Raja Ampat Dec 23-Jan 2 MV TemuKira trip report

[watboy]

I did a Raja Ampat live aboard from Dec 23 to Jan 2 on the MV TemuKira. Many many super thanks to Marcia at Gekko Divers in Phuket Thailand for finding me this trip at the last minute and helping me with all the logistics of payment and travel. I would not be writing this report had it not been for her. Will definitely call her for my next big dive adventure.
Getting there
Even coming from Bangkok, getting there was a pain in the butt. I took a midnight flight to Jakarta, slept outside of the domestic wing, then took a 5AM flight to Makassar. Domestic Indonesian air travel is a far cry from international travel I’ve become accustomed to. The check in gate opened late, the lines were long, the overweight luggage charges can get high, not sure what you can do about it, just budget it in if you are bringing lots of gear. My next leg was form Makassar to Sorong, each leg of my journey I was going to progressively less developed areas. The Sorong airport was concrete with rebar sticking out. The baggage claim was a most hilarious scene, with people just jammed around a pile of bags. If there were some live farm animals, it would have been perfect. I actually enjoyed the adventure and I kept telling myself that if Raja Ampat was easy to get to, it would be swamped with reef kicking OW students. Anyways, a sense of humor and adventure is needed to for the journey.
The Boat & Crew
It’s a wooden ship that the nautical types should enjoy, but that means it creaks occasionally. The boat had 7 cabins with ensuite heads for 14 passengers. It wasn't luxurious, but it was clean and comfortable. I shared a small room with bunk beds which lay perpendicular to the keel. There's only hot water showers on the dive platform, the showers in the cabins have no water heater. I found it only an issue the first morning, a very trivial inconvenience. The food was ok, not nearly as good as Thai live aboards, but there were not many complaints. Pretty much every meal was 1 western, 1 asian-ish dish, with one item always been fried. The crew was all locals, and only Arnold spoke some English. Personally, I prefer it this way… I’ve always preferred local guides as I have found them to be the best critter spotters. Everyone was very friendly, cheerful and helpful in the good useful way and not in the smothering sort of way.
Diving
The dive briefings were limited to general site description, which way the current should be going, and which direction we’ll start going in (right or left shoulder). The guides let us do your own thing, but they were very good fish spotters (especially tiny pygmy sea horses) that it wasn’t a bad idea to be near them. This is the type of diving I most enjoy.
The diving was spectacular, less than 5 minutes into the checkout dive I saw the first of many wobbegong sharks. If you love coral reefs, then this is the place for you. Endless fields of pristine coral… I have never seen so many ginormous and unbroken sea fans. Not a single sign of human activity. None of the smashed corals from anchors being drug around, or fields of demolished coral from dynamite fishing, no fishing traps and nets, no knocked over sea fans from OW noobs that is now prevalent in the Similans. I wonder if the diversity and density is one of the reasons why I rarely saw any sea urchins. I also didn’t see that many lion fish come to think of it. My dive book is just dense w notes. I got in 30 dives and every single one of them was a perfect dive. But I think my all time best dive had to have been at Manta Sands. As the name suggests, they have mantas… lots of mantas. And they have this awesome system where a line of rock and dead coral has been laid out a distance from the boulder’s the mantas circle and people stay still there as the mantas circled endlessly ahead. Then I noticed that there were critters around me. There were a pipe fishes, leaf fish, mantis shrimp and a pegasus sea moth all within a few meters of me. It was as if all the little things were trying to get people’s attention. We stayed as long as we could and on our way out, one of the big mantas pulled up…then shot straight to the surface, fully breaching and landing with a loud shudder. The single most awesome thing I’ve seen while diving.
Raja Ampat will forever be to me the most ridiculous diving I’ve done. Every dive there was something amazing… night dives were full of the most bizarre creatures. The weirdest of crabs (I saw one that looked liked it was fried tempura, any idea what that is?), sharks that walk… I got video of a conger eel catching a fish. Sea turtles every day, hump heads, unicorns, massive schools of jacks and barracudas. On average, I saw 2 sharks a dive, mostly wobbegongs, but plenty of white and black tips as well.
The only complaints I have is that the boat lacked nitrox. Though in honest, I spent most of my time in the 16-20meter range that NDLs were rarely the limiting factor. But it would have been nice to have for a 30 dive series.

[Kevster]

Thanks for the interesting read.
What was the weather like,sea conditions ,calm,flat??

[watboy]

seas were very calm, very little wind, but the skies were over cast for almost the entire day. I wish it were sunny because the vis was rather good. There were sporadic light showers and only heavy rains 2x in 12 days.

[photog]

watboy,

Enjoyed your report! I remember when it WAS difficult to get to Raja Ampat.. now so many fights to choose from.. and that nice new airport!

"Raja Ampat will forever be to me the most ridiculous diving I’ve done. Every dive there was something amazing…"

I've done over 2500 dives there now and I still feel the same! There is always a surprise, something new to wonder over... so nice to read from someone going there for the first time and who can appreciate the diving so much.

"I’ve always preferred local guides as I have found them to be the best critter spotters."

I completely agree with you on that point. The Indonesia guides make their career of guiding in their own country. Most people from outside are only there for a short time, or for their own divemaster-around-the-world holiday.

One question. Given that you had such a great trip, and knowing how much you enjoy the diving in Raja Ampat, will you go someplace else for your next trip, or return to something you know is great?

[Quero]

Can't wait to see your slideshow, Watboy! So glad it all worked out for that last-minute booking! (And many thanks for the kind, kind words!)

[frogfish]

R4 is really awesome, since I went for the first time I have returned twice, and will continue to go whenever I get a chance. I find Komodo awesome as well.

[Shasta_man]

<<baggage claim was a most hilarious scene>>

What do you mean?! It's totally efficient. They have a single guy putting the entire 737 load of luggage through that one little opening! Nice sweat shop when you're leaving too...but Indo diving becomes that which you measure the rest by....thanks for bringing back my own memories.

[Darnold9999]

<<baggage claim was a most hilarious scene>>

What do you mean?! It's totally efficient. They have a single guy putting the entire 737 load of luggage through that one little opening! Nice sweat shop when you're leaving too...but Indo diving becomes that which you measure the rest by....thanks for bringing back my own memories.

Isn't that the truth. Last three liveaboards have been Raja Ampat. Just can't convince myself to go anywhere else.

[jim hoppe]

Just returned on feb 8 from a two week raja ampat trip aboard the Seven Seas. I am still in awe and expect that I always will be. The trip featured the presence of Howard and Michelle Hall who direct and produce some of the best underwater films ever made. The diving was truly spectacular, giant bait balls, snakes, turtles, incredible Manta dives including Manta sandy, and some of the most beautiful people and landscape I have ever seen. As my dive buddy put it "I filled my mask" with tears it was so beautiful. The difficult travel adds to the experience, the frontier feel of sorong, the heat and the hassle which gives way to the fresh breeze and beautiful sea scape, a heady mix, can I convince the wife I need to go back, I can try!