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D and I have long sought to visit Raja Ampat, a spectacular archipelago off the coast of New Guinea, in Indonesia’s West Papua province. Specifically, we’ve been scouting Misool Eco Resort, which has a particularly special setting characteristic of the region’s dramatic topography. Misool was previously the site of a shark finning camp and was developed into an eco resort after the area was protected about a decade ago.

Misool is very remote and getting there from eastern North America takes some effort. The only mainstream gateway is through Jakarta, which is far enough, followed by a three and a half hour red-eye flight to Sorong (SOQ), then a boat ride of several hours to the resort. Because of the transfer time and size of the resort, Misool only accepts guests on pre-set itineraries of 7 or 9 days. A two week vacation has to be planned virtually entirely around visiting the resort for a week, so some commitment is necessary.  The setting justifies it.

Raja Ampat does look special. The scenery is reminiscent of Micronesia’s rock islands but with better looking accommodation. The diving is promoted as world class and the remote location might imply a more authentic encounter with nature. But word seems to be getting out.

In spite of its remoteness, securing one of the limited number of preferred rooms at Misool requires a reservation and deposit many months in advance.

Last summer, D and I decided that we had been thinking about it for long enough and we booked an overwater room for the autumn of 2019 – about 14 months forward.

Just last week, Netflix released “Our Planet”, a series styled after BBC’s “Planet Earth” and, true to its predecessor, it’s narrated by David Attenborough. In the episode “Shallow Seas”, Misool is one of the focal points and is described as, “one of the few places on Earth where biodiversity is actually increasing.” Among the astounding statistics cited; there are twenty-five times more sharks in Misool than there were a decade ago, and three times more fish. It’s also been described as, “one of the most pristine reef systems left on earth” (misool.info).

Only a place like Misool might knock Komodo this far down a blog post. Before going to Misool we’re going to spend three days visiting the dragons, staying at the new Ayana hotel near Labuan Bajo, on the island of Flores.

As if Indonesia weren’t far enough, we’re taking the long way there, flying with Finnair to Hong Kong via Helsinki. After a day and a night in Hong Kong, we’ll take a five hour flight to Bali and catch a connection to Labuan Bajo. After our stay there we’ll fly 90 minutes back west to Jakarta before catching a 3hr 30 minute east bound “red eye” to Sorong. Within Indonesia, I will only fly on Garuda Indonesia.

UPDATE: Since the time of writing Finnair has cancelled our flight from Chicago to Helsinki and rebooked us on British Airways from Toronto to Helsinki via London. The good news is that British Airways is operating this flight with a soon to be brand new A350-1000. It’s a better aircraft and seat than what what Finnair’s A330-300 offered on the transatlantic segment, and we avoid the extra flight on this side of the Atlantic.