Wayag Diving Trip, Raja Ampat: Dangerously Beautiful Trip

Map of Raja Ampat. Wayag is at the northernmost of the map.

“Travel Warning: Indonesia, Dangerously Beautiful”.  That was our T-Shirt logo of the twelve of us who went to discover the beauty of Wayag, Raja Ampat, Papua.  Seven of us departed from Jakarta on March 16 2011 with Merpati Airlines to meet up with 5 others who flew in from Timika.  It was a long trip from Jakarta, took the 5:00 AM flight with Merpati, transit in Ujungpandang and arrived Sorong around 1:00 PM at the hotel called “Je Meridien”, which was just across the airport.

Wayag is located at the northeast of the birds head of Papua.  It is close to Waigeo, north the the famous Kri Island which has a resort on the island.  We all boarded Temukira, the boat just the right size for our group and head to Mansuar for our check dive.  On the way, we saw school of dolphins swimming and jumping, as well as a whale crossing by our boat.  Great treat for a first day!

Our second day started by hiking up the steep limestone hill to get a great view of the Raja Ampat islands.  The pinnacle reefs of Miocene age appeared stunningly beautiful in the morning, showing up from the crystal clear water that grade from the beach’s white sand, turquois to blue.  All of us looked exhausted up the hill but felt all the effort was so worth it.  We are on the top of the world!  Not many people have the luck of seeing such a beautiful view of the eastern part of Indonesia like us.

The pinnacle reefs of the Raja Ampat Island from the top

We climbed down to find a white strand of beach.  The colour there was just incredible. We frantically took pictures of us jumping, acting, and all the weird poses only children will do in town.

Beautiful beach, sky and cloud.

The day continued with two dives for me.  There were lots of underwater pot holes where divers can dive through, beautiful walls with orange, yellow and pink colour, covering the walls.  Below the wall around 30 meters is sandy bottom where sweetlips, fusiliers and snappers school and gather.  Batfish came and went in small groups, curious of our bubble.

School of snappers

School of yellow tailed fish

We also went to the Manta Sandy area to watch the Manta. This is the cleaning station of the gracious creature.  We saw three big mantas, around 4 meters spread wide, playing. Apparently, this is not the only area we saw manta.  Sometimes when we look up while diving, we see the shadow of this creature over us.  So we never forget to keep looking up although we are looking for small cute creatures hanging out at the acropores or seafans.

Graceful Manta Ray

The diving was good.  Current comes here and there, sometimes strong, most of the time mellow.  Water temperature was friendly.  The bottom was fully covered by diversion of soft corals as well as hard ones.  I found that the fishes here are bigger than those I usually find in Bali.  Must be the current!

Bottom full of corals

Manta rays, shark, pygmy seahorses were the highlight of the dives including the unusual architecture of the wall of Wayag.  I also encountered interesting creatures during the night dive such as decorator crab and spider crab.

Nudibranch

Other than that, as usual live on board trips, we just hung out relaxing on the boat.  I love sunbathing, Ismawan always went around with his camera, and the rest enjoy the snack and drinks offered on the boat, chatting and napping on the sundeck.  While some others stay cool in the lounge or clean up their camera, preparing for the next dive, some just sat spotting for dolphins or whales. During sunrise and sunset, all of us (except for me, the sleepy head in the morning) stood by to capture the breath taking panorama of the sun and the sky.  At night, while some of us enjoy beer, we gaze to the clear sky.  On the 19th was the giant moon time, where the moon was closest to earth.  We had a good view of that being in the middle of the ocean.  How lovely.

Surface interval: taking pictures of the breathtaking view

This time, I did not meet wobbegong shark or Opulet, the crawling shark.  Nevertheless, the trip was such a relaxing, wonderful trip.  All of us managed to leave our blackberry without complaining, until we enter Mansuar area, where all of a sudden the team start staring at their devices.  I believe most of them included news about the trip and our findings to those struggling through traffic in our beloved Jakarta!

After 5 days on the boat, we arrived at Sorong again.  Felt a bit blue leaving Temukira and the friendly crews, we headed to a sidewalk restaurant for Coto Makasar, then went souvenier hunting.  The last night of the vacation was spent exchanging pictures, phone numbers, wonderful sea food and karaoke at the Happy Puppies.

Full team on the beach

Wayag, Raja Ampat.  Dangerously beautiful Indonesia.

*Koh Aliong, Nia, Kriiik, Doly, Izzy, Frankie, Ricky, Harry, Hadi, Kasim, Reza, thanks for making this trip unforgettable.  Such good and fun buddies and travel companion!

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