Saleh Bay vs Cenderawasih Bay: two year-round whale shark bays

By Saleh Bay Whale Shark Editorial Desk

Saleh Bay vs Cenderawasih Bay has no clear winner on the evidence. A 2026 tracking study names both as persistent year-round habitats and places residency higher in Cenderawasih. Published counts come from different teams and periods, so they cannot settle which holds more sharks. Cenderawasih is described as a remote national park. Neither bay can promise you a sighting.

How do the counts compare?

They compare badly, and it is better to say so than to pick a winner. Here is what each source reports, kept apart.

The simple version people repeat is that Cenderawasih comes first. Antara ranks Saleh Bay second in Indonesia, behind Cenderawasih Bay, using the 2017 to 2022 count. That order holds if you compare about 108 with 159. Antara's order rests on the 2017 to 2022 count. Later counts cover different windows and teams, so they cannot rank the two bays. More photographs mean a higher count in either bay.

The Saleh Bay figures also differ among themselves. A 2025 Frontiers paper cites 105 photo-identified individuals where Konservasi Indonesia's assessment reports about 108, a gap we can state but not explain. Of the 174, Konservasi Indonesia confirmed 137 males, 16 females and 21 of unidentified sex. For the year-by-year story at Saleh Bay, see how many whale sharks are in Saleh Bay.

How long do sharks stay in each?

Longer in Cenderawasih, on the one study that places the sites in a single ranking. The Frontiers 2026 tracking paper says residency is lowest in Kaimana, intermediate in Saleh Bay and highest in Cenderawasih Bay. The 2025 paper puts numbers on two of those: an average of 77.1 days in Cenderawasih and 37.8 in Kaimana. We have no matching day count for Saleh Bay, so please do not estimate one from the ranking.

Two warnings apply. The 2026 paper describes individual residency as variable and generally short, even while calling both bays persistent year-round habitats. So "year-round" describes the place, with different sharks coming and going. The 2025 paper also warns that apparent high residency might be overestimated, because tourism provisioning could encourage repeat visits.

At Saleh Bay, the IUCN factsheet reports a maximum of 5.12 years between observations of one animal. That is a measure of sharks coming back, which is a different thing from staying.

How do both link to bagans?

Encounters in both bays centre on fishing platforms, so anyone choosing between them for a "wilder" encounter should look closely. Between September 2010 and October 2023, the Frontiers 2025 paper logged 1,118 sightings of 268 individuals in the Bird's Head Seascape, nearly all of them around bagans. That seascape includes 159 individuals in Cenderawasih, 95 in Kaimana and 12 in Raja Ampat.

By the same paper's reckoning, feeding for tourists in Cenderawasih Bay and Kaimana seems to occur on no more than 60 to 100 days a year. That figure belongs to the Bird's Head sites only. We know of no equivalent for Saleh Bay, so nobody should use it to say one bay is more or less natural than the other. Scarring was seen in 76.9% of individuals across the seascape and 73.7% in Cenderawasih, mostly minor. Lacking a Saleh Bay figure means no comparison, not an absence of scars.

The question to ask in either bay is whether the shark is feeding at a working net or being fed for visitors. The answer may differ by operator and by day, and neither set of sources settles it.

How do protection and remoteness differ?

AFP, in The Jakarta Post, describes Cenderawasih Bay as a protected national park whose remoteness has helped hold back mass tourism. That is the clearest difference in the sources: an established park, with distance as part of its protection.

Saleh Bay's process is younger. Antara reports a provincial decree in 2026 reserving part of the bay, a step that comes before full designation. It also has several published routes in, which our page on how to get to Saleh Bay describes. Whether easier access means more boats at the bagans cannot be tested here, as we have no comparable visitor counts for the two bays.

We deliberately give no Cenderawasih route, cost or itinerary here. This site does not cover them, and a rough guess could cost you real money. Ask for those details from someone who sells that trip, and get them in writing.

Saleh Bay vs Cenderawasih Bay: how do you choose?

Neither source set declares a better bay, and we will not either. A practical way to decide:

• Time you have. If your trip is short and starts in Bali or Lombok, this site documents the Saleh Bay routes and does not cover Cenderawasih's. If you have longer and want distance from crowds, Cenderawasih's remoteness may be the draw.
• What you want to see studied. Saleh Bay is where the debate on a possible nursery is happening. The Bird's Head paper that covers Cenderawasih has the longer published sighting series in these sources.
• Comfort with bagans. Both centre on them. If that troubles you, a change of bay does not solve it. Our page on where to see whale sharks in Indonesia lists other sites.
• Questions still open. Water clarity, crowd levels and total trip cost cannot be compared from these sources. Treat anyone's confident answer on those as an opinion.

What do people ask when comparing the two bays?

Is Saleh Bay or Cenderawasih Bay better for whale sharks?

The evidence does not name a better bay. Cenderawasih shows higher residency and is a remote national park. Saleh Bay's latest count is 174 up to 2025, while Cenderawasih Bay's 159 runs to October 2023.

Which bay has more identified whale sharks?

It depends on the dates. Frontiers 2025 counts 159 in Cenderawasih to October 2023. Konservasi Indonesia counts about 108 in Saleh Bay for 2017 to 2022 and 174 up to 2025. These are not strictly comparable.

Do whale sharks stay longer in Saleh Bay or Cenderawasih Bay?

The Frontiers 2026 paper ranks residency highest in Cenderawasih and intermediate in Saleh Bay. It also calls individual residency variable and generally short, and a 2025 paper warns provisioning could inflate such figures.

Are both whale shark bays year-round?

As habitats, yes: the Frontiers 2026 tracking study identifies both as persistent year-round habitats. That does not mean a given shark stays, or that you will see one on a given day.

Which sources support this page?

• Konservasi Indonesia: 2025 Saleh Bay whale shark report
• Konservasi Indonesia: earlier assessment, 2017 to 2022
• Frontiers in Marine Science, 2025: Bird's Head Seascape whale sharks
• Frontiers in Marine Science, 2026: Indonesian whale shark tracking
• IUCN shark specialist group factsheet: Saleh Bay Important Shark and Ray Area
• Antara: province reserves Saleh Bay as a conservation area
• AFP in The Jakarta Post, May 2026
• Antara: whale sharks and people in Saleh Bay

How do I reach the desk?

The desk deals with Saleh Bay and related Indonesian trips, and it can tell you plainly if it has nothing useful to say about Cenderawasih. Use WhatsApp +62 811-3941-4563 or bd@juaraholding.com. Its replies inform your decision, while only a written offer commits anyone to anything. The about page explains how the desk earns its keep.