My Raja Ampat Trip Blog (01/2008) . . .

[tarczy]

You might be wondering why I'm still able to post since I'm supposed to be in Sorong, Irian Jaya (West Papua) without Internet access. Well . . . I never made it to Sorong. Lion Air/Wings Air decided to cancel our flight. Soooo . . . several of my future shipmates (2 Danes, 2 Swedes and 2 Belgians) were trucked over to the hotel where Wings Air offered to put us up for a few hours. Oh - MY - Gawd!!! This place is a s**thole beyond belief!!! I've stayed in some flop-houses in my time, but this one was 10 steps below the crappiest place I ever stayed. If I was bankrupt with no money, I would never stay at a place like this. By the way, in case this happens to you, the name of the Hotel is Hotel Vina in Manado. STAY AWAY!!

The group of us decided that Hotel Vina was totally unacceptable, so one of our group called Odyssea to get their recommendation for a hotel in the area. Lo and behold . . . Odyssea just opened Cocotinos Dive Resort in Manado and they had rooms for all of us . . . for $90 USD, including dinner. At this point, I'm ready to pay $900 USD for a decent hotel . . . so we all readily accepted the terms.

Odyssea sent two trucks to pick us up plus all of our luggage. They delivered us promptly to Cocotinos and . . . I gotta tell ya . . . this place RAWKS!! It's a very luxurious dive resort that dives the areas around Bunaken. This place is so great, I'm thinkin' about comin' back here!! Swimming pool . . . flush toilets . . . air conditioning . . . WOW!!

Tomorrow, we leave the resort at 1:30am to make the airport at 2:00am. Supposedly, our flight leaves at 3:00am. I'll believe it when I see it. Apparently, this flight cancellation thing is standard operating procedure for Wings Air, so if you're going to dive Raja Ampat, be prepared for some inconvenience (I'm concerned about my return flight 'cuz my connections don't allow me the luxury of time). If I miss any of my connections (see my Lembeh blog), I'm screwed. I just hope my bags make it to Sorong in one piece.

The group on this week's Odyssea 1 trip to Raja Ampat promises to be very interesting. The 7 of us make up nearly half the divers on the boat. The other half is rumored to be Japanese. I think I'm the only American. Diversity Rawks!

Oh well . . . the Indonesian adventure continues . . . stay tuned!!

Mark

[Ken Hawk]

Oh well . . . the Indonesian adventure continues . . . stay tuned!![/FONT]

Mark[/QUOTE]

Wouldn't miss it for the world :)
Hope every thing works out for you.
Ken

[sorvju-f]

You might be wondering why I'm still able to post since I'm supposed to be in Sorong, Irian Jaya (West Papua) without Internet access. Well . . . I never made it to Sorong. Lion Air/Wings Air decided to cancel our flight. Soooo . . . several of my future shipmates (2 Danes, 2 Swedes and 2 Belgians) were trucked over to the hotel where Wings Air offered to put us up for a few hours. Oh - MY - Gawd!!! This place is a s**thole beyond belief!!! I've stayed in some flop-houses in my time, but this one was 10 steps below the crappiest place I ever stayed. If I was bankrupt with no money, I would never stay at a place like this. By the way, in case this happens to you, the name of the Hotel is Hotel Vina in Manado. STAY AWAY!!

The group of us decided that Hotel Vina was totally unacceptable, so one of our group called Odyssea to get their recommendation for a hotel in the area. Lo and behold . . . Odyssea just opened Cocotinos Dive Resort in Manado and they had rooms for all of us . . . for $90 USD, including dinner. At this point, I'm ready to pay $900 USD for a decent hotel . . . so we all readily accepted the terms.

Odyssea sent two trucks to pick us up plus all of our luggage. They delivered us promptly to Cocotinos and . . . I gotta tell ya . . . this place RAWKS!! It's a very luxurious dive resort that dives the areas around Bunaken. This place is so great, I'm thinkin' about comin' back here!! Swimming pool . . . flush toilets . . . air conditioning . . . WOW!!

Tomorrow, we leave the resort at 1:30am to make the airport at 2:00am. Supposedly, our flight leaves at 3:00am. I'll believe it when I see it. Apparently, this flight cancellation thing is standard operating procedure for Wings Air, so if you're going to dive Raja Ampat, be prepared for some inconvenience (I'm concerned about my return flight 'cuz my connections don't allow me the luxury of time). If I miss any of my connections (see my Lembeh blog), I'm screwed. I just hope my bags make it to Sorong in one piece.

The group on this week's Odyssea 1 trip to Raja Ampat promises to be very interesting. The 7 of us make up nearly half the divers on the boat. The other half is rumored to be Japanese. I think I'm the only American. Diversity Rawks!

Oh well . . . the Indonesian adventure continues . . . stay tuned!!

Mark

After returnig home these often turns to funny stories, but being there and not knowing the next turn its not fun. Hope Raja Ampat is compensating bad moments!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Wow, $90 for a hotel in Manado? You should be getting some other perks besides dinner!! :rolleyes: That's expensive! But I guess it beats the fleabag.

This is all part of the adventure. Don't worry about getting home. After the trip, you will have plenty of picture editing to keep you busy while you wait for planes. :D

Have fun and good luck!!

Jonathan

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark, is there any other way to get to Sorong besides Lions air?

[Jonathan Bird]

Sure is quite around here.

