Our resorts build the dive boats at our own fiberglass workshop, now based in KEK, Sorong. The workshop used to sit at the resorts on Kri Island, but as the boatbuilding operation grew and needed more space, it moved to Sorong.
The move also made logistical sense, since Sorong is the resorts’ main base for boat operations and supplies. Local Papuans make up the team building the boats. It is a workshop of people and skills as much as it is a production line, and that focus on people is at the center of the story.
Some of the people who trained in the workshop have gone on to start their own boatbuilding businesses. Boatbuilding is a particularly useful skill to have in Raja Ampat, where boats are one of the main forms of transportation between islands.
It’s a modest example, not a claim about transforming the local economy. But it shows how practical, hands-on training can give local people a skill they can keep using long after their time at the resorts.
The new catamarans will be used for regular diving trips, longer journeys to remote sites, and trips out to the Fam Islands and Mushroom Islands. They will also support research teams that need to travel farther afield for fieldwork tied to Raja Ampat’s conservation programs.
That dual purpose, moving both divers and researchers, connects the boats to our resorts’ wider conservation mission: protecting Raja Ampat’s marine environment while investing in the training, education, and skills development of the communities who live alongside it.
