Misool Island continued to be good to us, and there was beautiful diving on day 5. It was a short dive day, so the dive had to be good! We went to Watch Towers, and enjoyed a great variety of fish and coral! And I saw my first Woebeggone Shark, so exciting! Enjoy!
Diving is sometimes similar to a Dr Seuss book.
On diving day 4 in Raja Ampat I had become somewhat comfortable with my camera and housing, and I decided to try my hand at macro-photography (closeup photography). I know photographers who take absolutely amazing macro images and I have always wanted to do it myself. I know these do not come close to their expertise but I was fairly happy with the result.
After a couple of dives with my macro lens I switched back to my wide angle. A wide angle lens allows a diver to get very close to their subject and still have the whole subject and background in the image. So, these fish are closer than they appear! In dive photography, you must get close to the subject in order to have enough light to photograph it. The density of the water means that you have to be 2 to 5 feet from the object or your photo will be all blue, without other colors. Photographers who do scene photography have huge strobes in order to light the area they are shooting. My strobes are not large enough to do that, but maybe someday! There are often scenes I pause to gape at, and wish I could show it to people so they could see the beauty of the underwater realm.
Dive days 2 and 3 on The Arenui were spent fighting with my new camera and housing! I had difficulty with color on day 2, which was irritating because we saw an incredible shoal of Humphead Parrotfish and I really wanted the photos to be colorful. Day 3 was a little better in the color department! The dive sites were awesome!
The first dive day in Raja Ampat on The Arenui! Exciting! The currents were strong as you can see on the video, but it was wonderful. There were 15 divers on the boat and we were split into four dive groups, and each group had a guide. Most divers dive with a guide though there are some places in the world (Australia for example) where divers can go off with a buddy. My personal preference is to have a guide nearby, but that depends on the location and site as well. There are some places where I stay pretty close to the dive guide.
The first day of diving in Raja Ampat found us at Misool Island, and the dive sites Yuliet, Shadow Reef, Boo Windows and Boo Ridge. Before each dive the divers receive a dive briefing from one of the dive guides. The briefing consists of a map of the dive site, a discussion on typical currents, entries and exit points, and what animals are typically seen there. I have been on boats where a briefing is not given, in Key Largo I was given a map of the dive site to look over before jumping in.
I took GoPro video on this first day. Why? Because I have a new and fabulous camera, the Olympus OMD EM5 Mark ii, a mirrorless camera with DSLR quality photo ability, and I had to learn how to use it underwater. My new housing, a Nauticam, also took quite a bit of getting used to. For the most part, the first day was spent relaxing, getting used to diving again (I had not been since July 2016), and taking in the environment. On one dive, I took my new camera, but forgot to take the lens cap off! I thought the dive guide would drown he was laughing so hard! Ah, well, I can be somewhat forgetful at times, but by the end I had it down. Overall, I was happy with the photos I took, but they were certainly better by the end of the trip. I have to say I am just thrilled with my new camera and it’s capabilities!
During July 2016 I took a fabulous dive trip to Komodo National Park in Indonesia with Ray of Hope Expeditions, to document manta rays in the area. Dr Andrea Marshall, the foremost Manta Ray scientist and co founder of Marine Megafauna Foundation, does several of these expeditions every year, and I absolutely love these trips, and I travel solo! I wrote about my Komodo trip extensively, and the diving was so intensely beautiful, I decided I just could not wait to get back and do more diving in Indonesia. So, in February 2017, I went to Raja Ampat with Andrea, and once again stayed on The Arenui, a Boutique Liveaboard, the most luxurious dive boat I have ever been on!
Video by Andrea Esty.
Where is Raja Ampat? It is in West Papua, on the Bird’s Head Peninsula of Indonesia which consists of over 1,500 islands! Raja Ampat means “four kings”, and the four kings are islands, Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo. We went to all four of the kings. The kings are named for local mythology that tells about a woman who finds seven eggs. Four of the seven eggs hatch and become kings that occupy four of Raja Ampat biggest islands while the other three become a ghost, a woman, and a stone. What is so great about Raja Ampat? It is part of the Coral Triangle, which contains the richest marine biodiversity on earth. The diving I have done in Indonesia confirms that there is life…on every inch of the bottom of the sea. Thankfully, the warming ocean temps and acidification seems to be better tolerated by the reefs of Indonesia, for unknown reasons. I don’t know if it will always be so, but for now, the area is doing well.
I flew Japan Airlines (incredible service!) from Dallas Ft Worth to San Diego, to Narita, Japan, to Jakarta, Indonesia, then I rested! I spent one night in Jakarta, just to catch my breath. The next day I boarded Garuda Indonesia (the national airline of Indonesia which is quite nice) in Jakarta, connected in Makassar, then arrived in Sorong, Indonesia. Ronald, one of the dive masters on The Arenui, was waiting to greet us at the airport. It was lovely to arrive onboard, go to the cabin I would be sharing with Andrea, and wait for the trip to begin! I love citizen
science expeditions.
The start of a trip is always exciting, and it was fun to see the cruise directors, Debbie and Jerry, and all of the crew and staff I remembered from July 2016. Another passenger, Elias, who was also on the Komodo trip was onboard as well. There was a group of six fun loving, dive crazy, adventurous women, and we were all anxious to see manta rays! So, off we went!
You would also enjoy http://tamtravels.wpengine.com/how-to-perform-citizen-science-with-manta-rays/
Why I Didn’t Get Eaten by a Komodo Dragon While I was in Komodo National Park!
Komodo Dragons have a fearsome reputation and stories of their ferocity and venomous bite are legend. Komodo Dragons look extremely formidable, I can attest to that! My trip to Komodo National Park gave me a close up look at the largest of lizards, now vulnerable to extinction.
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