<crickets>

I wonder how Mark is doing in Raja?

[tarczy]

Watch out!!

I'm back on the grid!!!!

I'm now in Singapore . . . staying overnight at the fabulous (brand new) St. Regis Hotel, Singapore . . . . and I have Internet access for the first time in nearly ten days. Amazing!!

Okay . . . I know this is supposed to be a diving blog, but I can't help talkin' about this hotel. Why? 'Cuz I've been to the "end of civilization," dealing with Malaria, Denge Fever, abject poverty and a complete lack of all things "civilized" as I know them . . . and now I'm back . . . and it's wonderful to have toilets that flush, fresh greens with your meal, and a bottle of great French wine. I will NEVER knock L.A. again . . . I swear!

So . . . I'm gonna show some pics of my St Regis hotel suite, then I'm gonna go get some much needed shut-eye (I've been traveling since 2:00am) . . . and when I get to L.A. in another 20-something hours, I'll post my full Raja Ampat trip blog . . . complete with pics.

Oh yeah . . . in case you're wondering . . . Raja was great!! It is a stunning place, and I feel privileged to have experienced such an awe inspiring place on our planet . . . but more about that later.

This is the suite as you enter . . . (note the Bose 5.1 surround sound system over the bed) . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/St%20Regis%20Singapore/_MG_2157.jpg

This is the "5-fixture" bathroom . . . (actually . . . if you wanna get technical, it's a 6-fixture" bathroom 'cuz it has two separate sinks) . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/St%20Regis%20Singapore/_MG_2160.jpg

I'll see you folks in a couple of days. I gotta go get some shut-eye.

Bye!

(P.S. It's so great to be back in the civilized world . . . you just don't know!)

[sorvju-f]

Mark, it's great to here everything is ok!

I can feel your feeling after entering to this fabulous hotel after eternity!

Enjoy and take your time, but you know what we are really waiting for...:D

Jukka

[Ken Hawk]

What a wuss :)

Missed your reports, can't wait

Ken

[David White]

I would really like to see pictures of the fleabag hotel in Manado so that we can make a legitimate comparison.

[Jonathan Bird]

MAN!!!!

That place doesn't suck!! Can you hook me up next time I'm in Singapore? Can I get it for under $100 a night? ;)

Welcome back...I can't wait to see pics from Raja Ampat and hear about your adventures. I hope you wrote a nice long blog on the flight home!

(I'm betting the airline doesn't lose your stuff on the way home either.)

Jonathan

[tarczy]

Continuing my Raja Ampat saga . . .

The fleabag hotel that Wings Air tried to get us to overnight in looks like this . . . (what a POS!)

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0147.jpg

This "pharmacy" is directly across the street from the hotel . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0146.jpg

After a big fight with the Hotel Manager, we end up at Cocotino's. I highly recommend this place.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0151.jpg

That's Walter and Jolande Van Saet on the left of the photo . . . two fellow divers on the Odyssea 1 (more about them later). We're checkin' in to Cocotinos. We're all very relieved.

The Cocotino's 1:15am wake-up call came way too soon. Our bags were loaded on to a big pick-up truck and by 1:30am we were winding our way down foggy roads back to the airport to catch our 3:00am Lion Air Wings Air flight to Sorong, Irian Jaya (West Papua). We made the airport exactly at 2:00am, as per Wings Air directions, only to find the airport closed and completely deserted, except for other passengers on our flight. No big deal we were told. Nothing is ever on time in Indonesia.

Around 3:00am (when our flight supposedly is due to depart), the airport starts to wake up and the Wings Air Ticket Agent arrives to check in our luggage. By 3:45am we are boarding a Dash 8-300 propeller plane. We could've had an extra hour of sleep had we known that nothing was ever on time in Indonesia.

This is me lookin' very dejected 'cuz it's 2:00am in the Manado Airport and there is nobody there to check us in. (Don't be laughin' at those diver-white legs! I did manage to get some tanning in while on the Odyssea 1!)

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0153.jpg

(more next post)

[tarczy]

Finally . . . 3:00am rolls around and the Wings Air guy starts to check in our luggage. By 4:00am we are boarding a Dash 8 -300 propeller plane. I am never more apprehensive about boarding a flight than I am about this one. There isn't a seat open in the plane and everybody has waaayyyy more luggage than normal . . . all of it (except for our luggage) is packed in makeshift cardboard boxes wrapped with packing tape. I'm surprised I don't see people carrying on pigs, chickens and goats. I'm thinkin' to myself, we're all gonna die!

The Dash 8 -300

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0155.jpg

The plane struggles to take off and I finally calm down. An hour and 50 minutes later, we're ready to land in Sorong.

A word about the De Havilland CanadaDash 8-300. After we land, one of the other Odyssea I guests from Denmark, Eric, leans over to tell me that, a number years ago, the Dash 8-300 was banned from all of Europe because the planes kept on crashing. Actually, a good number of Scandinavian Airlines Dash 8's developed landing gear problems in the early part of this decade, so they sold all their aircraft to the Indonesians. Additionally, no Indonesian Airline companies are allowed to fly into Europe due to shoddy aircraft maintenance. This gives me loads of confidence about my return flight.

