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Known for its energetic currents—and for being incredibly “fishy”—the Dampier Strait is always filled with life and color. The Nikon Z 14–30mm f/4 wide-angle lens pairs well with the SEACAM Compact Port to get in close to the reef
 

They say that true friendships are seeded by shared passions. For SEACAM founder Harald Hordosch and the pioneer of Papua Diving Max Ammer, it was a mutual fascination to find and recover a World War II Spitfire fighter plane that brought them together.

Max’s journey began in the late 1980s, where he ventured from his native Netherlands to Papua (then Irian Jaya) in Indonesia in search of abandoned jeeps, fallen aircraft, and treasures from WWII. Today, with Max’s unmatched knowledge of the region and a reputation for taking on ambitious missions, who would be better placed to lead Harald in recovering such an iconic relic of war? For Max and Harald, their journey to find the Spitfire was the beginning of a friendship that would eventually hatch an unexpected partnership in underwater image-making.
 

An aerial view of Sorido Bay Resort on the island of Kri

Submerse with SEACAM

Those who know Max Ammer know he is a man of firsts, a fearless innovator and trailblazer in exploration and in preserving natural and cultural Papuan heritage. So it’s no surprise that it would be at Max’s Sorido Bay Resort in Raja Ampat that the world’s first SEACAM Center would be conceived. Nestled delicately into the Papuan landscape and situated on the doorstep of Raja Ampat’s most celebrated and biodiverse dive site, Cape Kri, there are few places better to capture the ocean’s majesty.

Whether you are a seasoned shooter or new to underwater photography and ready to make the step into purchasing a comprehensive system, you’ll surely agree that the lure of SEACAM silver is difficult to ignore. The company’s high-end underwater imaging products may be used by some of the world’s most acclaimed and accomplished shooters, but it hasn’t been easy to get your hands on a SEACAM system to try. That is, until now.

At the Raja Ampat SEACAM Center at Sorido Bay Resort, you’ll find the latest mirrorless and full-frame cameras, including the Nikon Z8 and Canon EOS 7D, alongside SEACAM’s precision-engineered camera housings, strobes, and optics. This is the only place in the world where resort guests have direct access to SEACAM’s cutting-edge gear—and yes, you can try it all. For us, as relatively new SEACAM shooters, we had the opportunity to try a few key pieces of SEACAM equipment we didn’t yet own.
 

Sorido Bay Resort’s Tivara Tanudjaja runs through the features of the SEACAM Seaflash 160D strobes
 

The author takes the SEACAM Seaflash 160D strobes out for a spin at the “Citrus Ridge” dive site

SEACAM + Sorido Bay: Image-Making from “Good” to “Great”

As every underwater photographer knows, capturing great images is not just about having high-quality gear and mastering that equipment. It is also about having an exceptional photo location and compelling photo subjects. At the Raja Ampat SEACAM Center at Sorido Bay Resort, you’re getting an incredible location and a visual feast of subjects, alongside exclusive access to an annual workshop and mentoring program led by renowned SEACAM Ambassadors.

Open to any photographer using any camera and housing system, and tailored to participants’ needs, with a pre-workshop session and post-workshop tuition, these creative and technical workshops are designed to introduce non-SEACAM photographers to the SEACAM system, and assist photographers in unleashing the capabilities of their cameras; as well as assist existing SEACAM shooters to enhance their image-making by getting the most out of their equipment.
 

The wide, even, bright beam from SEACAM’s Seaflash 160D strobes proved to be a great tool for capturing this resident school of friendly sweetlips at Cape Kri
 

SEACAM’s Achromat 2.0 close-up lens helped capture all the details on this tiny dragonet posing on the reef in the Dampier Strait
 

While a lot can be done in post-processing to save an image from the trash can, a key component of the upcoming workshops is to take your images from “good” to “great” in camera, and then on to “exceptional” using advanced digital darkroom techniques.

Supporting these workshops will be first-class facilities for photographers, including a workshop classroom and a soon-to-be completed climate controlled and spaciously equiped camera room with plentiful lighting and voltage regulated power, large individual work stations, and ample room for all your equipment.

Specially trained dive guides will be on hand to give guests the support they need to be perfectly positioned for the shot. The resort’s photo guides can also provide tips on how best to photograph a particular subject based on its behavior, and can even help you point your snoot.

Additionally, the resort will soon unveil a new 40-foot catamaran that will take workshop participants further afield, exploring more of the remote and less-frequented reefs of the region.

Commencing in 2026, guests of Sorido Bay Resort will also have access to a relaxed one-on-one photographic tuition and mentoring service during their stay. SEACAM photo pros will be on hand throughout the year to provide guests guidance on their photography as needed. With this service, there are no planned tutorials or instructional workshops, just access to expert guidance in underwater photography on a daily basis. Whether it is out on a dive or relaxing at the resort, guests will have the support needed to up their photo game. Further updates alongside a calendar schedule of underwater photo pros will be released soon.
 

