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Part Three: Raja Ampat Diving – March 2015
The diving:
Our dive team on the Arenui were just amazing. I was on Wawan’s dive team and us five had a great time. We saw everything, as my pictures show. You can see over 375 different species of reef fish. We saw a few Wobbegong sharks. Amazing sharks! Weird looking but still amazing. We did not see many manta’s on this trip. But the ones we saw were so beautiful.
Then there are the coral gardens. Many fans and other interesting looking soft coral. These different corals provide a rainbow of shades, especially when the sunlight from above is bright (and it was on all of our 13 days of diving). We dived at “Boo Rock” and saw quite a few batfish. Then there were so many types of anemonefish. Different shades of orange and white and varied sizes. We saw quite a few nudibranchs in different sizes and color. I even saw my first “santa claus” pygmy seahorse. So cool even though very small. Truly, the diving in RA is what they call the “heart of the triangle of biodiversity.” That is so true.
We also saw a lot of butterfly fish. Quite a variety in this area for sure. I love the different types of Angel fish. So many types and they have such a variety of colors – as well as bright colors. I think what really stood out was how clear the water was. You could look 150 – 300 feet down and see the bottom. Hardly any pollution which made the waters so crystal clear. Not only that it was neat to see when one is under the water. You could look up and see the beautiful colors the sun provided as her rays hit the waters at different angles. It was just breathtaking!
Then there was snorkeling with the three whale sharks. Yes, I swam with whale sharks for 90 plus minutes! It was awesome!! You can see the pictures here at https://www.douggulleson.com/other-dive-pictures-doug-took/whale-shark-in-raja-ampat/. So many fun moments where I could just watch the whale sharks swim right by me, and even feel their tails hit me softly as they swam by. Even the crew of the Arenui was amazed at how long these whale sharks stayed around us.
Oh, by the way – I decided not to take my wide angle dive camera (Canon camera) with me on this trip. Instead I decided to video and take pictures with my GoPro Hero Four Black edition cameras. I wanted to see the limits of the camera as well as learn how to use it. This was the place to do that. At times I wish I had my wide angle camera. But, as you can see, the pictures using the GoPro were just amazing, I think. PS. It wasn’t me – but the GoPro that did a great job!! I am just a novice underwater photographer. I totally love taking pictures under water. It is more of an adventure to see how I can best take that picture of that subject. I also decided to take my strobe off the arm and use my left arm to place the strobe. This way I had the GoPro in my right hand and the strobe in my left. This allowed me to experiment with the strobe as well as teach me what looks good or not. It was fun to learn new things about the GoPro on this trip.
There were other great things we saw underwater. Too many to share here on this page. But all I can say is if you have not been to Raja Ampat as a diver (or not a diver) then you are missing out. It will take me at least 3 more dive trips to RA to say I have dove all parts of RA. But that is fine with me!
So in the great words of my good friend and dive guide, Wawan – “OJO LALI KARO AKU!”