Oh yeah . . . some advice about booking airline tickets from Manado to Sorong. Let the Odyssea I people handle your flight booking from Manado to Sorong. I found out the hard way that booking through the Internet is not the way to go for anything in Indonesia. Why? Because Indonesia's whole system of commerce and Government is built on graft, which means that any low-level bureaucrat can hold up your tickets for any reason he or she sees fit - until you pay extra.

Before the Odyssea I departed, Alfonso asked us for our return airline tickets so their Travel Agent could confirm our return flights. I was the only one with an e-ticket. Midway through the cruise, Alfonso tells me that Wings Air won't confirm my return flight because "supposedly" my credit card company has not paid for my flight. Yeah right! I booked those tickets two months in advance!! I told Alfonso to just make sure I have a seat on the plane and I'll pay what I need to pay when I get to the airport. Two days later, Alfonso says not to worry . . . the credit card company finally paid up and my seat is confirmed. Hmmmmmm.

One other tip . . . make sure you have "physical" airline tickets in hand. Yes, these days, most civilized countries have procedures in place for e-tickets. However, the further away from civilization you travel, the more difficult it is for ticket agents to grasp the concept of an e-ticket. Trust me, physical tickets in hand will save you a load of time and aggravation.

Merpati is the other airline flying from Manado to Sorong. While the fact that it is a Boeing jet gives me more comfort, I understand that Merpati's scheduling is just as bad as Wings Air. Oh well!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0156.jpg

What a s**thole of a town Sorong is!! It's built on a swamp and I'm told there's lots of Denge Fever and Malaria here. We didn't do any sightseeing in Sorong. If, per chance, your flight makes it into Sorong on time and you need to stay the night, the two "best" hotels (that's not sayin' much) in Sorong are The Mariatt and Je Meridien. My recommendation would be to go to your hotel and lock yourself in your room until the Odyssea people come and get you in the morning.

Thankfully, Alfonso, the Odyssea Cruise Director, was at the airport to meet us with a veritable fleet of trucks. Mind you, these "trucks" have something like 3200cc engines and are no larger than a Toyota Rav-4. In other words, for seven people plus a half ton of dive and photo gear, a "fleet" of these things is definitely needed. Fortunately, all of our luggage arrived intact and we were on our way to the Odyssea in no time.

Alfonso the Cruise Director from Odyssea 1 is at the lower right in a black Polo Shirt.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0157.jpg

Our "fleet" of trucks to take us and our gear to the boat . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0158.jpg


Driving through the streets of Sorong is like a scene from Coppola's "Apocalypse Now." It seems as if the further west I travel from Singapore, the less civilized the World becomes. The abject poverty of this place is amazing. There is very little, if any mechanization. These people are still using carts drawn by Oxen as their basic mode of transportation. In fact, I'm really surprised we're not being taken to the boat by Oxen drawn carts. I don't think I'll ever complain about L.A. again!!

(continued ...)

[tarczy]

Once at the dock, we are picked up and ferried to the boat by two "rubber boats." That's what they call dingies here . . . rubber boats. Once you approach the ship by rubber boat, you realize the Odyssea I is a freakin' MONSTER . . . and we only have twelve divers on this boat. The boat is 110 feet long with a 30 foot beam. Most boats of this length run a 22 foot beam, so you're getting an extra eight feet of width on the Odyssea !.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_0170.jpg

On board the Odyssea, we are shown our rooms by very courteous and helpful staff. I scored a double cabin all by my lonesome. Suh-weeeet!!!

This is the Dining Salon/Presentation Room. It's freakin' huge!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_6301.jpg

This is the dive deck. Note that in addition to large areas for donning your gear, there are also "individual" camera tables. Very convenient!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_6297.jpg

Below are the covered and uncovered sun-deck areas of the boat. Very nice area to spread out and take a tan!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_6292.jpg

(continued next post . . . )

[tarczy]

After the second wave of divers arrive (they took the Merpati Air flight, which is just as bad as Wings Air, but at least it was a freakin' jet!!), we were cruising to our first dive destination - an old World War II fighter that ditched when it ran out of fuel. It was upside down in the sand at about 80 feet (26 meters). The name of the wreck/dive site is P-40. It was pretty cool, but hard to shoot when there were 11 other divers circling the wreck.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_0900.jpg

After, we finish at 80 feet, I start to go off to the right, finding my own way, when suddenly I feel something tugging on my fins. It's the "dive guide," Jos, and he wants me to follow my original group. I'm thinking "okay," maybe this is just the checkout dive and the guy wants to observe our dive skills. But, if things continue this way, I'm gonna be one very unhappy diver. (more on this subject later)

For our second dive we do a night dive, which was uneventful for me, but several of the "professional" macro photographers (like Mirko Zanni) are having a great time. After the night dive, we have dinner and everyone peels off to bed.

Diving on the Odyssea is very regimented. You get up at 6:30am, have some toast and coffee and you are in the water by 7:30am. Breakfast is served at 9:00am and the next dive is at 11:00am. Lunch is served at 12:30pm and the last day dive is at 2:30pm. Then, you get a snack and you do your night dive at 6:30pm. Dinner is served at 8:00pm.

Only four dives per day . . . one of which is a night dive. All your dives can last no longer than 50 minutes - no exceptions! I'm left wondering what would happen if I stayed down for 60 minutes. What would Jos the "dive guide" do? Slit my air hose?

