Wild West Diving, Irian Diving, West Papua (formerly Irian Jaya Indonesia)

Waterlogged Date: 6/4/00

Raja Ampat Diving OK, all you Americans ... you may think you've been to fabulous exotic destinations but I'll bet you have never been to the REAL frontier of diving in New Guinea - the Raja Empat (4 Sultans) area of New Guinea in Indonesia's Irian Jaya province! In fact, NO Americans had been to Irian Diving, until our trip in Oct. '99. Arriving at the Wai Island Base Camp (200 x 600 meter island) was a breathtaking experience! (the camp was burned in 2000, however we can still dive there. Update 2005:. some of the dive sites near Wai were bombed.) Fiji and Cayman resort owners can only dream of owning a beach like the one surrounding this island! The approach to Wai, lush and green with Casarina trees, totally surrounded by a beach of the finest white sand and a dazzling turquoise lagoon with the native wood thatch and bamboo houses and pier had us thinking we had indeed died and gone to a heavenly tropical island paradise! Wai Island is about a 2 1/2 hour boat ride from Sorong, Indonesia. The area is totally surrounded by reefs; so many in fact that even areas 30 min. from the camp are not completely explored. The things you can see here are like going back 20 years in other dive destinations. Everything is truly untouched. Fish are plentiful, and I don't mean just little tropical aquarium fish, but swarms and schools of good-sized fish. People on our trip who had been to Palau said this place is better. The corals are big, colorful and plentiful. Hard and soft corals and fans are abundant and perfect. No disease, bleaching, cyclone, anchor or dynamite damage. Raja Ampat Diving - Why? There is a variety of diving here, but the best bet is for drift dives where the soft corals and big fish are the attraction. Sure, there are pygmy seahorses, blue ring octopus, devil scorpionfish, double-ended pipefish, etc. here, I did shoot a few rolls of them, but why waste time seeing these critters that you can find all over Indonesia and PNG when you can photograph big Wobbegong sharks lying on top of table corals, huge schools of bannerfish, surgeonfish, barracuda, snappers, fusiliers, bumphead parrotfish, etc. with foregrounds or backgrounds of soft corals better than I've seen in Fiji? I'll admit the viz is normally only 80 ft. or so, but the water temperature is a consistent 82-84F year round. Raja Ampat Diving Sites Melissa's Garden was the farthest site we visited from Wai, a 2+ hour boat ride (we did 3 dives and had lunch on the beach). Three rock islands, like Palau, were clustered together far from any large island. Their sides were covered, and I mean COVERED with tunicates and soft corals. (Note 2006 - the sides of the rock islands at Melissa's no longer have as much coverage with soft corals and fans. It is still a beautiful site.) Every darned color possible. I thought the Lembeh Strait had a lot of tunicates until I saw this place. The islands are undercut by the sea, giving them a mushroom-like shape. Great for macro (lots of nudi's, flatworms and blennies among the tunicates) or wide angle (the colors… the different species of soft corals, sponges and crinoids and growing on the base of the islands can't really be described in words, plus the background of the undercut makes interesting photos. It is a short swim from one island to the next. I could spend several days there. Dayang Island (update 2005.. Dayang was bombed) was the other spot that had just an amazing variety of soft corals fans, and reef fish… again so many colors and species I really could not decide what to photograph. The night dive in front of the Wai camp was white sand with weird muck and seagrass critters. Critters were not as numerous as some places I've been, but that may be seasonal. On the first night dive there we found epaulette sharks (PLENTY of them here) (Note 2006: These are the "walking sharks" in the news Sep. 2006 as recently discovered !), a huge mantis shrimp, double-ended pipefish with eggs, devil scorpionfish, Estuarian stonefish, strange tiny squid, upside down jellyfish, mating nudibranchs, several live shells and a beautiful lime-green filefish plus some more common critters. Otto's Reef was another favorite. About 10 min. from the camp (most sites were 15-30 min. trips) this site is a bowl shape and a good place to escape the current. Again, plenty of hard and soft corals (as everywhere) and our first experience with the groups of large Oriental Sweetlips that let us get close (2 ft) for photos. As at many other sites, there were bommies covered with fans and soft corals with clouds of golden sweepers, their attendant sweetlips (2 species) and angelfish. At the end of the dive, we rose up out of the bowl into the current that swept us along a ridge of the reef. At 15 ft. I was totally surrounded by a melange of fish, so many species, I can't even begin to name them all, but I did manage to see through them to a large eagle ray cruising by while others saw sharks and even dolphins racing along the reef. All over the area, at almost any site there are GIANT CLAMS, not planted, but wild, ferocious giant clams. A person could sit inside their shells. Plenty of smaller ones as well. The reef just