Manta Ridge
Manta Ridge is a dive site in Raja Ampat, Indonesia. The sea floor at the site position lies at about 38 meters. Currents typically run at 2 km/h and reach 3.8 km/h on the strongest days. Water temperatures range from 29°C in August to 30°C in November. The typical daily tidal range is about 1.0 m. Species recorded in the area include Blackfin Barracuda, Tasselled Wobbegong, Bubble-tip Anemone, Humpback Grouper and Cockscomb Oyster.
Dive Conditions
Data sources: currents and water temperature from Open-Meteo Marine (CC BY 4.0), hourly model values 2024; seabed depth from the GEBCO 2020 Grid, sampled at the site coordinates (grid resolution about 450 m). Tidal range is the median daily range of modelled sea level from Open-Meteo Marine, hourly values 2024. Species observations from iNaturalist, checked against the World Register of Marine Species.
Conditions at Manta Ridge through the year
Sea surface temperature at the site coordinates, averaged per month from hourly model values for 2024. The water is warmest in November at about 30 °C and coolest in August at about 29 °C, a spread of 0.9 degrees across the year.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29.8 | 29.6 | 29.9 | 30.2 | 30.2 | 29.8 | 29.5 | 29.4 | 29.5 | 29.8 | 30.3 | 30.3 |
Ocean current at the site runs at a typical 2.0 km/h. In the strongest tenth of the hours modelled for 2024 it reaches 3.8 km/h, which is when entries are normally timed to slack water at the turn of the tide.
The tide moves the water level by a median 1.0 m over a day, and by up to 1.3 m on the largest days of the month. That range drives how much water is exchanged over the reef and when the current turns.
In the open sea off Manta Ridge, the highest wave of the day exceeded 1.5 m on 0.0 % of days between 2015 and 2024. In no month did this happen on more than 1 % of days. Land within 10 km blocks some of the directions these waves come from (open to about 62 % of them), so conditions at the site are likely calmer than these open-sea values.
The seabed directly under the site coordinates sits at about 38 m. This is a bathymetry grid value with a cell size of roughly 450 m, so it describes the depth of the area rather than the deepest point a dive can reach.
Satellite habitat mapping places Manta Ridge on a reef plateau, over a seabed mapped as coral and algae. The classification comes from the nearest mapped reef polygon, about 130 m from the listed coordinates, so it describes the reef the site sits on rather than a single point on it.
How Manta Ridge compares
These comparisons use only the measured values above, set against the 376 dive sites published on findadive.com. A percentage shows the share of other sites with a lower (or higher) value, so it reads the same way wherever the site is. Manta Ridge sits with its coolest-month water temperature in the top tenth and its tidal range in the bottom tenth of all listed sites.
| Measure | This site | Compared with all sites | Median in Raja Ampat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mean water temperature | 29.9 °C | warmer than 83 % of the other 375 sites | 29.9 °C (36 sites) |
| Water temperature in the coolest month | 29.4 °C | warmer than 94 % of the other 375 sites | 29.4 °C (36 sites) |
| Typical current | 2.0 km/h | stronger than 64 % of the other 375 sites | 1.9 km/h (36 sites) |
| Current in the strongest 10 % of hours | 3.8 km/h | stronger than 66 % of the other 375 sites | 3.6 km/h (36 sites) |
| Median daily tidal range | 1.0 m | smaller than 94 % of the other 375 sites | 1.0 m (36 sites) |
Water temperature, current and tide from Open-Meteo Marine (CC BY 4.0), hourly model values for 2024 at -0.5651°, 130.5335°. Seabed depth from the GEBCO 2020 Grid. Wave statistics from ERA5-Ocean via Open-Meteo Marine (contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2015–2024), daily maximum wave height on a 0.5° grid; land shelter tested against Natural Earth coastlines. Reef structure and seabed cover from the Allen Coral Atlas © 2018–2023 Allen Coral Atlas Partnership and Arizona State University (CC BY 4.0).
Nearby Dive Schools
Marine life recorded at this site
Research-grade observations from iNaturalist within about 12 km of these coordinates.