Which brings me back to Jos. Jos doesn't understand any English, but he sure knows how to "herd" his group in the direction he wants them to go! And, God forbid you stay down longer than 50 minutes. After the third time he starts "herding" me along with the group, I'm ready to slit HIS air hose, BUT I keep my cool, vowing to have a looong talk with Alfonso when we surface.

After we surface, I hunt down Alfonso and tell him we gotta talk. I explain that I've got over 1,500 dives logged, I've been diving before my Nazi Dive Guide was ever born and that I've been diving in some pretty fierce current in my lifetime, so there's absolutely no reason for me to be treated like a freakin Basic Diver who just got their C-Card two months ago.

Alfonso says; "Ohhhh, there are many currents here, all of them going in different directions, and we just don't want to lose any divers." I reply, "That's nice Alfonso. If you're so concerned about divers getting lost, did you check to make sure EVERY diver has a safety sausage and a horn before the very first dive? No? well, get on it!!" (note; I asked for a safety sausage on my first dive and I have my own horn, but by the fourth dive, there were still divers diving without a safety sausage. That situation got rectified by the end of the next day.)

After much more discussion about the way boats handle converging currents in other parts of the World, I finally agree to my own personal dive guide for the remainder of the trip for an extra $280 USD. At this point, I don't care about the cash, I just want to dive my own profile.

A word about Alfonso . . . he's a great guy and really works very hard to make his guests as comfortable as possible, even though he is given very little to work with (remember, we are at the literal "end of the Earth" . . . there's no Home Depot around the corner!). All said and done, Alfonso really made the trip very pleasant for everyone.

Diving in Raja Ampat (meaning "Four Kings, or Sultans" in Indonesian) is not for the Basic Diver. There are some serious currents here, and there are situations where there are multiple cross-currents in all different directions . . . including up and down.

For example, at Pulau Putri (Putri Island), Alfonso takes us through the dive briefing and at the end he casually remarks, "Watch out for the current. Sometimes it's to the left, then to the right, then maybe down and then maybe up." Hmmmmm . . . this sounds somewhat ominous! We get in our respective dingies and go off to Pulau Putri.

As we are about to roll off the side of the boat, The rubber boat driver says this time ya gotta enter with your camera gear held to your chest 'cuz the current(s) are too strong. Uhmmmmm . . . this is not good 'cuz Ikelite's port system is not designed for rough-water entries. I'm concerned that my big fat 8" dome port will pull away from the housing, thus flooding the housing. But, I do the entry anyway and all is fine, except that because of an up-current, it's taking me 500psi just to get to 30 feet.

At 40 feet I start getting blown to the left, while my dive guide, who is at 60 feet, is getting blown to the right. By this time I've sucked 800psi and I haven't even started the dive. I'm uncomfortable with the situation and I choose to abort the dive. Later, all the divers came back saying it was like a freakin' washing machine and that the dive really wasn't worth all the energy. I'm glad I didn't go.

Most dives in Raja Ampat have some sort of current present, and when the current is blowing, it's blowing hard! We're at Eagle's Rock when the rubber boat drops us off and we zoom down to 60 feet only to get caught in a current that I swear was 7 knots. I'm not kidding! We were zooming by stuff so fast I couldn't tell what the hell I was lookin' at! I've been drift diving in some fierce current before but nothing was EVER this fast!! It was like a Six Flags roller coaster! Fortunately the current was blowing in one direction and about mid-way through the dive, the current just stopped dead. We finished the dive in relative bliss. Man! That was some ride!!

This is Yolanda and Walter Van Saet as they brave the fierce current at Manta Point (we're waiting for Mantas to show up so I got bored and snapped a pic of these guys hangin' on for dear life!) Note Yolanda's hair and bubbles being blown straight back. Also note Walter hangin' on to the coral head for dear life. Better yet, note Yolanda's skin around her face and neck totally getting blown back!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_1955.jpg

Night diving in Raja Ampat is all about macro photography. You will never see anything larger than a freakin' shrimp while night diving in Raja Ampat. Everybody descends and then immediately starts scanning the coral heads for anything they can find. Since I've already had 14 days of macro shooting in Lembeh, just prior to my Raja trip, I'm pretty much overdosed on macro. Plus . . . they're all the same critters that I've already seen in Lembeh. I choose to skip the rest of the night dives.

That said, here's another Pygmy Seahorse I shot on one of my "few" night dives.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_1268.jpg

Weather for the 10-day cruise was typical Tropical Pacific. Hot, steamy 82 to 86 degree air temps and 82 degree water temps. Most days were overcast and we only had occasional rain that didn't last very long. I think we had something like 3 days where the skies were actually clear and sunny.

Seas were basically flat calm throughout the trip. I can't remember a day when there was any kind of chop. Visibility in Raja Ampat was never really "Gin clear" like the Caribbean. I think that on the best days, the visibility was around 60 feet. At the worst, the vis was at 40 feet.

One of the really nice days in Raja Ampat . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_6398.jpg

(continued . . . )

[tarczy]

Raja Ampat is truly a special place. Once you get here, you realize you are at the veritable "end of the Earth." This was shot off Kri Island . . . a totally magical place . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/IMG_6466.jpg

The area is so vast, all the dive sites so different from one another, yet each one is more beautiful than the next. It is next to impossible for any one person to present images of Raja Ampat that do the place any kind of justice. I've heard many people remark that David Doubilet's National Geographic piece on Raja Ampat fell far short of the mark. At first, I didn't believe all the talk, but after diving Raja Ampat, I now know what they were talking about. If one of the greatest underwater photographers of our time has trouble capturing the essence of Raja Ampat, this photographer is most certainly not worthy.

