Day 1
11/7/15
We caught a 1:30am flight from Jakarta to Sarong, which is
in Irian Jaya on the island of Papua. I
had been to Sarong before as it was the starting point for a flight to the
center of Papua where I hung out with some of the still traditional hill tribes
famous for their penis gourds. Here’s
the link to my blog on that if interested.
http://www.travisjguy.blogspot.com/2009/10/penis-gourds-bones-in-through-nose-and.html
We arrived into Sarong at 7:30am and were transferred to the
boat we were going to be on: Sea Safari 8.
I got everyone their rooms and then we waited for the rest of the guests
to arrive (some from Bali, and others who had been in Sarong).
I have been to Sarong and Irian Jaya (West Papua) before
back when I was doing my yearlong trip through Southeast Asia. This trip would lack all of the cultural
experiences that I had back then as it was basically flight to airport shuttle
to fancy hotel shuttle to airport flight to airport taxi to boat and then in
reverse again. West Papua is super
interesting b/c it still has most of its traditional tribal life intact in the
interior. So when I visited before I
flew into the center and then did a trek through some of the hill-tribe
villages where they still go around mostly naked, (the men wear only penis
gourds and the women only skirts) live in little thatch huts, and where a chief
offered to trade my headlamp for one of his daughters. Super fascinating place. If you missed reading my blog about it back
in the day, you can read it at this link:
it’s my most viewed blog by far of any of my blogs (goes to show what
most people are googling, hint, it rhymes with genus)
The boat is of course insanely fancy (for me though some of
the guests don’t agree..but that’s just how it’s going to be with extremely
wealthy folks). And of course the meals
are amazing! My cabin is small as I’m in the bow, but very nice and cute how
it’s arranged. I spent most of the
afternoon running around, feeling a bit like a chicken with my head cut off
trying to solve problems (people who couldn’t figure out the aircon, room
issues, etc) while not really knowing much about the boat. I made sure to introduce myself to everyone
and tried really hard to remember everyone’s name. The divemaster/local guide on the trip is
Dalton, and I am lucky b/c he is a super great guy and very helpful to me.
I’m in charge of 13 guests.
2 from Australia, 2 from Vancouver, and 9 from California.
During the dinner we set sail for 15 hours to reach the
island of Misool
Day 2
11/8/15
The snorkels are set up so that we snorkel in the morning
from 8:30am-11:30 and then again from 2:30 to 4pm. The snorkels today were in just some purely
amazing coral gardens full of such colorful and diverse hard and soft
corals. Raja Ampat has the great
diversity of corals anywhere in the world and also has some of the most
pristine reefs in the world, which is why it’s famous. The water is very warm, which is nice. Most people are using very thin wetsuits
since we are in the water for such a long time, but I haven’t felt the need to
yet.
Snorkel Highlights (Parondi Reef on Parondi island):
-2 banded sea snakes
-a couple spotted stingrays
-several nudibranchs
-so many clownfish (nemos)
-octopus
-school of squid
-those corals!
In the evening I gave a lecture of fish and coral ID. It seemed to be well received and I think I
did a pretty good job, and it was a relief when it was over b/c I had been
pretty stressed.
The boat left in the evening for another 15 hour sail to
Batanme island
Day 3
11/9/15
Another 2 snorkels.
Snorkel Highlights (Dayang Island)
-2 sea turtles
-banded sea snake
-lots of giant clams
-amazing cuttle fish that I watched for a very long time as
it is constantly changing color as it moves over different corals. It changes
colors so smoothly and it seems so magical. The sweet grandma lady who I showed
it to exclaimed through her snorkel “holy sh*t, that is f*cking amazing” That
made me smile a lot. She is one of my favorite guests. Her and the aussies of course.
-giant school of Scads
-lots of pipefish (same family as sea horses)
In the late afternoon we took a boat ride around some of the
islands looking for birds. We saw a
couple hornbills and some sea eagles. We
also walked around on a little sandy island.
Most of the islands in Raja Ampat, however are very steep and made out
of sharp karst rock (mom, similar to El Nido Philippines and Krabi, Thailand).
In the night we set sail to Batanta Island.
Day 4
11/10/15
Morning boat ride to look for birds. Saw some parents. Beautiful scenery though through karst bays
with gorgeous blue-green water.
2 snorkels.
