Wobbegongs ahoy!

Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia
27 December 2009

Raja Ampat, a group of islands of the 'bird's head' of north-west Papua, is famous amongst divers for its near pristine marine life. The local fishermen use only line and hook, meaning large shoals of big fish still remain, as well as stunning biodiversity. New species crop up here on a regular basis.

We arrived at the Kri Eco resort by speedboat from Sorong just before New Year's Day and, after a pep-talk from manager Pat and signing the dive disclaimer (in effect: 'whatever happens we're not to blame'), were installed into our simple but tasteful wooden hut, sitting over the tranquil waters on stilts.















It's not cheap here, note, (we had a bit of a dispute about whether to come at all) but in the end we figured that the chance to dive here would probably never arise again and we should do it. We signed up for a 12-dives package, which we figured we could squeeze in over the week while taking it in turns to watch the kids, and all the (really scrumptious and prepared by a Torajan cook) meals were included.















So here we were. And Raja Ampat didn't disappoint. Over the week we saw reef sharks in several flavours – the oddest being the wobbegongs or carpet sharks, with their flat, frilly heads and a malevolent gleam in their eyes.



















We saw manta rays cruising slowly through a cleaning station between four sandbanks, their attendant wrasse providing the valet service in return for snacks of dead skin and parasites. Visibility was not too good, but the huge creatures were stunning as they drifted slowly past us (us, the odd bubbling creatures lurking on the sea floor, trying not to be seen). And we saw shoals of barracuda, sweetlips and even Moorish idols, which we normally only see in ones and twos.















One of the biggest highlights was surprisingly a big group of huge grazing bumphead parrotfish, which we met by chance as we drifted at speed over the top of a reef at the end of a dive. We should have got some amazing images as we clung to the coral, but sadly the camera housing had steamed up slightly so they are a little fuzzy. Still you get the idea of how impressive these creatures are. Their large 'beaks' scrape chunks of the coral (which is rock, basically) – luckily, they don't have a go at humans, unlike the triggerfish you find over here, or they'd be the scariest things in the ocean.















Other sea life spotted included (in a bit of a random order): many nudibranchs (seas slugs), turtles, lion fish, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, small groupers, huge jacks, cleaner shrimp, octopuses, cuttlefish, sea moths (like sea horses but they live flat on the bottom), spotted garden eels, giant sea cucumbers, partner gobies, pygmy sea horses, giant sponges, giant clams, crinoids, Christmas tree worms, bat fish, clown fish, unicorn wrasse, trumpet fish, cowries, lizard fish, moray eels, and much more – most of which we can't name!















There is such a good wealth of fish life here that in front of the restaurant hut fish would gather at supper time to fight over scraps – their number often including small black tip reef sharks and sting rays. They made the place more exciting for the boys – and their new friends Kayley and Evan – who all spent their time happily playing on the beach, mostly collecting crabs of the hermit variety and sometimes placing them in the foot washing tubs – much to the surprise of other guests.


New Year's Eve came along mid-stay and the staff laid on a band from the local village which was fun for about five minutes. Pretty soon though, their very loud marching music (big drums overwhelming a few whistles) became tedious and I retreated into the room while they shuffled around the village and everyone else enjoyed cake in the restaurant. The staff also trapped a couple of coconut crabs for us to marvel at. These are seriously strong creatures that allegedly can climb trees and snip off coconuts, before shelling and devouring them. If you are over touchy, they can snip off a finger or two too. One climbed swiftly up the pole of the hut to hide all night in the rafters. The other did sideways karate kicks at our wary prods.



All too soon, our week had passed and it was time to go. Just one thing remained: to get the boat across the water to the village and see the red bird of paradise doing it mating display nearby. How I'd looked forward to this. We all had. Then, of course, we missed the early morning boat! Damn and blast. Poor Aron was in tears. I almost was. Still, those who'd seen it said it wasn't so exciting. Maybe they were trying to make us feel better.


And then, in a rainstorm with very choppy seas, we took a very shabby, unsafe looking speedboat that painfully wave-slapped all the way back to Sorong and uncivilisation.

[Note: We will put up a blog of Raja Ampat dive images as soon as we can]