Wicked Diving Expedition Part 1
The Jaya
I put in 15 dives before leaving Waisai Town and this section of Raja Ampat Park. With only one dive on the day before departing Wicked Diving Resort I had some afternoon to play with and really wanted to see town. We had gone in a few times but not really exploring and I wasn’t going to get another opportunity for a while so when a chance came my way I went. Some people needed cigarettes and I wanted to get out more cash out of the ATM for the journey to come. Not so much for on the boat but for odds and ends at any of the three stops we were going to make on the way south on the Jaya, a Wicked Diving quasi sailing vessel heading south for a 19 day diving expedition to Komodo Island and Lubuan bajo town on Flores Island.
I hopped on the back of a motorcycle and I rode the 30 minutes into Waisai the main port and ferry destination from Sorong. This is where I picked up my one million-rupee/ $100 USD permit/entry fee for the Raja Ampat Islands Park. The Wicked Dive Resort is situated well out of town and isn’t strictly diving; snorkelers, bird watchers, and exploring travellers before they jump off to one of the many isolated guesthouses and homestays on the many islands in the park. The ‘resort’ is simple, big bungalows,3 meals/day and snacks, tea and coffee 24/7. Some people come for volunteer work at some of the marine conservation camps spread out all over the islands. As we motored into town I saw the new airport they are putting in that will one day connect Bali to Raja Ampat directly and I was glad I got here in the time before that day comes.
I got to the ATM, bought smokes and lighters, and asked my driver to head down to the waterfront. I had heard things about it and wanted to check it out for myself. When we arrived I was amazed to see a well-designed boardwalk lining the turquoise water and walkways out over shallow coral beds. Behind the walkway are many shops lining the opposite side of the road and all closed. The area hadn’t been cleaned in awhile and some of the light fixtures had be broken but repairable when the time came. There were bungalow resorts, nice ones, virtually empty. It was a ghostly part of town. I found out that when the ferry began coming here the government and locals expected a large influx of tourism, namely divers and birders and that Waisai would be the jump off point for all the islands but that has yet to happen. Sorong maintained its hold on jump-off status and is building a large dive center and will remain the center of the area until Waisai gets a little further developed. No one knows it’s out here. Even in the town proper there is new wood walk ways with trellis covers with various types of flowering vines beginning to grow up the wood towers made specifically for them. The town is ready for the tourists but the tourists aren’t ready for Papua New Guinea with all the lovely hatcheting going on in some other parts of Papua, the mountains.
We left the resort at 11am for the Jaya waiting for us in the harbor. After a few of us ran in to get last minute supplies we boarded the boat and got underway around 230 in the afternoon. The group leader gave us a warm welcome, as did the crew. There were many tears between the local staff and those on the boat returning to their families and homes in Komodo and Lubuan Bajo after 7 months in Raja Ampat.
We were assigned cabins and roommates and sorted out our last minute dive gear stuff. We peeled off the dock and headed for an equipment check dive once we got a couple hours out. It turned out I have had the pleasure of diving here a few days before and the biodiversity was exceptional. It was the first day out and already we had an excellent dive under out belts. The visibility wasn’t the greatest but the fish were there in force. I saw lots of Barracuda, a white tip shark or two and as the current picked up so did the fish.
The staterooms are not exactly spacious but they will do for the next 19 nights. I was happy not to be in a bunk. In most rooms there were two beds side by side with a walkway down the middle and out to a main hallway. There are 10 guests diving, 4 dive guides, and 8 crewmembers. The rooms have air conditioning if you want it, a locked porthole, and ample storage space under each bed for your belongings and boat dry goods.
From a cook to a captain in Alaska over a 16-year period I expected a ground swell but again realized how deep into the islands we are and the waters are fairly protected. The full moon just passed and here we are heading south under the shimmer of the moon and reflections off the waves. We’re travelling at approximately 6 knots with a 14-hour night crossing to the next dive site, Goa Farondi, where we are attempting 4 dives to really get the ball rolling.
