Turtle Homestay, Raja Ampat

I had never been to a homestay before but I was so lucky to stumble upon the best one in north Raja Ampat. Located on Kri (Mansuar) island, Turtle Homestay is perfect for any traveler. They offer a large range of excursions AND have a beautiful house reef. The locals and staff are so friendly! They speak great English and the dive sites around Kri are just epic. DEFINITELY GO HERE!

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Location

Kri has many home stays around the island. Turtle homestay is within close proximity of Warahnus Dive Homestay and one more that I'm unsure of the name. It is on the south side of Kri. It appears to be close to Soul Scuba Divers, but it's not. I wouldn't recommend them anyway. More on that in the scuba diving section. 

Getting to the Homestay

Coming to Kri is no easy task, but it's incredibly worthwhile. You'll need to fly into Sorong, then take a taxi to the ferry port.
NOTE: if the taxi driver tries to tell you that you have to pay extra to enter the ferry port, he is ripping you off. You only need to pay for the cab and the ferry ticket. 
Once you're at the port, you'll enter a small building to buy your ferry ticket. They will tell you that you need the ticket and the boarding pass for the ferry. I believe you only need the ticket. We bought both to be safe, but never used the boarding pass. 
The ferry is two hours long from Sorong to Waisai. One departs at 9 am and one at 2 pm daily. I don't think the ferry runs on any major holidays which includes Christmas, as most Indonesians in Raja Ampat are Christian. 
For more information on the Ferry, see my post linked in the button below. 

All About The Ferry

Once you're in Waisai, the homestay will pick you up in a small speed boat. This part needs to be coordinated directly with the homestay. The cost is 700,000 IDR for the one way transfer. If you can share the boat with others, you will all split the cost of the 700,000.
​NOTE: It's best to have WhatsApp already working on your phone to contact the homestay. 

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Room

The rooms were massive! 
Disclaimer: Like most homestays, Turtle has no air conditioning and no hot water. Unlike most homestays, it has a working shower head and a western style toilet. (Some other homestays just have buckets...for both...)

Since I was traveling with my mom, we requested separate beds. We made this request well in advance. The homestay said they cannot accommodate separate beds, so we got separate rooms! Apart of the same house structure but separated by a wall, the setup could not have been better. 
Even better though, we still paid the price for only having one room. We were not double charged! I found this to be really kind of the homestay especially since they were booked full. 

My room came complete with a shelving unit, two tables, a bed, mosquito net, outlets, and an attached bathroom. The shelving unit locked which was nice and had a small mirror on top - handy for hair braiding. 
NOTE: there are approximately four outlets. You will need a power converter. I can't recommend a good one, as my portable charger broke on the first day and my plug converter stopped working. My mom had the same plug converter, and hers worked the entire trip. Also, the power is only on from 6pm until midnight, unless they forget to turn it off. 

My room also had a broom; my moms did not. Her room had a fan, mine did not. She ended up sacrificing her fan to me. I was still sweating all night. It's HOT out there. 

Overall, the rooms were very nice. Flip flops in the shower is a MUST and I brushed my teeth with the bottled water. The bottled water is outside the room on the balcony. 

The balcony had two chairs in front of each room (4 total) and one hammock in front of each room (2 total) and one small table in the middle where the water was. It was very spacious and nice especially because I sat in the hammock when I wasn't off snorkeling, scuba diving, or eating. 

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Food

The food was DELICIOUS and PLENTIFUL! Two things that not everyone can say about their homestay. All three meals were served, plus tea and coffee always available. Meals were done buffet style and they always included a veggie, protein, carb, and fruit. Sometimes dessert. The protein was always chicken or fish. Sometimes the fish was good, sometimes not. The chicken was always good. 

My favorite meal happened when we bought a fish from a local fisherman and the homestay owners smoked it for us. My mom and I devoured the entire thing for dinner, and it was the best fish I've eaten to this day. 

NOTE: for ethical reasons, I don't eat much seafood (I don't like to support the fishing industry) but it's slightly necessary if you want to get enough to eat. Also, it supports local fisherman. 

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Scuba Diving

Kri Island has excellent scuba diving. The reefs are packed with coral and fish! Some common creatures include ornate ghost pipefish, oriental sweetlips, woebegone sharks, pygmy sea horses, cuttlefish, blacktop sharks, octopus, and more! Some of my favorite dive sites were Sawandarek, Mikes point, Chicken Reef, and Yenuba Jetty. 
The homestay has a brand new dive center. This is amazing ad they have two great boats. At most, the dives will be you and two other people. If you are a photographer, they will accommodate you with a separate guide and maybe boat. The staff truly wants to see their guests happy!

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Snorkeling

The reef around Turtle Homestay has some of the best snorkeling I've ever done. Once, I was standing on the dock (jetty) and a manta ray just swam by casually. There was always sharks, rays, and turtles. The fish life was dense and the coral was incredible. You can't even see the floor of the ocean its just coral forever. Absolutely incredible. 

Other Excursions

Here is a list and prices of all the other excursions they offer. NOTE: The homestay only accepts IDR CASH! This is very important, please make sure you bring enough ahead of time. 

I went on the manta ray snorkeling excursion twice. It was really fun. We were the only boat out there and the mantas are feeding at the surface, so its perfect to see them snorkeling. I took these photos without strobes on my camera. 

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One final note, the lagoon

Final side note, you can see epaulette (walking) sharks in the lagoon of the homestay. The sharks like sandy bottoms with some coral heads and rocks around. They are nocturnal and prefer low tide. 

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