For every guest who books and travels in Indonesia through Coralbound, we donate to the Raja Ampat SEA Centre.
This is a platform announcement. If you're here to plan an Indonesia liveaboard trip, start with the Indonesia liveaboard guide.
Our partner in Indonesia
We donate for every guest who books through Coralbound and travels, and we support one NGO in each country. You can read the reasoning in why tourism should look after the places it visits.
Indonesia is first. Our partner here is the Raja Ampat SEA Centre.
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Group climbing among mangrove roots during a forest outing
Why the Raja Ampat SEA Centre
The SEA Centre is a registered Indonesian nonprofit foundation (Yayasan) working in Raja Ampat. SEA stands for science, education and awareness.¹ Raja Ampat is where much of Indonesia's best-known diving is. Want a quick overview of the region? See our Raja Ampat destination page.
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Children at a classroom table with a laptop, craft materials and a whale shark model
Its projects
Reef monitoring
The SEA Centre follows the Reef Check method and surveys six reef sites in Raja Ampat. Trained divers and marine scientists record coral cover, indicator fish such as groupers, snappers and parrotfish, invertebrates and signs of damage or bleaching. Temperature loggers on several reefs record water temperature through the year to track heat stress.²
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Diver attaching numbered tags to coral fragments on a nursery post, second diver behind
Ranger patrols
Through its Jaga Laut ranger project, the SEA Centre supports the government team that supervises the Dampier Strait Marine Protected Area. The area covers more than 353,000 hectares. Rangers patrol with a purpose-built boat and check for illegal fishing, zoning rules and permits for visiting boats. They also look after tourism sites such as mooring buoys and manta cleaning stations.³
Dive Guide School
The school trains young Papuans as dive guides. Students take PADI courses from Open Water to Rescue, plus English, hospitality and reef ecology. Papua Explorers started the training in 2013, and the foundation took it over in 2017. The SEA Centre reports that alumni now work as dive guides at Raja Ampat resorts (7 graduates), as a Dampier Strait ranger, as a conservationist in Arborek and as a homestay manager on Fam Island.⁴
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Divers kitted up in BCDs and fins on the jetty, ready for a dive
SEA Centre 4 Kids
The program runs for children in the neighbouring village of Yenwapnour. Children join environmental classes at the SEA Centre every Sunday, with supervised snorkelling. The SEA Centre also teaches English lessons in the village, where it says there is currently no English teacher.⁵
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Children at a classroom table with a laptop, craft materials and a whale shark model
Coral Garden
The Coral Garden is the SEA Centre's house reef. It is used for coral restoration, as a training ground for Dive Guide School students and guests, and for the Kids program. The SEA Centre says some Raja Ampat reefs were damaged by destructive fishing in the 1980s and 1990s and have not yet recovered.⁶
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Diver attaching coral fragments to a metal reef restoration frame, with a school of fish overhead
Megafauna monitoring
Since 2015, Papua Explorers guests have recorded their sightings after each dive as citizen scientists. The resort sends around 20 divers a day to the Dampier Strait. The SEA Centre uses the data to track species, seasonal changes and the impact of dive tourism, and to assess what the protected area needs.⁷
Manta Sandy ranger station
Manta Sandy is a manta cleaning station in the Dampier Strait. The SEA Centre says up to nine boats and 50 divers have been dropped there at the same time. It set up a ranger station 50 metres from the cleaning station with partners including Conservation International and the Marine Megafauna Foundation. Rangers trained with the Marine Megafauna Foundation have supervised dive and snorkel activity there since 2017. For diving with manta rays across Indonesia, see our manta guide.⁸
Raja Ampat SEA Center – Raja Ampat marine park officer on patrol, scanning the water with binoculars from the bow
What it reports
The SEA Centre publishes yearly figures. For 2025 it reports:⁹
- 8,000 m² of reef monitored
- 4,033 coral fragments restored
- 36 ranger patrols
- 1,249 reef observations contributed
- 25 dive certifications issued
- 5 scholarships provided
Who funds the SEA Centre
The SEA Centre was established by Papua Explorers, a dive resort in Raja Ampat, and is based on Gam Island. The organisation says its projects are funded by Papua Explorers and Coralia Liveaboard and their guests.¹⁰ It is a separate registered foundation and also lists Blue Marine Foundation as a funding partner.⁹
We tell you this so you know where the money goes and who is behind it.
Coralia phinisi liveaboard anchored at Papua Explorers Resort Raja Ampat Indonesia luxury diving cruise - Picture by Coralia Liveaboard
What this means when you book
- Every guest counts. The donation applies to each guest who books through Coralbound and travels. It doesn't change your price.
- A donation as your booking gift. For trips in Indonesia, you can choose a donation to the SEA Centre as a booking gift. It ranges from USD 15 to USD 100, depending on the value of your booking. Our other booking gifts include the option of a complimentary hotel night.
- Give directly. You can also donate to the SEA Centre yourself. It says USD 300 covers one month of full-time training for a Papuan student on the Dive Guide School.⁴
Pristine white sand beach with Coralia tender boat, crystal clear turquoise waters and limestone karst formations during Coralia liveaboard excursion - Picture by Coralia Liveaboard
What's available to book
Browse departures on Coralbound with real-time availability and pricing direct from the operators.
Questions? Reach us on live chat on the site, via WhatsApp, or through the contact form. Bookings through Coralbound come at the same price as booking direct, including the option of a complimentary hotel night. You can read more about why book with Coralbound.
