin’s number is 0821 9982 4610 See our blog post on that here:
http://svsoggypaws.blogspot.com/2016/06/friwin-cape-kri-and-birds-of-paradise.html
However, another time we anchored there later, Simon, not recognizing us, approached us by himself and offered the same tour (without breakfast) for 200K IDR. Simon’s direct contact numbers are: 0812 4794 1013 or 0823 9848 3683 But his English is almost non-existent. Text message in Google Translate/Bahasa Indonesian would probably be the best way to contact him.
Make sure you synchronize your clocks with Simon’s—he showed up a half an hour early on one morning—his clock was off that much. We asked Nellie when we were eating breakfast whether she could make dinner for us by pre-arrangement some night (yes) and also would consider doing laundry. We never followed up on either of those, however.
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