A piece of stainless steel cleaning wool used to clean the dive boat lends this common subject—a tiny painted thecacera (Thecacera picta)—a more interesting background
 

Hidden in plain sight, a tasseled wobbegong shark takes shelter beneath a table coral, blending seamlessly into the undersea landscape
 

Combine Raja Ampat’s natural wonders with the innovative precision and flexibility of the SEACAM system and you’re set to capture your best underwater images. “We want to help our guests explore this incredible underwater landscape and realize their underwater photography ambitions,” says Max. “But we also understand it can be difficult to choose the right equipment, and get the best guidance to take great images. That’s the reason we created the SEACAM Center.”

So you are probably still wondering if Harald and Max found the Spitfire? Well, no, not yet. “But I still think I know where it is,” Max assures us. So stay tuned!
 

Named after Max Ammer’s daughter, the surreal coral gardens of Melissa’s Garden stretch like an endless tapestry. The Nikon AF-S 8–15mm Fisheye lens can really do this dive site justice
 

These seahorses are often difficult to photograph due to their dark color and stark sandy environment, but backlight the area using a green filter and you have a pleasing silhouette shot

Beyond Image-Making: For the Planet and the People

Max Ammer is undisputedly the pioneer of Papuan diving. Not only has he personally discovered more than 400 plane wrecks in the region, assisting to repatriate the remains of Japanese pilots to their homeland and families, but he has also discovered and named the majority of dive sites in this untamed region. He started Raja Ampat’s first eco-resort, Kri Eco Resort, and today, under Papua Diving Resorts, operates both Kri Eco Resort and neighboring Sorido Bay Resort on the island of Kri.

More importantly, though, he has made it his mission to conserve the region’s precious cultural and environmental heritage through the establishment of the Raja Ampat Research and Conservation Centre (RARCC). Led by Max himself, the RARCC consists of a dedicated team who works tirelessly on initiatives that both protect the environment and provide opportunities and training to the local Papuan people.

Some of Max’s resort staff were previously involved in shark finning, cyanide and blast fishing, illegal logging, and turtle poaching. Today, through his efforts, they now make their living by using their knowledge of the environment to guide guests and undertake incredibly important conservation work. Currently, some 90 percent of resort staff are Papuan.

The RARCC has a large remit across a vast array of projects throughout the region. From building and running a school; training local Papuans in boat building, carpentry and aviation; and rewilding forests and the endangered zebra shark; Max and his team are embracing the challenge. By staying and diving at Sorido Bay Resort or Kri Eco Resort, you are directly supporting this incredibly important work.
 

Mangroves in Raja Ampat grow right next to thriving coral reefs, offering a unique environment for marine organisms to transition between habitats. The SEACAM 9-inch (240mm) Superdome paired with the Nikon Z 14–30mm f/4 wide-angle lens works a treat in situations like this

Rewilding Zebra Sharks

While Raja Ampat has a celebrated biodiversity, there is one particular species out of balance here: the zebra shark (Stegostoma tigrinum). Habitat degradation and overharvesting due to shark finning practices have contributed to a dramatic decline in the zebra shark population here. As a founding partner of ReShark, an international collaboration of 70 organizations from 11 countries, the RARCC is working towards rewilding the endangered zebra shark to Raja Ampat’s waters.

At Sorido Bay Resort’s RARCC community-built zebra shark nursery, the team nurtures the sharks from the arrival of their egg casings from aquarium partners across the globe, to their hatching, and caring for them as pups until their ultimate release and subsequent monitoring.
 

Zebra shark pups grow inside their precious egg casings that have recently been received from partner aquariums
 

“Having the local community involved in the building of the shark hatchery was really important,” says RARCC Program Manager Shannon Latumahina. “Shark finning was unfortunately a practice undertaken by local people, so getting local people involved in the project at an early stage helped teach them to not continue the shark finning lifestyle. We want them to be part of the project so that they have sympathy towards the sharks so we can restore the population to health.”
 

Zebra shark pups Sunny, Dominggus and Yaswal grow strong in the pup tank waiting for their release to the wild

Hope for Raja Ampat’s Future Custodians

In 2018, the RARCC initiated and developed the Batanta Hope Island School on the island of Yarweser in Batanta, Raja Ampat—a remote area with no means of accessing education. Today, the island has a school building, four teachers, and educational materials for 45 students across primary school grade levels 1–6. The curriculum places a heavy emphasis on community capacity building, character building, and environmental education. “Currently, teachers at the school come from abroad, but the vision is that one day students from the school here will become teachers themselves and return home to teach the next generation,” Shannon tell us.

The students are even involved in RARCC’s ReShark program; they collect clams and snails for the zebra shark pups’ food. The initiative has helped the children to positively influence their parents to see the beauty of the zebra sharks and stop shark finning. “The simple act of feeding shark pups has helped bring the entire island community together in caring for this endangered species,” says Shannon.
 