That said, a few of my more favorite images from Raja Ampat can be found below. As I edit more and more of the 5,000 images I shot over the past ten days, I will no doubt add them to this trip blog. Nevertheless, my suggestion to you is to just go and experience the awe inspiring grandeur of the place for yourself. It is almost a religious experience that you will never regret.

The colors in Raja are spectacular . . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_1053.jpg

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_1918.jpg

When I said Raja Ampat was a religious experience . . . I wasn't kidding!

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_1612.jpg


Ciao!

[Jonathan Bird]

Mark,
Those images are absolutely phenomenal! WOW!! Thank you for the incredible trip report. Man, I want to go RIGHT NOW!! I can hardly wait!!! Post more pics!

Oh yeah, and welcome home in one piece my friend! We missed you while you were gone!

Jonathan

P.S. Nice flea bag!!

[scubagirl]

Great trip report and photos to go along with it. Makes me want to go there.

[sorvju-f]

You really have done huge work with reports and pics...all the way. This could have been even sold somewhere...and you have done all this to serve us...HUGE THANKS, specially from me as following your steps soon and getting usefull tips.

Its really worth of having free membership here.

Just one question...do you still miss diving after this great trip and reaching civilized world?

Jukka

[Ken Hawk]

Thanks for all your time and effort with the trip report.and fantastic pic.
Don't know about you, but I am looking forward to your next trip :D
Thanks again Ken

[solisti]

I absolutely LOVE that last pic! :eek:

[sorvju-f]

Raja Ampat is truly a special place. Once you get here, you realize you are at the veritable "end of the Earth." This was shot off Kri Island . . . a totally magical place . . .



The area is so vast, all the dive sites so different from one another, yet each one is more beautiful than the next. It is next to impossible for any one person to present images of Raja Ampat that do the place any kind of justice. I've heard many people remark that David Doubilet's National Geographic piece on Raja Ampat fell far short of the mark. At first, I didn't believe all the talk, but after diving Raja Ampat, I now know what they were talking about. If one of the greatest underwater photographers of our time has trouble capturing the essence of Raja Ampat, this photographer is most certainly not worthy.

That said, a few of my more favorite images from Raja Ampat can be found below. As I edit more and more of the 5,000 images I shot over the past ten days, I will no doubt add them to this trip blog. Nevertheless, my suggestion to you is to just go and experience the awe inspiring grandeur of the place for yourself. It is almost a religious experience that you will never regret.

The colors in Raja are spectacular . . . .





When I said Raja Ampat was a religious experience . . . I wasn't kidding!




Ciao!

I forgot to mention that this diver-light pic went straight to my heart...one of the best pics of whole chat!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Mark,
Can I put some of your cool pics on my Raja Ampat trip webpage???? Oh, and we want to see more of those 5,000 images!!

That place with the diver and the light beams with the forest above....I have seen that type of image from Raja in several places. Is that one common spot where everyone goes to shoot that pic, or is that just a common scene in Raja with the trees hanging over the water? Either way, well done, yours is the best example I have seen of that kind of shot. My favorite so far is the crinoid-infested coral head. I love those colors.

Jonathan

[David White]

That is an absolutely sensational shot of the diver suspended in the water. Thanks for the trip report Mark, you should be writing for a diving magazine.

[Daniel]

From one end of the spectrum to the other as it relates to the level of accommodations provided or the manner of travel, and negotiating so you could dive your profile. The final outcome albeit with its fair share of challenges along the way seems to have been well worth the experience.

Thank you for sharing your journey.

Cheers!
Daniel :)

[tarczy]

Hey Mark,
Can I put some of your cool pics on my Raja Ampat trip webpage???? Oh, and we want to see more of those 5,000 images!!

That place with the diver and the light beams with the forest above....I have seen that type of image from Raja in several places. Is that one common spot where everyone goes to shoot that pic, or is that just a common scene in Raja with the trees hanging over the water? Either way, well done, yours is the best example I have seen of that kind of shot. My favorite so far is the crinoid-infested coral head. I love those colors.

Jonathan

Jonathan-

Yeah . . . no problem using my pics on your website. I'm honored. More pics are coming but for right now I'm taking a break from pic editing.

The place where I shot the light-beam photo is called "The Passage." It's the only dive site where that visual occurs. It's a very difficult shot to get cuz you have to be there on a sunny day, at just the right time, when the sun is hitting the water. As I said before, most of our ten-day trip was overcast, so we were incredibly lucky to hit the dive site on one of the very few sunny days. Also, I had a good dive model and I shot something like 100 images of that one scene. The one I posted is mah fav.:D Oh yeah . . . that crinoid shot is one of mah favs too . . . shows the multitude of colors Raja Ampat has to offer.

Ken, Jukka, Dave, Alison and all the rest . . . thanks so much for the kudos.

[bubbayeow]

Wow!! Thank you so much for your day by day account and photos of both Lembeh Straits and Raja Ampat. It almost felt like we were right there with you.

[tarczy]

For those who are interested, below is the cruise itinerary we executed while in Raja Ampat along with a map of all the dive sites . . .

