Raja Ampat Snorkeling Liveaboard — LASHA Luxury Phinisi

Surface Water

Built Around the Reef Top, Not the Dive Deck

Clear shallow water over reef in Raja Ampat — Most liveaboards here are dive platforms first. On a leisure charter the snorkelling programme is the product, not the consolation.

LASHA is a 52.5-metre luxury phinisi that runs Raja Ampat snorkeling liveaboard charters from Sorong between October and April. Snorkelers book the standard leisure rate — from US$11,600 per night, whole boat, minimum five nights, up to 26 guests — with no dive supplement needed to reach Piaynemo, Wayag and Misool.

Most liveaboards in Raja Ampat are configured as dive platforms first; snorkelers are priced and scheduled around the dive deck. LASHA works the other way. The leisure charter rate is the base product, the snorkeling program is built into it, and the dive supplement exists only for guests who actually dive. If your group is all snorkelers — or a mix of divers, snorkelers and children — this page sets out how a Raja Ampat expedition on LASHA works: the sites, the season, the pricing bands, and the honest limitations of a traditional wooden hull on open water.

The Reef Top

Why is Raja Ampat world-class for snorkeling, not just diving?

Raja Ampat sits at the heart of the Coral Triangle, and surveys of the archipelago have recorded more than 75% of the world's known coral species here — a concentration of reef life no other region matches. The point that matters for snorkelers is where that life sits. Raja Ampat's reef tops typically rise to within one to five metres of the surface, which places the densest coral cover and fish activity squarely at snorkeling depth rather than twenty metres down.

Three features make the archipelago unusually generous to non-divers. First, the shallow reef flats around the karst islands hold hard-coral gardens and reef fish in water calm enough for relaxed surface swimming. Second, the lagoons inside island groups such as Piaynemo and Wayag are naturally sheltered, so conditions stay manageable for beginners even when open water is lively. Third, Raja Ampat's signature megafauna — manta rays, turtles and reef sharks patrolling the shallows — is regularly visible from the surface, particularly at the manta aggregation areas of the Dampier Strait, where feeding mantas pass directly beneath snorkelers.

The Route

Which snorkeling spots does a LASHA Raja Ampat itinerary cover?

The karst lagoon at Piaynemo seen from the viewpoint stairs — Piaynemo — the lagoon on the hundred-thousand rupiah note. Sheltered enough that beginners stay comfortable even when open water is lively.

LASHA's Raja Ampat expeditions depart from Sorong, the gateway port for the archipelago, and are routed around its three iconic zones plus its manta territory. Because every departure is a whole-boat charter, the day-by-day plan is set with your group — a snorkeling-led charter simply spends longer at surface-friendly sites. See the itineraries for route frameworks and the Raja Ampat destination guide for the fuller picture.

Area	Zone	Why snorkelers rate it
Piaynemo	Fam Islands, central	The famous karst viewpoint plus shallow coral gardens and sheltered lagoon channels below it
Wayag	Far north	Turquoise lagoons enclosed by cone karst; calm, shallow, exceptionally clear water
Misool	Far south	Soft-coral walls that begin just below the surface inside one of Indonesia's best-protected marine areas
Dampier Strait manta areas	Central	Manta rays feeding and cleaning within surface-viewing range

Sandbar off Yenbuba in the Dampier Strait at low tide — Yenbuba sandbar — a swim stop, not a dive site.

Rates

Do snorkelers pay the dive rate?

No — and this is the structural point most guests miss when comparing boats. LASHA prices its long-range expeditions (Raja Ampat, Banda Sea, Wakatobi, Maratua) in two published bands, and the leisure band already covers a snorkeling-led trip in full:

Charter type	Whole-boat rate	Who it suits
Leisure expedition	From US$11,600 per night	Snorkelers, families and island-hopping groups; no dive operations
Dive expedition	From US$12,400 per night	Groups with certified divers aboard — roughly US$880 per person per night equivalent on Raja Ampat departures

Both bands run on a minimum of five nights for Raja Ampat, and both are whole-boat charters — LASHA does not sell per-cabin places. Published from-rates apply to groups of up to 14 guests, with tiered rates as the group grows toward the 26-guest maximum. Full tables are on the rates page, and the liveaboard overview explains how the charter bands work across all routes.

