Nusrowi Island Reef

An uninhabited island inside Cenderawasih Bay National Park whose fringing reef has been closed to fishing since the park's establishment in 1993. The result is a textbook undisturbed reef community: massive Porites coral bommies exceeding 5 m in diameter anchor the shallow terrace, napoleon wrasse and bumphead parrotfish cruise in unhurried schools, and green and hawksbill turtles graze on seagrass beds in the sheltered bay. The island is rarely dived; approaching boats commonly startle large surgeonfish schools and resting nurse sharks on the sandy flat. A sandy channel on the northeast side shelters ornate ghost pipefish and robust ghost pipefish year-round. No bagan platforms here — the site contrasts the pelagic bagan experience with a classic Indo-Pacific reef ecology dive.