Day 1: 08:30 h Embark on MV Odyssea 1
09:00 h Welcome, briefing & paperwork
16:00 h 1st Dive: “P40D” (Wai Island) (1)
17:30 h Snack Time
19:30 h Night Dive: “Yum Point” (Batanta Island)(2)
21:00 h Dinner
Overnight at Batanta Island

Day 2: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Melisa’s Garden I” (Penemu Island) (3)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “Melisa’s Garden II” (Penemu Island) (4)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “East Fam Wall” (Penemu Island) (5)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Penemu Bay” (Penemu Island) (6)
20:00 h Dinner
Overnight sailing to Kawe Island

Day 3: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Pulau Putri” (Putri Island) (7)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “Eagle Rock” (Kawe Island) (8)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “Batu Tiga” (Tiga Island) (9)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Batu Tiga” (Tiga Island) (10)
20:00 h Dinner
Overnight at Tiga Island

Day 4: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Napo II Api Box” (Gam Island) (11)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “Tj Putus” (Gam Island) (12)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “Napo I Api Box” (Gam Island) (13)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Tj Putus” (Gam Island) (14)
20:00 h Dinner
Overnight at Gam Island

Day 5: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Tj Mansuar Barat II” (Mansuar Island) (15)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “Tj Mansuar Barat I” (Mansuar Island) (16)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “Tj Kri Timur” (Kri Island) (17)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Mioskon” (Mioskon Island) (18)
20:30 h Beach Barbeque
Overnight at Mioskon Island

Day 6: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Mioskon” (Mioskon Island) (19)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “The Passage I” (Kabui Straits) (20)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “The Passage II” (Kabui Straits) (21)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Nudibrance Rock” (Kabui Straits) (22)
20:00 h Dinner
Overnight at Kabui Straits

Day 7: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Batu Lima” (Freewen Island) (23)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “Mike’s Point” (Kri Area) (24)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “Chicken Reef” (Kri Area) (25)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Saonek Jetty” (Saonek Island) (26)
20:00 h Dinner

Overnight at Saonek Island

Day 8: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Arborek Jetty” (Arborek Island) (27)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h 2nd Dive: “Manta Point” (Mansuar Area) (28)
12:30 h Lunch
14:30 h 3rd Dive: “Manta Point” (Mansuar Area) (29)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Night Dive: “Arborek Jetty” (Arborek Island) (30)
20:00 h Dinner
Overnight at Arborek Island


Day 9: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Toast & Coffee
07:30 h 1st Dive: “Manta Point” (Mansuar Area) (31)
09:00 h Breakfast
11:00 h Free & Easy
12:30 h Lunch
14:00 h Snorkeling/2nd Dive: “Pondok Point” (Wai Island) (32)
16:00 h Snack
18:30 h Free & Easy/Night Dive: “Tj Senapan” (Batanta Island) (33)
20:00 h Dinner
Overnight at Sorong


Day 10: 06:30 h Wake up call
07:00 h Breakfast
07:30 h Check Out & Transfer to Airport


http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/CruiseMapRA-077.jpg

[Jonathan Bird]

Sweet! Where did you get the cool map?

Can you tell us what your favorite dive sites were?

[tarczy]

Sweet! Where did you get the cool map?

Can you tell us what your favorite dive sites were?

Alfonso, the Odyssea I Cruise Director, made the map and gave it to me before my departure from the boat. He's such a cool guy.

Ugh!! Favorite dive sites . . . eh? I dunno. The ones with the most current were my least favorite . . . so I guess that would be Pulau Putri, Eagle's Rock and Manta Point. The current was blowin' so hard it caused me to ask; "What's the point of being here? You can't see s**t!!"

All the dives on days four, five and six were not impacted by current, so they tended to become my favorite dive sites. However, visibility really changed throughout all the dives. We'd drop in the water and the vis would be spectacular, and by mid-way through the dive the vis would deteriorate to 30 feet. Believe me . . . the conditions are so random that if I told you my fav dive sites, they'd probably be the crappy ones on your trip . . . and my crappy ones will probably be your most favorite dive sites.

All that said, my most favorite was The Passage. I truly hope you get there at the right time and with the right weather 'cuz it's a real treat. I'm real interested to see your image interpretation of The Passage 'cuz, as I said, it's a difficult place to place to shoot.

Oh yeah . . . one other cool place for images is Arborek Jetty. I didn't get any really cool images there, but when you're diving under the jetty, the native kids come and peer over the side and look at you in awe. They think you're a sea monster. The image looking up at them from depth, as they look down, is awesome.

This is one of my better images from the Jetty . . . and I'm not very thrilled with it, but you can see the possibilities . . .

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i284/mongo255/Raja%20Ampat%202008/_MG_1887-1.jpg

[Jonathan Bird]

I think it's cool. I can hardly wait to get there!

[sorvju-f]

I think it's cool. I can hardly wait to get there!

29 days 12hours an 23 minutes to go:D

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Well, good thing you went when you did. My trip is cancelled because the boat has been destroyed.

This came this morning:



I have terrible news, Odyssea 1 has been damaged badly by a very bad storm last night, and it is beyond economical repair and we will not be able to provide the liveaboard to your group and we will also be cancelling all cruises chartered or booked.