Snorkel highlights (Anita’s Garden on Penemu Island and
Keruwo Channel on Keruwo Island):
-Lots of box fish
-some large sweetlips
-blue spotted stingray
-a couple nudibranchs
-really fast drift snorkel
Hike up to a viewpoint that had a most magnificent view of
the karst bay with it’s blue-green water. When we got back, Joanne who is 82, was sitting under the air conditioner sewing this nativity scene blanket for one of her grandchildren. It had been a hot hike and she said that sitting under the air con felt wonderful but that she'd truly be in heaven if she had a vodka tonic. She was unaware that the boat had a full bar, so I had one of the guys make her one. The look on her face was priceless when they delivered it to her.
Gave a lecture on coral reef ecology in the evening and then
watched stars from the top of the boat
In the night the boat sailed to the Fam Island group.
Day 5
11/11/15
Morning boat ride to look at birds, again through pretty
karst islands.
2 snorkels. A lot of
jellies in the area, so a lot of us got stung.
I got stung quite bad and I had bumps all over my face and hands, and
they were all really swollen.
Highlights (Aljuy channel and Aljuy Reef on Aljuy Island and
White Arrow reef on Waigeo Island)
Swim through cave
a couple moray eels
beautiful wall corals
Saw some dolphins from the snorkel boat, which was cool
Red snapper for dinner.
We have fish for almost every meal other than breakfast.
Gave a talk on fish behavior and biology
In the evening the boat moved to the Dampier Strait and Gam
Island.
Day 6
11/12/15
Started the day with a 4:30am hike through the jungle in
search of the red bird of paradise. We
found them! And in fact found 6. They are beautiful birds, and it was really
cool watching the males do their courting dance with their long tail
feathers. On the way back down, we saw
something that was of even more interest to me and that was a cuscus, which
is a marsupial with a prehensile tail.
There was a cute traditional little fisher village at the start of the
hike that we hung out at for a bit on the hike back.
Saw some dolphins swimming around the boat while eating
breakfast
2 snorkels
Highlights (Swingkrai reef on Gam Island and Friwin Reef on
Friwin Bonda Island):
2 sea snakes
Wobegong shark
Black tipped reef shark
Cleaner fish going all the way inside a large titan
triggerfish’s gills.
Later afternoon boat ride to a small island to look for
birds and flying foxes (aka fruit bats).
Dalton said they used to have thousands there, but they recently started
building a small resort there, so there aren’t many anymore. We did manage to
see 4. They are such cute little guys!
Crab for dinner.
In the evening we set sail to Mansuar Island.
Day 7
Friday the 13th
2 snorkels
Highlights (Kri Reef on Kri Island, South Mansuar on Mansuar
Island):
-6 sea turtles
-1 huge banded sea snake
-4 black tipped reef sharks
-big school of giant bumphead parrotfish (these are GIANT parrotfish)
-some big groupers, tunas, trevallies, and snappers
1 dive 50min 200 bar-80 bar 80F water, skin suit, 4kgs, 20.5m deepest.
12:00pm
Amazing dive!
Saw a turtle right away, several black-tipped reef sharks, a
spotted eagle ray!, huge schools of
barracuda, lots of large tunas, lots of trevallies, 2 Napoleon wrasses, 1 giant
bumphead parrotfish, a giant potato grouper, lots of other groupers, large
snappers moray eel, big group of large spadefish, lots of big angelfish. Just tons of big fish, and huge schools of
fish all around. So beautiful and
amazing!
Gave a talk on Mangroves and sea grass and their importance
to coral reefs
Day 8
11/14/15
3 snorkels (one night snorkel)
Highlights (Yambuba Jetty and Reef on Mansuar Island and
South Kri on Kri Island):
-5 turtles
-1 blacktipped reef shark
-school of barracuda
-school of giant batfish
-lots of big snappers
-several giant starry pufferfish
-just lots of big fish
-2 schools of huge bumphead parrotfish
-blue spotted ray
-lots of unicorn fish
Before the night snorkel I took a few people in the group to
Yambuba village on Mansuar Island. We
stopped by the shop to get some chocolates and then walked down the main little
avenue that was maybe ¼ of a mile. It
was a tiny little vehicle-less island village that was very poor. The thing that I noticed right away as did
the folks I was with was how the church on the island really stuck out like a
sore thumb. The village was so very poor
and all the little shacks where the people lived looked dilapidated and falling
apart, but at the end of the main avenue was this giant and gorgeous baptist
church. It was a church that would look fancy in even Gainesville, but here it
just seemed ridiculous. It also happened to be the only structure on the island
that was probably above typhoon level flooding.