Rewilding Forests

An ambitious project to plant one million trees, the RARCC’s Agroforestry Project, located in Kebar, Tambrauw Regency, Southwest Papua, engages local communities to recultivate areas degraded through the slash-and-burn method. By planting fruit trees in degraded areas, the threat of those areas being burned is minimized. Subsequently, degraded areas are progressively reforested, bringing wildlife back to health. Max says: “This organic farming method combines trees and crops to both improve soil health and help recover indigenous forests, assisting local communities to be self-sustaining by growing environmentally sustainable and nutritiously diverse food to support their families and their livelihoods.”
 

A Papuan hornbill’s-view of Sorido Bay Resort and Kri Eco Resort!

Crafting Futures: The Art of Boat Building

Another thing Max is really passionate about is empowering local Papuan communities through skills development in boat building. Building boats has deep cultural significance in the region, so training not only helps preserve this tradition, but also helps integrate modern techniques to support ecotourism activities in Papua.

“Currently, we are working on bringing seven-meter [23-feet] very fast catamarans to the market. Our emphasis is on building environmentally friendly boats which will give us 50–65% savings on fuel,” says Max. “The skills learnt are then passed down through families and communities, fostering self-reliance and providing an economic benefit to the local Papuan people.”

Revenue raised through these boat-building activities also helps Max fund his other environmental and community capacity building initiatives.
 

Frontier Aviation: Taking Papuans to the Skies

For most Papuan people, opportunities for a good education are limited, and because of this, there are almost no Papuan people involved in aviation. As a aircraft pilot himself, Max has plans to train local Papuans to pilot aircraft and helicopters—part of his ambitious Bell 47 project, where he is rebuilding four Bell 47 helicopters.

Once rebuilt, the helicopters will provide aviation opportunities for local Papuan people. The aircraft will be used to support activities in the Raja Ampat Marine Protected Area by undertaking air patrols to determine and deter illegal fishing activities, support search and rescue, and assist scientists and other researchers to more easily access remote parts of the region.
 

A sargassum fish swimming in open water is a super special find. Often these frogfish will leave their sargassum to find a mate or a healthier habitat. Not sure where this little guy was off to, but he was really on the move!

Planning Your Trip to Sorido Bay Resort

How to Get There: Sorido Bay Resort can be reached in two hours via the resort’s transfer boat from Sorong harbor. Sorong’s Domine Eduard Osok Airport is serviced domestically by Garuda Indonesia and Lion Air with connections to the major Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Bali.

When to Go: Unlike in the south of Raja Ampat, where operators close from July to September, diving at Sorido Bay Resort is great all year round due to Kri Island’s protected location.

Where to Stay: Sorido Bay Resort offers sophisticated dive-and-stay packages in seven luxury bungalows nestled delicately amidst the jungle-clad shoreline overlooking the lagoon, whose daily visitors include hunting blacktip sharks, rays and trevallies. Final touches are currently being placed on two new superluxe villas, bringing the total accommodations to nine villas. With intricate designs and unique architectural characteristics of Papuan traditional houses, the new villas are expected to be completed in the coming months and will come with their own private dive guide. The resort prides itself on its sustainable practices across its entire operations. Unlike the majority of liveaboards and homestays that operate in the region, the resort treats its sewerage effluent and disposes of it using the latest environmentally friendly practices, ensuring nutrients don’t impact the surrounding coral reefs.
 

One of the seven luxury bungalows offered at Sorido Bay Resort
 

Try your hand at stand-up paddleboarding when you stay at Sorido Bay Resort
 

Topside Attractions: West Papua lies in the Asia–Australian transition zone and shares the same tectonic plate as Australia, which somewhat explains why the plants and animals here have some similarities. Tree kangaroos and other marsupials are common. Keep an eye out for the resort’s resident cuscus, along with coconut crabs, monitor lizards, Papuan hornbills and paradise kingfishers. If you are feeling adventurous, there is also the opportunity to explore the jungle in search of the Wilson’s or red bird-of-paradise.

SEACAM Center: Simply book a week at Sorido Bay Resort to gain exclusive access to the Raja Ampat SEACAM Center. As a resort guest, you will have access to SEACAM equipment and accessories to try. If you are an existing SEACAM user, resort staff are on hand for all your SEACAM equipment needs and advice. The inaugural SEACAM workshops to be held in July and August 2025 will be free of charge for guests of Sorido Bay Resort. Workshops are open to all photographers regardless of the camera and housing system they use.

More Information: For information about rates and to book your stay at Sorido Bay Resort, visit www.papua-diving.com/book-now. Find out more about the Raja Ampat SEACAM Center at www.seacam.com/en/seacam-center.
 

For guests of Sorido Bay Resort, picture-perfect sunsets are thrown in at no extra cost!
 

About the Authors: Based in Melbourne, Australia, Anita Verde and Peter Marshall have a passion for the planet’s wild places, and through their images and narratives hope to inspire better appreciation and protection of the natural world. When not underwater, you’ll find them on a mountain somewhere. To see more of their work, please visit their website, www.summitstoseasphotography.com.