I’m currently in Raja Ampat with guests on board the Pindito snorkelling and diving in Raja Ampat. After arriving, we spent the first night cruising to Misool. This island is the southern most of the ‘four kings’ that make up the regency.
It’s only the first day and as usual, we seem to have packed in an enormous amount. Already some guests have been paddleboarding in remote limestone karst scenery and lagoons. We’ve also seen abundant coral reef and a smattering of iconic wildlife such as barracuda, moray eels, turtles and nudibranchs. The first day is always a bit of a headspin. I’ll try to write something more intelligent as an update in a couple of days : )
Meanwhile, I’m sitting here at 5AM writing a detailed trip report (as always) which I’ll share at the end. For now, here are a few photos I thought you’d like to see from our first day.
Description of the day
Our first dip was at a small islet called Barracuda Rock. Barracuda Rock looks similar to most of the limestone scenery here. Waves have cut the limestone from beneath, shaping the island like a mushroom. And because these reefs are quite exposed to the sea,the fishlife is characteristic of oceanic reefs. Which means a few predators occur including barracuda but also schools of jack fish.
Our second swim was at Wayil Wall. This site is a larger plateau which extends out as a ridge, covered in diverse hard and soft corals. The fish life here was more diverse, especially in the shallows, with lots of finger coral covered in yellow damselfish. We saw a Hawksbill Turtle, Green Morays, Titan Triggerfish, Lionfish and Scorpionfish.
A few guests hopped on the paddleboards and rode into the lagoon in the centre of Wayil instead. They enjoyed the spectacular scenery, reef, sand and isolation before a tropical rainstorm hit around lunchtime. At which point we call came back to the ship to eat and wait for the thunder and lightning to pass.
Our final snorkel/dive was at Wedding Cake. Layers of limestone appear almost stacked on top of one another, with layers in between. This characterist led to the name and it makes it a beautiful location to swim. The reef here is colourful, covered in sponges and the overhangs are adorned with bright orange and yellow soft corals.
In the shallows, there are clouds of colourful (orange and purple) Anthea fish and lots of Yellowtail Fusilier feeding on planktonA soup of micro-organisms. Usually refers to all the zooplankton and algae in the ocean but can also be used to describe tiny insects in the atmosphere (see aerial plankton). More all around the reef edge and pinnacles. For the divers, the highlight was a ‘Denise’ pygmy seahorse. No bigger than a little fingernail, these tiny seahorses live exclusively on Gorgonian fans.
