Raja Ampat - part 1

Oh the sweet relief of arriving to a postcard perfect island after a long stretch in a dusty Indonesian town!

Twenty four hours after leaving Sorong, we are anchored in Wayag at the northern end of Raja Ampat, the Mecca of Indonesian diving and snorkelling. Not only do we get here in record time but contrary to our usual Indonesian voyaging experience, we manage to sail almost the whole way.

Raja Ampat actually means four kings, as the island group is geographically defined by 4 large islands. Wayag is the northern king and it ticks all the boxes; uninhabited, pristine beaches, incredible coral, hikes with mind blowing views and bay upon picturesque bay to be explored.

Last but not least - we finally reunite with our friends from Zig Zag and Family Circus. Happiness all around!

The next week is a blur of snorkelling expeditions, afternoon fun around the boat, sunset dingy cruisers and beach barbecues.

We see manta rays swim past our anchorage, swim with black tip reef sharks, drift snorkel down a channel full of hump-head parrot fish and spend hours snorkelling along my favourite reef (yes, that’s its official name, Vanja’s fave reef) running the entire length of of a very long beach. Graham called it the wall of beauty and it really was.

Lara and Jake try scuba diving for the first time with their friend Aya and Chris from Family Circus as instructor. Chris spends hours patiently teaching them in and out of water. The verdict? They both love it and how could you not in surroundings like this one.

One day we dinghy to the ranger station on the opposite side of the island, famous for very friendly reef sharks. They start circling us as soon as we get in the water so I am guessing they feed them although we don't witness it ourselves. The local pack of dogs playfully run in and chase the sharks which honestly I never thought I'd see.

Graham and I try our luck at a drift dive, which is amazing after a challenging start. The drop off site is in a very strong current where the trick is to descend fast, grab onto the bottom, then crawl along the bottom to the start of the dive. However by the time I equalise a few times, I am already well away from the group and struggling not to drift further. I finally manage to grab onto some coral, when Chris comes to my rescue and drags me back. The only damage is some burnt fingers from stinging fire coral that I mistakenly grabbed onto. And my pride.

Then it is onto a turtle sanctuary on a small island just off nearby Sayang. Judging by the fresh tracks on the beach, tens of turtles come here to nest every night.

Local rangers meet us on the beach after sunset where, after a spot of walking around in the dark stubbing our toes on dead coral, we witness a giant turtle quietly sweeping sand over what I can only presume were freshly laid eggs (these we never saw pop out, she was discreet). She then zig-zags back to the water, desperately trying to avoid the cameras and the accompanying torch light of the rangers trying to be accommodating (not to the turtle unfortunately).

Next morning we are back on the beach to join the rangers on their sweep of freshly hatched nests. They check for any lagging hatchlings requiring rescue and release them in the evening to maximise survival chances.

The first find of the day is a dead hatchling which while fascinating to hold smells a bit. Two year old Lino from Zig Zag is however very happy to carry it around in his little bucket until the next nest, where two live hatchlings are found. Kids are excited to say the least save for little Lino who is a bit confused about the loss of general interest in his quiet pet. The rangers happily hand the baby turtles to us to release at night time with instructions to ‘put in bucket’. The Indonesian definition of sanctuary is definitely NOT to be taken literally.

Uneasy about this level of interference, we reluctantly take them back to the boat but hand them back to the rangers a couple of hours later as we decide to leave that day anyway. I hope the little turtles made it back into the ocean safely.

We decide to head back to Wayag for three days while the other two boats check out a different island nearby. We have the whole place to ourselves for a couple of days which is surreal. At the risk of sounding a bit repetitive, more snorkelling, bush walking and beach fires happen.

Then it’s onto Wofoh where we meet up with the other boats again. Again a beautiful spot with snug beaches and diving along a vertical coral wall. It’s easy to get a bit blasé about one scenic spot after another when sailing along the equator, and especially in a region like Raja Ampat where almost every spot is near perfect under and above water. So we try to fight the scourge of indifference but it does happen. 'Is this really photo worthy?' I hear myself ask, more often than I care to.

For our last stop before going back to Sorong for visa extensions, we anchor in a quiet bay at the end of a narrow channel between the islands of Gam and Waigeo. The channel itself is packed full of underwater caves perfect for snorkelling.

Just outside one of the caves, we come across a colony of the biggest and most colourful giant coral fans I have ever seen. A sea of bright orange, pink, yellow and purple, they sway in the current like peaceful giants.

I could watch them for hours but it is getting dark so instead we drift down the channel using the very fast current as our transport back to to the boat, trying not to think of crocodiles while swirling in the whirlpools (there are rumours of a crocodile here). Picking Raja Ampat as our first glimpse into Indonesia has definitely paid off.