I could tell it left a bad taste in most of the guests’ mouths b/c they
wondered, as did I, why they couldn’t build a more modest church and instead use
the large sums of money it took to build that church to help build some better
houses and a better school or at least repair some of the houses that were in
shambles.
night snorkel (Yambuba Jetty on Mansuar Island)
-3 walking sharks
-wobegong shark
-4 turtles
-baramundi
-lots of crabs, including a decorator crab
Day 9
11/15/15
In the early morning we sailed for an hour to the southeast
of Kri Island
2 snorkels…just tons and tons of fish, including lots of big
fish and lots of big schools of fish
Highlights (Cape Kri reef on Kri Island:
-13 blacktipped reef sharks
-10 turtles
-lots and lots of huge bumphead parrotfish
-lots of trevallies
-several tuna
-tons of titan triggerfish
-several very large starry pufferfish
-large school of batfish
1 dive
6:30am 200bar-80
bar 50 mins. 17.0m max depth. 80F water, skin suit, 4kgs
-wobegong shark
-huge school of bumphead parrotfish
-large school of sweet lips
-1 turtle
-school of barracuda
-large school of batfish
Jumped off of the crow’s nest of the ship to the huge
delight of the crowd. I had promised a
few people that I would climb to the top of the masts and jump off into the
water, a height of 50-60ft. They couldn’t believe I would possibly do it, and
all of the guests and even some of the crew gathered around to watch me do it,
all with cameras out.
Gave my last lecture on coral reef threats and conservation.
In the evening we set sail back towards Sorong where we
arrived in the morning.
Day 10
11/16/15
We had breakfast on the boat, said sad goodbyes to the crew,
and then headed to the airport. The crew
was really amazing, including Dalton.
They were all so friendly and helpful and just nice guys. I liked to have a lot of fun with them and
joke around and tease with them, which I know they like and I think the rest of
the guests appreciated.
At 10:45 in the morning we took a domestic flight from
Sarong to Jakarta. I got a window seat,
and I enjoyed looking out the window at all the beautiful islands and reefs of
the Indonesian archipelago. I was hoping
to see some smoking volcanoes as we flew over some of the bigger islands, but
either we didn’t fly over any of them or they were in a few of the cloudy spots
that we flew over.
I have on my ipod a really hilarious Jerry Seinfeld comedy
act that Rick Carlson gave me back in highschool. In it Seinfeld is doing a skit on airports
and airplanes and is poking fun of the little show the flight attendants
do. And he says something like “they
also show you how to work a seatbelt in case you haven’t been in a car since
1965. ‘oh you lift up on the latch. I thought you’d just break the metal
apart. Or I was just going to rip the
fabric. I figured if I could just get it started’ ” We always laugh at this part of the skit. But on this flight, I sat next to a lady who
could have paid more attention to the flight attendant’s little “show”. She was
obviously Papuan and from her dress and odor, I assumed she wasn’t living in
the city of Sarong. She couldn’t figure
out how to work the seatbelt, so I showed her.
My guess is it was her first ride on an airplane and if she’d been in a
vehicle it would have likely only been a public bus that wouldn’t have
seatbelts. There’s also a chance she
didn’t speak Indonesian—only the Papuan tongue—and so wasn’t able to understand
the flight attendant’s directions.
I’m sitting in the sapphire airport lounge right now b/c the
oceanic society said they’d pay for me to chill there because I have a long
layover here in Jakarta, but not long enough to get a hotel. So I’m chilling in the lounge sipping a
Bintang beer and catching up on real life since there is wifi here. The lounge is nice: it’s air-conditioned, has
showers, free food, beer, and drinks, and nice couches to relax and big windows
to watch the downpour outside.
Dalton and an Orchid |
Red bird of paradise |
cuscus |
flying fox (fruit bat) |
Sule and I after a dive |
Dalton and I giving the snorkel briefing |
sea safari 8 |
getting ready to jump |
The group who made it to the top of the lookout (L to R: Larry, Suzie, me, Sue, Ted, Joanne, Cory, Katie, Gwynn, Charles, Terri. Missing: Patty, Trish, Carol) |
flying into Sarong |
Sarong |
My Quarters |
where I gave my lectures |
clown fish |
wobegong shark |
banded sea snake |
banded sea snake |
hawksbill turtle |
bumphead parrotfish (largest species of parrotfish) |
black-tipped reef shark |
Sule, Dalton, and me |
walking shark |
barracuda |
Wobegong Shark |
school of bumphead parrotfish |
spotted eagle ray |
zoome out view of where we were |
our route |
zoomed in on part of our route |
from a previous time in Papua |
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