The Last Frontier - Sorong, Indonesia
Sorong, Indonesia
Where I stayed
MSY Seahorse
What I did
Raja Ampat
February 8-21, 2012
Sukhia and I have been dreaming about diving in Raja Ampat for the past five years. It is widely held as one of the last frontiers of diving at the edge of the world and one of the very few unspoiled locations left. Raja Ampat translates to the "Four Kings", which refers to four large islands that sit just off the West coast of the Indonesian Province of Western Papua (formerly Irian Jaya). Strong currents whip around the westernmost point of the largest island in the world (Papua/New Guinea) and bring with them plenty of nutrients from the Pacific Ocean. These strong currents and nutrients have created an incredibly diverse underwater world. Simply put, Raja Ampat boasts more fish species and coral species than any other area on earth.
Knowing that we would eventually end up in this underwater paradise we undertook another poorly laid out flight path. We flew from Bali, to Singapore, to Jakarta, to Ambon and finally to Sorong in Western Papua. Another late night in the Jakarta airport (didn't we swear we’d never do that again?) and a few exciting takeoffs and landings finally had us arriving in the second largest city in Papua; Sorong. We were greeted by the owner of the liveaboard company at the airport and promptly taken to the MSY Seahorse boat where we were set to live for the next 12 days. The boat is a beautiful wooden sailboat that had nicely appointed rooms (eiderdown quilts and A/C) and plenty of room to move around. It turns out that we had some of the best nights of sleep since leaving home in November (perhaps the four dives a day had something to do with it too).
For the next 11 days we dove all day every day. Diving on a liveaboard is a wonderful experience. Wake-up, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, eat, dive, sleep and repeat. We did 38 dives on this trip and traveled throughout the Raja Ampat islands. Manta rays, wobbegongs (carpet sharks), walking sharks, four species of pygmy seahorses, stone fish, and huge schools of just about every reef fish imaginable. The underwater world was truly spectacular. Above the waves we enjoyed amazing sunsets, hiked on remote islands, went swimming around deserted palm-fringed beaches and read several books. It was the perfect trip during which to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day.
Unfortunately, the trip eventually had to come to an end and we were thrust into the coastal city of Sorong for an evening before our flight back to Ambon the following day. The wallpaper in the small windowless room of our hotel in Sorong was nearly identical to that featured in 'The Shining’. The rest of the city of Sorong seemed to fit pretty well with the wallpaper in the room. The entry in the Lonely Planet about Sorong sums up the experience there pretty well, “[f]ew travellers stay longer than it takes to get on a boat to the absolutely fabulous Raja Ampat islands.” One night was more than enough for us.
- Sacha
Next Stop: Ambon
Sukhia’s Thoughts:
We did have another hop scotch flight itinerary to get us to Raja Ampat and we always say we will never do it again but when you can save yourself 20 dollars… it is hard to say no. But it ended up working in our advantage, during our Komodo/Flores trip the underwater camera we had starting going on the fritz so when we realized we were headed to the electronic capital of SE Asia the research commenced. We elicited the help of some amazing friends and within a few days we had the address and location in Singapore of Sim Lim Square where the highly sought after Canon S100 with underwater housing could be found. A big thank you to all those who helped make this possible, it is a great camera.
With our new purchase in hand, we were ready to jump in the water but I wasn’t prepared to come face to face with a new species of pygmy seahorse, a wobbegong shark, schools of fish, a robust ghostpipefish and a manta on the first dive. Let’s just say the over whelming number of creatures and the brand new camera left us with a steep learning curve but I am happy to say that the photos did get better over the 12 days.
As Sacha mentioned it was the best sleep we have had on the trip and as you may know this was a huge concern for me, the seas were calm and I need not have brought a bag full of Gravol, ginger, and the special little yellow pills from Thailand.
The diving was amazing and I would do it again in a heartbeat, to have every dive site to yourself, experiencing a half dozen mantas swoop and play around you and being on a boat where all your concerns are taking care of are just a few of the highlights of a Raja Ampat liveaboard.