They were no guests onboard as we were preparing for docking. The crew are all fine but all of us are speechless as we begin to take the necessary actions. An official statement will be released by me sometime tomorrow after I have gathered my thoughts and composed myself. Your deposits will be returned in full. Please inform your clients on my behalf and extend my deepest regrets. I will give you more details of the recovery actions that we will be taking.

I will try to gather a team to assist you in finding alternatives, but we cannot guaranty. We can offer a recourse to stay in Cocotinos and dive in Bunaken/Lembeh, however, we will leave it to your decision. I seek your outstanding as we will do our best to assist everyone affected.

I am now in the process of informing all the charterers and individuals whom have booked any cruise schedule with us. Please excuse me if I am able to attend to your reply, as I will be away from my desk most of the time while we take action on the situation we are having now.

Warmest regards

Andrew Lok
Managing Director
Odyssea Asia Pte Ltd

[tarczy]

Jonathan-

So very sorry to hear about the bad luck.

Maybe this is a good thing. It sure would've sucked if the boat sank while you were on board. :eek:

Anyway . . . hope your house-building efforts are payin' off . . . and good luck on your Secrets of the Reef screening.

[sorvju-f]

Well, good thing you went when you did. My trip is cancelled because the boat has been destroyed.

This came this morning:



I have terrible news, Odyssea 1 has been damaged badly by a very bad storm last night, and it is beyond economical repair and we will not be able to provide the liveaboard to your group and we will also be cancelling all cruises chartered or booked.

They were no guests onboard as we were preparing for docking. The crew are all fine but all of us are speechless as we begin to take the necessary actions. An official statement will be released by me sometime tomorrow after I have gathered my thoughts and composed myself. Your deposits will be returned in full. Please inform your clients on my behalf and extend my deepest regrets. I will give you more details of the recovery actions that we will be taking.

I will try to gather a team to assist you in finding alternatives, but we cannot guaranty. We can offer a recourse to stay in Cocotinos and dive in Bunaken/Lembeh, however, we will leave it to your decision. I seek your outstanding as we will do our best to assist everyone affected.

I am now in the process of informing all the charterers and individuals whom have booked any cruise schedule with us. Please excuse me if I am able to attend to your reply, as I will be away from my desk most of the time while we take action on the situation we are having now.

Warmest regards

Andrew Lok
Managing Director
Odyssea Asia Pte Ltd

Sorry to hear...if you are fast here is an alternative... I used this Feb/March this year.

http://www.indocruises.com/indocruises-seahorse-liveaboard.htm

Inside you can find free times from the schedule-option!

5 star service!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Hey Jukka,
I never heard what you thought of the boat. I would welcome your thoughts. It looks like a really nice boat...better than Odyssea just looking at the website.

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Hey Jukka,
I never heard what you thought of the boat. I would welcome your thoughts. It looks like a really nice boat...better than Odyssea just looking at the website.

Jonathan

Sorry I am building...like you and my report from Pasific is still missing.

What I have to say is that quality and service with this Sea horse was best I have ever gotten.

Everybody are threated like individuals...meaning

- evening they are asking what you would like to have for brekfast...there were always alternatives

- lunch and dinner were always tree course eating...if there were beef you were asked if you want it raw, medium or well-done

- the wine list I did not try, but that is also available

- courses were always served to table

- great space for maintaining your camera gears at front deck

- there were bags, were you placed your gears; which crew moved it to separate diving boat

- also your diving gears were moved to diving boat by the crew

- every cabin had own toilet and shower

- the boat was stable in rough sea

- unforgetable staff with lot of interest for what you were doing and always smiling

- and crew had experience what they were doing and you know how important that is

- nitrox available

- aircondition in cabins

I try to give better report later

( Lady ordered the fur from furmaker and after couple of month Lady decided to check the situation and went to furmaker and asked if her fur is ready...furmaker was slowly turning his head to look out of window and answered as slowly as turning his head...The Ladys fur is under the work while looking rabbits being very active round backyard :rolleyes: )

Jukka

[Neptune7]

Thanks Jukka.
Looks like a boat I could spend a few days on!
All we need are dates...

Pierre

[Jonathan Bird]

Zee boat eez booked! <---That's my French accent for Neptune's benefit. :D

The dates are November 3-14, 2009. Thank you for the information Jukka! Very helpful!! I am very excited because now Pierre can go too!

Jonathan

[Neptune7]

"Zeess eez good news!"
I am all in! The dates are blocked on my schedule. I am going to Raja Ampat in November 2009. Voilà!

Pierre

[sorvju-f]

"Zeess eez good news!"
I am all in! The dates are blocked on my schedule. I am going to Raja Ampat in November 2009. Voilà!

Pierre

It is better to postpone than totally cancel. Great that you got an alternative.
It was important to be fast as one is out of the game so soon the free dates are gone!

To those who are participating is really worth of thinking to have couple of days diving in Lembeh/Bunaken as you are traveling trough Manado to Sorong. The flight tickets are so expensive with todays fuel price that you are actually saving by adding some dives in Manado area!

Jukka

[Neptune7]

Good plan Jukka!

That's what I am gonna do: Raja Ampat on the SeaHorse liveaboard and a week in Lembeh at the Divers Lodge.

Pierre

[sorvju-f]

Good plan Jukka!

That's what I am gonna do: Raja Ampat on the SeaHorse liveaboard and a week in Lembeh at the Divers Lodge.

Pierre

Some pics while you are waiting...