Our first dive was a wall dive and I assumed a drift dive but in the miniature coves the water actually backed up and changed direction. The coves were calm while the straight between the islands rushed by at 3 knots. We didn’t notice until we needed to get away from the wall for our safety stop and get picked up by a skiff. (Around these parts they call them a ‘Scotchy’). We did three dives through out the day and then motored through the night to our next scheduled dive site. The sea was calm and the full moon has just passed a few days ago but still big enough to light up the surface and shimmer across the minimal ground swell.
We were back in the water off the coast of Misool by 9:45 with 4 dives planned including a night dive. The voyage planned for 2 days in the area because the diving is so good and we were not disappointed. A night dive was scheduled for the first night in a nice cove full of phosphorescent algae and eels among other critters. Obviously some dives are more difficult than others due to current but the dives are organized in such a way as to take advantage of the current and in many cases drift with it or avoid it on the lee side of an island or reef and work with it zigzag from the deepest allowed and slowly shallow up to a safety stop and back on a skiff. Around these parts they call a skiff or dingy a ‘scotchy’ and I have no idea why.
Our second morning at Misool diving Shadow Reef ranks in the top three dives I’ve ever done and it is due to visibility and the aquatic life we saw in an hour. We entered the water at 7:21 am and the current was minimal and we immediately saw sharks cruising the reef, turtles powering out of the depths, Lionfish out hunting all on our descent. Once at depth we saw schools of Travail hunting glass fish, Barracuda on patrol, big Napoleon Wrasse lumbering through the water like a barge, and a plethora of biodiversity all mixed and waiting for the current to pick up. One person saw an Oceanic Manta go by out in the blue. The colors of the corral we across the board. As we crossed the saddle of two submerged mounds we came across a reef manta heading for a cleaning station. While I was filming the Manta, Nick grabbed my fin and pointed in the opposite direction to show me a small group of dolphin just in view. I tried to continue filming the Manta but the underwater hoots and sounds of excitement spun me around to watch a dolphin on the surface not 20 meters from us get air and dive straight into the depth off the edge of the reef and out of sight. I returned to the Manta and it came closer on a few passes as it was cleaned. More Napoleon Wrasse arrived and basically watched us watch them. Unfortunately the rule is 60 minutes or 50 bar and out, these is for your safety and continued diving. This is one of those times where a couple extra minutes won’t kill you and at the safety stop, 5 meters for 3 minutes, we all continued watching in the shallows as an aquatic ballet got started. The next two dives were no less impressive with Nudibranch slugs, juvenile Emperor Angel fish, Juvenile Many spotted Sweetlips, both hard and soft corals in a rainbow of colors and presentation.
For the most part travelling from one site to another is done at night, some are 14 hours apart, some longer and some shorter but still putting us on nice sites seldom seeing other live-a-boards, just us and the remoteness of Papua New Guinea’s pristine waters without uneducated and unaware people standing on coral or touching it. This is one of the major downfalls of diving being popular; it should be mandatory to take a class on aquatics and oceans before a person can get a diving certification; this would bring everybody into the awareness fold and protect what we want to see versus destroy it.
We moved south out running a rainstorm but catching up to another some where in the night. By morning the clouds had scattered and the sunrise met me at around 6am. Most people are still asleep and I cherish the quiet with a cup of tea and the hum of the engine below me. Living on the sea for a long time in Alaska I still wake up when the RPMs change. As a cook, a deckhand, or mate the changing of RPM’s means something is about to happen and it’s time to get on deck. It doesn’t matter what time it is, it’s still automatic in my body. The engine slowed as we approached Madorang, a small reef island with an elevation of maybe 2 meters covered in coconut trees, sparse Mangrove, and underbrush. The reef reaches out to the north and you can see the clear water of the shallows surrounding most of the island. So far most of the islands have been limestone, aka uplifted sea floor and the wall we explored had many caves and tunnels and places for fish to hide and get out of the current and escape larger predators. The visibility was about 25 meters and again a slight current from the north. We dropped in and got down to about 28 meters and slowly crept along the coral fans looking for pigmy seahorses and Nudibranch. There were lots of fish and we continually looked out into the blue for some of the larger pelagic species that surely pass by. Most of our dives run the full hour unless kicking into a current. This dive was no different and we all spent the hour in 30 C water in a pair of shorts and a rash-guard, no wetsuits in our group, yet. Today is my bro’s birthday, happy birthday bro.
