Scarletpig
Registered
Day 3 Update 2:
The two other dive sites we dove were Mayhem and Melissa's Garden. Loads of life on Melissas Garden: quite a few Wobbegong Sharks, Cuttlefish, banded sea snake and loads of little stuff.
The crew organized a hike for us at one of the islands. It was more of a stair climb to the top. The stairs were nicely made, so getting to the top was pretty easy. We could see the surrounding islands and the boat out in the open ocean. Some of the group said that this was the iconic view of Raja Ampat used in Dive Magazines and advertising.
Day 4:
Today's we spent at a pearl farm, diving under their three Jetties. This was a spectacular muck site. We dropped down right next to the first jetty and there were huge schools of fish darting into and out of the jetty. I saw a cloud of sand under the jetty and thought it was another diver stirring up the sand. It turned out to be a Wobbegong shark feeding on the fish darting in and out of the jetty. He would spring up so fast that I could only see him after he caught the fish and was settling back down to wait for the next batch. Very cool. Much to the chagrin of Geil, I was too engrossed in the sight to bother taking out my camera to get footage.
Sea Horses, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Praying Mantis shrimp were the high light of the rest of that dive.
We returned to the Main Jetty for our night dive. More flamboyant cuttlefish (although I have a sneaking suspicion that it was the same one), a Frogfish with eggs, seahorses, nudis. Tonight we leave the north and motor for 6 hours to arrive in Central Raja Ampat. We will be diving around the island of Batanta.
Day 5:
Today was Manta Cleaning station Day and boy did it not disappoint. Motoring up to the dive site there was a huge splash next to the boat and we could see the Manta diving back down. We dropped down on the cleaning station and I really was unprepared for how large Mantas are. There were three or four of them circling us and it felt like the largest one was 20' across. I guess if you account for magnification they were still 12' - 14'. At one point I had to put down the camera and just be. I don't think I'll ever forget when one did a fly-by within arm's length above me.
We did a second dive at the site and alas, there was only one and he scrammed as soon as he saw us. We spent the rest of the dive in the shallows hovering over dense hard coral garden. There was not a spot of sand to be seen. It was cool to watch the smaller fish darting in and out of the lettuce coral.
I enjoy reading! Im heading there soon. Is there anything you wish you brought or you did bring and recommend bringing ? I followed some advice from divers here and just got a reef pointer, alcohol vinegar solution, new light, and my favorite snacks, warmish pjs.. It says I should have a surface market but don’t have one. I’m packing. First liveaboard in many many years.