Mixed Groups

Yes — mixed groups are one of the most common charter patterns in Raja Ampat, and the boat is laid out for it. If anyone in your party dives, the charter books at the dive rate and everyone else simply snorkels; there is no separate snorkeler fee on top. LASHA's dedicated dive deck keeps tanks and wet gear off the guest decks, and her two tenders can run parallel drops at the same site: divers along the wall at depth, snorkelers over the reef top a few metres above them, both back aboard for the same lunch. Dive operations are detailed on the diving page.

For families, the cabin plan does the rest. LASHA carries 10 ensuite cabins across four decks: Deluxe and Grand Deluxe twins on the lower deck that work well for children or friends sharing, and Junior Suites and Master Suites with private balconies — the two Master Suites add jacuzzis — on the main deck. The full layout is on the cabins page.

Telaga Bintang, the star-shaped lagoon in northern Raja Ampat — Telaga Bintang. October to April is the sheltered window.

Season

When is the Raja Ampat snorkeling season, and where does the trip start?

LASHA positions in Raja Ampat from October to April, with departures from Sorong. Within that window the boat routes between Wayag in the north, Piaynemo in the centre and Misool in the south. Outside the Raja Ampat season, LASHA sails Komodo National Park year-round from her home port of Labuan Bajo — snorkeling-led groups who miss the Raja Ampat window can book a Komodo charter instead, where leisure rates start lower, from US$10,800 per night with a two-night minimum.

Loungers on the LASHA sun deck at anchor — Four decks for 26 guests — the surface interval has somewhere to happen.

Aboard

What is LASHA like between snorkel sessions?

LASHA is a 52.5-metre, 466 GT phinisi launched in 2023, built from ironwood and teak in the Buginese shipbuilding tradition and flagged in Indonesia. For guests who spend their days on the water rather than under it, the spaces that matter are above deck: a sun-deck jacuzzi, an indoor Lounge & Resto, and alfresco dining for evenings at anchor. Under way she runs a 750 hp Weichai main engine with twin 70 kVA Mitsubishi generators, and carries 12,000 litres of fuel and 22,000 litres of fresh water — the endurance a five-night-plus expedition actually requires. The safety inventory is published openly: two tenders, four 20-person liferafts (80 places), 75 life jackets, radar, AIS and EPIRB, and 54-channel CCTV. Full specifications are on the yacht page.

One honest caveat: LASHA is a traditional wooden-hulled phinisi without active fin stabilizers. On open-sea crossing days — the northward leg toward Wayag, or the passage south to Misool — you will feel the sea. Itineraries are paced to put those legs into sensible weather windows and to end each day in sheltered anchorages, but guests prone to motion sickness should plan for the crossings rather than be surprised by them.

How does a phinisi compare with steel dive boats and catamarans?

Raja Ampat's fleet falls into three broad categories. Purpose-built steel or aluminium dive boats are engineered around repetitive dive operations, and snorkelers aboard them typically fit around a diver's schedule. Sailing catamarans ride flat in a seaway but generally carry small groups in compact cabins. A large expedition phinisi like LASHA offers a different balance: generous deck, lounge and suite space on a 52.5-metre hull, a daily schedule set by the charter group rather than a dive roster, and the trade-off noted above — a traditional hull that feels open-water crossings more than a stabilized steel vessel does.

The Arithmetic

How much does a Raja Ampat snorkeling liveaboard cost in total?

Sunset over the islands of Raja Ampat — Five nights is the floor. The distances between the three iconic zones are what set it.

Working from the published leisure from-rate of US$11,600 per night for groups of up to 14 guests, whole-boat totals start at:

Duration	Whole-boat total from
5 nights (minimum)	US$58,000
6 nights	US$69,600
7 nights	US$81,200

Groups larger than 14 move into tiered rates toward the 26-guest maximum, and dive-band charters price from US$12,400 per night. LASHA's maiden public voyage is on 17 August 2026, and the October 2026 – April 2027 Raja Ampat season is sold through official channels only: lashacruise.com, WhatsApp, and [email protected] — operated by Komodo Luxury (PT Komodo Bahari Nusantara, established 2015, part of Juara Holding Group).

This guide is published by the LASHA team at Komodo Luxury. Comparisons here are drawn between vessel categories — steel dive boats, wooden phinisi, catamarans — not named competitors, and every LASHA figure is the operator's own published specification or 2026–2027 rate.

Where You Get In