Anemone Fish… (photo by Nia Aritonang)
Today is the fifth and last day of the trip.
Our Temukira ship anchored at the south-east of the Kri island. In the morning, there were also other pinisi ships anchored in this area as their divers also prepared for their first dive of the day. Chicken Reef is our first dive point today. Most of us opted to dive without their camera and just wanted to enjoy the dive and the scenery down there. “We will do another negative entry this morning, straight to the depth of 25 meters…” Weka told us during the briefing. Another strong current area, apparently. Soft corals and hard corals filled the slope, and again we met two turtles who were busy with their breakfast. The third group had small problem when Hadi lagged behind his group due to the current. As per procedure, Joni-Franky-Hari-Reza climbed straight back to the surface. Hadi was already on the boat with the Open. He also immediately climbed back up to the surface and Open’s watchful eye on the boat immediately recognized him and came over. Great crew!
Our second and third dive today were at Cape Kri and South Kri point. The current remained strong in both diving points, but not as strong as in Chicken Reef. We just enjoyed ourselves, letting the current take us down the slopes, enjoying the scenery, coral garden was everywhere as far as the eye could see. A breath-taking scenery. Franky met with a black-tip shark who immediately flee as it saw him. Maybe the shark did not expect to meet other creatures bigger than itself. In total, there were two sharks we encountered on this dive.
Raja Ampat underwater scenery… (photo by Nia Aritonang)
After the third dive was completed, Temukira slowly moved to the east, returning back to Sorong. The sun had already disappeared in the western horizon. The adventure would soon be over. Diving equipment were collected and cleaned. Camera housings were disassembled and dried up. After the shower, we gathered again on the upper deck, enjoying our last night onboard the ship that has become our home in the last five days. Satisfaction showed on all faces, as everybody promised themselves that one day they will come back again for the next trip in another part of the region and islands in Papua yet to be explored…
I shall come back to Raja Ampat. For many more times, I hope…
Checking the gears…
Additional notes:
- Photos from this Wayag trip are stored at http://www.ismawanismail.com/gallery/index.php?/category/raja-ampat
- Several airlines serve Jakarta – Sorong route, one of them is Merpati Airlines. Detailed information can be found at http://www.merpati.co.id/
- Several dive operators provide dive trip service in Raja Ampat area, either live onboard (LOB) or land-based. We used Grand Komodo in this trip. Detailed information can be found at http://www.komodoalordive.com/
- There are 7 areas in Raja Ampat marine conservation. All dive operators operating in Raja Ampat are in collaboration with the local governments and NGOs in conserving the underwater world in this area. Each participant will be subject to conservation fee to support this program.
- Especially for LOB trip, it is advised to check & match the flight schedule and ship schedule, since not everyday Jakarta-Sorong vv flight is available.
- For land-based trip, Sorong-Raja Ampat vv transport is normally provided by the dive/resort operators.
- Some hotels that can be used for transit stay in Sorong:
- Je Meridien, http://hoteljemeridiensorong.blogspot.com/
- Mariat, http://hotelmariatsorong.blogspot.com/
- Royal Mamberamo, http://www.royalmamberamo.com/
- Public transport is available in Sorong. However, for Sorong city-tour and souvenir shopping, rent-car plus the driver is more recommended. The hotel can arrange the rent-car, normal tariff is IDR 75,000 to 100,000 per hour.