MSY Seahorse

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Sea+Horse+800.jpg/full

From left: Cici, the organiziser of everything and Txus, the owner ( + one customer )

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Cici+and+txus.jpg/full

and colours of Raja Ampat

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Corals+1+800.jpg/full

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

More pics Jukka!!

[sorvju-f]

More pics Jukka!!

Here you are

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Maisema+Raja+Ampa+800t.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/View+10+Raja+Ampat+800.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Sea+Horse+and+Sorong.jpg/full

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Seahorse+bow+800.jpg/full

Jukka

[sorvju-f]

...this looks like visiting Seahorse dinnertable too often...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Paksumaha+800.jpg/full

...Martin, who followed me to Raja Ampat from Bunaken....I am not so good diver photographer

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Martin+800.jpg/full

...I don't know what is this, but I founded it from Raja Ampat Manta Point...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/%D6ttim%F6lli%E4inen+800.jpg/full

...arriving from diving...here you can see the stairs down to boat. We never dived straight from the Seahorse...always entered to dive site by boat...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/Arriving+800.jpg/full

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Jukka,
Great shots!

That unknown fish is a seamoth. I shot them in Lembeh.

How is the house coming?

Maybe we should start a "working on the house instead of diving" thread!

Jonathan

[sorvju-f]

Jukka,
Great shots!

That unknown fish is a seamoth. I shot them in Lembeh.

How is the house coming?

Maybe we should start a "working on the house instead of diving" thread!

Jonathan

The truth is that I would rather dive and make pics than working on the house;)

When you start renewing one place and get it ready, the next place near it looks like needing some actions ( opinion of my wife )...now I have to renew the living room and dining room:(

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Since I'm leaving for Raja Ampat in a week, I just re-read this thread for inspiration. Can't wait!!

[sorvju-f]

Since I'm leaving for Raja Ampat in a week, I just re-read this thread for inspiration. Can't wait!!

I wish you all GREAT trip to Indonesia. On the behalf of notfollowers I declare the must of getting reports and pictures before, during and after trip...videos can be loaded during first week after you are coming back;)

...and remember to be careful out there...

I hope you will meet Wobbe also:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008%20Papua%2C%20Raja%20Ampat/Wobbegong%20800.jpg/full

Some other pictures from Raja to increase the fever:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/2008+Papua%2C+Raja+Ampat/

Jukka

[Neptune7]

Thank Jukka,
I am leaving tomorrow for Indonesia. First a week at Lembeh Divers Lodge and then Raja Ampat.
Scubagirl and David White already left for Indonesia. I am suppose to meet them in Lembeh. The rest of the gang including the Birman himself should be in Manado by the 31st or Nov 1st then we all fly to Sorong to board the MSY Seahorse.

Maybe it time to start a new thread: Indonesia 2009 ?


Pierre

[nhdivenut]

I am also inspired.....to go get myself a reef hook!!!! Yikes, the looks of some of those currents! :eek: I hope to capture some great shots like you guys did!
Thanks for sharing!:D
brandy

[tarczy]

I am also inspired.....to go get myself a reef hook!!!! Yikes, the looks of some of those currents! :eek: I hope to capture some great shots like you guys did!
Thanks for sharing!:D
brandy

The boat I was on dstributed reef hooks to its guests. However, that boat is now resting in Davy Jones' Locker. Your boat may, or may not supply reef hooks. Regardless, reef hooks are very "necessary" when diving Raja.

[Jonathan Bird]

For those of you who missed out on my Raja Ampat trip, my friend Brandon Cole has had a last minute cancellation for 2 divers on a trip to Raja in February. If you can travel in Feb, you can get a good discount on this trip.

I started a thread in the classified section (http://www.uwphotochat.com/forums/showthread.php?t=822).

[Jonathan Bird]

The boat I was on dstributed reef hooks to its guests. However, that boat is now resting in Davy Jones' Locker. Your boat may, or may not supply reef hooks. Regardless, reef hooks are very "necessary" when diving Raja.

Good tip. Gotta drag out my reef hook that Pierre bought me in Yap. (Thanks Buddy!)

[sorvju-f]

Good tip. Gotta drag out my reef hook that Pierre bought me in Yap. (Thanks Buddy!)

Do you remember how to use it:cool:

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

I remember how to use it, but I definitely don't remember that trick that divemaster John showed us--how to "coil" it up so it uncoils easily!

[sorvju-f]

I remember how to use it, but I definitely don't remember that trick that divemaster John showed us--how to "coil" it up so it uncoils easily!

Nice that we are photographers:

1 Start it like binding your shoes...you will get 2 circles:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/UW-chat/NO%201%20800.jpg/full

2 Push free line trough other circle so that it leaves new circle:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/UW-chat/NO%202%20800.jpg/full

3...and then same the second original circle...:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/UW-chat/NO%203%20800.jpg/full

4...and then again trough the opposite circle...

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/UW-chat/NO%204%20800.jpg/full

5...until the line is finished...then lock two last circles...and the whole should look like this one:

http://sorvjuf.1g.fi/kuvat/UW-chat/NO%205%20800.JPG/full

TIP Try to keep circles as small as possible not like in pictures!!!!

Jukka

[Jonathan Bird]

Great tutorial! I can't believe you remember how to do that!!

[sorvju-f]

Great tutorial! I can't believe you remember how to do that!!

Believe me...there will be need for this hook.

Jukka