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Raja Ampat, Irian Jaya
From the town of Sorong, Sander and I took a boat out to the remote Raja Ampat archipelago where we stayed a week on the small island of Kri at Kri Eco Resort. I was very excited to explore the area based on readings from a National Geographic article and other sources. According to scientists, the Raja Ampat region has the greatest coral reef biodiversity for its size in the world - nearly 1,300 fish species, 600 coral species (by contrast, the Caribbean has fewer than 70 species), 700 mollusks, sea turtle rookeries, and more.
The first few dives were a little disappointing, but soon got better when we dived the more popular sites like "Cape Kri", "Sardine's Reef", and "Mios Kon". Current in the area was the strongest I've ever experienced; resulting in using reefs hooks and even aborting a dive because the current pushed us past the reef wall before we could descend. However, what follows current is usually lots of large fish.
The dive site "Cape Kri" was made famous by renowned Australian ichthyologist Gerry Allen. On his dive there, he supposedly counted 283 different species of fish in one dive; a world record. When I dived there, my descent into the reef was like falling into a fish bowl. Fish big and small lined the reef waiting in the current like they were watching a movie in the open ocean. There were jacks, barracudas, bumphead parrotfish, snappers, sweetlips, triggerfish, and many more. It was an impressive dive, but I think one of the most impressive dives of the trip was at the "Manta Point" dive sites.
"Manta Point Sandy" is a manta ray cleaning station while "Manta Point Slope" is a feeding station. The dive at "Manta Point Sandy" was mearly just waiting around some rocks for the mantas to swim by. We waited around the site with no manta encounter for a long time; long enough for me to get bored and start taking pictures of small shrimp and the like. Then, I heard a loud bang from our dive guide, looked up, and there was a manta ray staring at me about 3 meters away. Shocked, I fumbled to change my camera settings from shooting small macro things to shooting a 5 meter (16 ft.) wide manta ray. I got three shots which was enough. Hoping to see more, Sander and I decided to do another manta dive at "Manta Point Slope".
"Manta Point Slope" was a completely different dive from the previous. It's a reef slope with strong current. Cruising along the slope for only a few minutes I could see large dark silhouettes in the distance. A total of four manta rays gracefully appeared; making swimming in the current look easy. There they fed on top of the slope and slightly below. At least one of the four manta rays always swam with us for at least an hour. Running low on air, we had to surface while the mantas were still around. While at the surface, I noticed the boat kept on bumping into me while I was giving the captain my gear. We ended up in a "washing machine" of currents (see video) where currents from different directions churn together in a whirlpool like motion.
On Kri island, I thought our week stay at Kri Eco Resort would be a rustic one. Contrary, it was some of the nicest accomodations, food, and service on the trip. Our bungalows were directly raised on the water with steps into the reef, a porch overlooking the ocean, free unlimited laundry service, fresh water replenished daily, lots of power outlets, and lots of other conveniences. Food at the restaurant - which was above the water on the beach - was always delicious with a lot of variety of things to eat. The sunset lounge was a nice place to relax with a beer after a day of diving. Everything was expertly thought out to make ones stay as comfortable as possible. It was like a remote four star experience.
You wouldn't normally see much wildlife in and around a resort but this wasn't the case with Kri Eco Resort. Around the restaurant there was a wild but resident eclectus parrot, and many monitor lizards. From the bungalows, restaurant and jetty we saw the endemic Raja epaulette sharks, blue spotted stingrays, crocodilefish, a turtle, barracuda, black tip reef sharks, amongst other things. Snorkeling in the house reef just in front of the jetty I saw a bumphead parrotfish, Napoleon wrasse, school of jacks, batfish, and white tip reef sharks. The wildlife in Raja Ampat is truly amazing.
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© 2009 Jason Jue. All rights reserved
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