We moved after the first dive and headed south for a few hours to Palau Makola and had a dive on each side of the island and both were full of life with the visibility between 20 to 30 meters. There was a cold front sitting at the edge of a shelf drop off and I did my best to stay out of it. You can literally see these cold fronts where the two temperatures mix there is considerable distortion and the photos come out a little funny. I caught a couple good shots of a Honeycomb eel while I was looking for Nudibranch on a nearby coral mound. Another diver spotted some Devil Rays cruising along in the thermal band below. I put my feet and fins in it and decided against the chill.
After our third dive we were off for Banda, considered the most beautiful archipelago Indonesia has to offer. There’s a small town on an island where we will restock after 3 or 4 more dives. We arrived at 5 am, before the sun cracked the horizon and motored a ‘rat and dog’, aka a figure 8, waiting for daylight to enter the harbor. On our first 6 days out we went through 5 tons of water, or 5,000 liters and that basically for showers and rinsing on the deck. It had to be mentioned because if we keep this up we won’t get to shower the last few days of the next 7-day section and the one after that. I know it isn’t me because I’ve only taken one shower and don’t need shampoo. I don’t feel the need because I’m in the sea for the day and a quick rinse does the trick. Things will change on the next section and everybody will be more conserving than on this section. Dawn is breaking and I’m listening to Alice in Chains, Nutshell. (Unplugged). Nice.
So we got in the water by 730 am and the visibility was around 30 meters along a wall of a small island and got down to about 28 meters and slowly came back up over the next hour. On the way we ran into more Honeycomb eels, Moray Eels, Red Tooth Trigger fish in vast numbers, I saw at least 5 black and white Banded Kraits, sea snakes, poisonous but docile. Oh and then I thought I saw a Sea Moth but it turned out to be a Devil Scorpion Fish, just another animal that can do serious harm or death. Between the eels, snakes and Scorpion fish, all-in-all a very good dive.
Our second dive out played our first dive with 35-meter visibility on the opposite side of a nearby small island where we again ran into loads of eels, coral fans, and a very chilled Hawkbill Turtle. Once we entered the 10-meter shallows all red filters on underwater cameras came off due to adequate sunlight and water clarity.
Back in 1988 a volcano blew out here and we dove the lava flow that reached the strait between the neighboring islands. In 28 years it was impressive how much Lettuce Coral had grown but there weren’t very many animals yet because the other hard corals are still quite juvenile. There are a lot of caves and hollows for clams and dark places to hide so they will come. Two Cuttlefish were protecting their eggs and trying to keep us away from their territory. Most of us understood, some of us were blinded by the sight of them and the want of film clips. We all moved on eventually and I hope they have many young.
Our forth and last dive of the day was a sunset dive off the jetty in Banda town searching for a very colorful Mandarin fish that comes out at dusk. It turned out to be a ‘muck’ dive meaning looking around in the rubble and garbage that people have been throwing in the sea since the Dutch were here gathering spices and making a financial killing while the locals did most of the work. Over time people have continuously thrown things, dropped materials and left items that ended up literally just off the town wall. The original Dutch built breakwater wall is in pieces down under the surface and then there is another wall and concrete blocks and rubble building up the slope to the seabed. This all makes for great places for animals to hide such as the Mandarin Fish, Pipe fish, Octopus, Crab, little lobster and again stacks of Red Toothed Trigger fish.
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