off Wai's beach has just such a site, the "Giant Clam Area", with a few other attractions, like 3 airplane wrecks, 2 easily diveable. Sea Turtles are another frequent sight and the largest nesting area for Leatherback Turtles in Asia is a possibility here for a specialized trip. Guests can travel 4 hours by boat and stay 3-4 days in the area (by special request). The Raja Ampat Islands Islands have a lot of marsupial animals and birds endemic to New Guinea, but at Wai, some of them were tame enough that they stay around the camp or come in for a visit. Cuscus came most nights just in time to share our fresh fruit dessert. Two Cassowary birds, a baby and a full grown one followed us around hoping for a piece of banana or the peelings from vegetables and fruits. It was not uncommon to have a baby cassowary curled up sleeping at your feet or the big one looking over your shoulder at lunchtime. These birds are huge, full-grown ones almost as big as an ostrich but much prettier with their black feathers, blue head and bright gold throats. Great chances here to see and photograph some wildlife. (2005 Update: We were told by local people that one of the cassowaries abandoned on Wai after the dive camp was burned, kicked and killed a Papuan woman that came to gather coconuts.. maybe not such a good idea to keep pet cassowaries!) More Raja Ampat Diving Sites Mansoear Island is surrounded by some of the best offshore reefs are 5 - 15 min. trips. We loved Sardine Reef. Three of us went back to it 5 times in a row! Once we learned how to stay in the backwash where the current hits the reef and splits we were in fish heaven! Blue-colored Surgeonfish blocked out the sun on all 5 dives; schools of thousands of them just hung there nearly on the bottom. I found I could compose photos by selecting a bommie with a nice selection of colorful soft corals and fans or an orange elephant ear sponge, then swim slowly toward the massive school of surgeonfish snapping shots as they eased away from me and parted to let the corals show through! Pyramids of 2-3 species of large sweetlips, 12-15 at a time, clustered in front of the bommies. We could get 2-3 feet away from them and although they eyed us with an uneasy glance, they would stay put. GIANT Bumphead Parrotfish munching away on corals (there is some reef damage, but by Parrotfish teeth!) were hardly annoyed by my presence and allowed me within 3-4 feet of them when I dodged behind corals to intercept their path for a shot with some red soft corals in the foreground. There were schools of barracuda, bannerfish, snappers, fusiliers sweeping and streaming by and circling me! Fish photography here is wonderful. Next trip I'll concentrate on getting some close-up shots of fish, like the clown-triggers that posed for Woody and Rich. Cape Kri is a favorite site and the spot where Dr. Gerry Allen made his record fish species count ever, 273 on a 1 hour dive! Lots of fish here for sure, this is also where I photographed pygmy seahorses. Although we did not see them here, there are 5 Queensland Groupers that frequent this reef that are larger than a small car! I sat out one dive. It was very late in the day and there was a pod of dolphin circling the dive boat. After the divers were under, the Spanish Mackerel high jump Olympic championships begain. We were watching the surface of the water boiling from the Tuna feeding, then 3-4 ft. long Mackerel began jumping 15-20 ft. out of the water, not one or two, but many! This continued for at least 30 min. The boat guys dropped 2 hooks into the water and within a minute had 2 4-ft. fish for our dinner! The Passage was a favorite spot too. It is a day trip to a narrow passage, like a river, between two islands. The current flows swiftly though the narrow channel surrounded and overhung by rainforest. Very eerie with caves and an underwater arch. Unique conditions, shade and strong current, have soft corals and large sea fans growing 6 inches from the surface! This was a good spot for critters. Nudibranch Bay has the most flatworms and flatworm species any of us ever saw plus a very shallow sand slope that is paradise for those that love shrimp gobies! We saw at least five species of shrimp gobies, not very shy, practically without moving! Broadband cuttlefish, more Wobbegongs, + sharks, schools of jacks and Bumphead Parrotfish were here too. RETURN for more Raja Ampat Diving I'm going back, however this is not a destination for everyone. If you want only no current / macro photography / muck dives, skip this trip. You should like drift dives, loads of variety with heavy concentration on lots of fish, amazing scenery and enough cash to be able to come back again and again.. you'll want to! Raja Ampat Liveaboards Since this article was first written in 1999, we've been back for 11 trips. If you would like to join us on a liveaboard charter in 2007 or 2008: Contact Deb Fugitt for trips to Raja Ampat tours@Cityseahorse.com and visit the web site at www.CitySeahorse.com/rajaampat Our Escorted 2007 trips are scheduled for May 2-14, Nov. 8-19 and Nov. 22-Dec 3, 2007 on SMY Ondina. Bird Watching tours and Adventure Trips in Papau, Indonesia (formerly Irian Jaya) Report by Deb Fugitt

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