I think the theme for this trip should pretty be the #FML hashtag.
[h=1]Raja Ampat[/h][h=2]Flights and Transfers[/h]For a place thats so close to where I live geographically, its actually quite a long and drawn out process to get there. I had to fly Townsville-Brisbane-Sydney on Qantas, and then overnight in Sydney because of the flight schedule. Then Sydney-Jakarta-Makassar-Sorong on Garuda early the next morning. All up it took 42 hours to get from Townsville to Sorong Ive been told it was quicker to get there from the US. Go figure. On my Garuda ticket, I was allowed 30kg baggage, so that all came in no problems. My bag was checked through all the way through to Sorong, so I didnt see it once I left Sydney. Unusual, because I normally need to collect it in Jakarta to clear customs before my domestic connections, so a short moment of panic ensued when I didnt see it there. Otherwise, the trip was just long and boring, totally uneventful. I spent lots of time in Starbucks during my layovers drinking coffee and using their wifi.
We landed in Sorong quite early, so the resort transfer who met us at the airport took us to a hotel for a couple of hours to get breakfast and sit in the aircon while we waited for the other morning flights to come in. We were then taken down to the port to catch the speedboat to the resort. It was rough, and took about 2 hours. The smell of the outboard engine fuel didnt make the situation any more pleasant. I really wasnt feeling well by the end of it, but we had made it to Kri safe and sound and with our luggage.
[h=2]Resort[/h]I stayed at Kri Eco Resort on Kri Island. It had come recommended to me due to its location proximity to good dive sites. I had originally tried to get on the Pindito liveaboard, but it didnt have availability on my travel dates, so I went with the resort option instead. Hindsight is one of those things really, isnt it?
The resort itself is nice enough for an eco resort. I stayed in an overwater bungalow, which was fine the room had a double bed and a couple of tables for your stuff (and power outlets for charging), but no bathroom. The bathroom facilities are in a shared block at the top of the jetty. I knew this, it was fine in principle. What I had not been made aware of was the lack of fresh water. I was not told this by the person who recommended the resort, nor the travel agent I booked with, nor is it mentioned on the resorts webpage. This was a problem.
I can deal with not having a fresh water shower for a week. My camera gear cant. I was unable to get a camera rinse tub of fresh water, because the only fresh water the resort gets is used for laundry, cooking, and drinking. It is not for frivolous things such as camera equipment. I was quietly seething inside. I figured that I could at least rinse my camera off in the shower then, but it turned out that the showers are a mix of fresh and salt. And #FML. Honestly, if youre not a photographer, the resort is probably fine. I just dont think the setup at Kri Eco is particularly suitable for photographers. My advice is that if youre staying land-based in Raja Ampat, ask very specific questions about fresh water availability at the resort. I had assumed it wouldnt be an issue, because nobody mentioned it to me as being an issue. It was an issue.
The food was ok. I got really violently ill one night (Christmas Eve again, #FML) and had to sit out a couple of dives as a consequence. Not entirely sure what it was, but a couple of others got sick as well that night, just not to the same degree, so we figure it was something we ate. Other than that, it was a decent mix of western and Indonesian. They can cater to dietary restrictions to a degree (I have an allergy, and it meant having to forego dessert each night, but I never went hungry).
All of that aside, the resort is kind of lovely. It had wifi that worked well, and cell phone reception if you needed it. Yes, its basic, but the people were wonderful, and its really quite pretty
[h=2]Diving[/h]Dont hate me. I have one word: overrated.
I went to Misool a long time ago before the resort was even built there so this was not my first trip to Raja Ampat. I hadnt been particularly impressed the first time, but it was a long time ago, and I wanted to give it another chance. I tried.
First thing, my bcd crapped out on me the power inflator unit died as I was setting up my gear (yes, #FML), and I ended up having to rent a bcd from the resort for the week. Not sure what happened, as Id dived with mine less than 2 weeks prior at home and it had shown no signs at all of having a problem. Perhaps it got banged around a bit too much on the flights over or something. Anyway, that was easily sorted, just frustrating I like my setup.
So we get in to do the check-out dive on our arrival day, and as Im descending, my camera housing floods (SERIOUSLY? #FML). The camera itself was dead, but because I am a total pessimist, I always carry a second camera body. Yes, I had a backup camera. All was not lost. I was just really Annoyed at this point. I didnt let it ruin my holiday, but I was wondering what else could go wrong
The diving itself Meh. The visibility was probably about 10-12m on average. My dive computer said water temperatures varied between 26-31C (I dove a 3mm full length wetsuit and never felt cold, even in 26C, so Im guessing it wasnt that cold for long). Current was strong, nothing unbearable though only used a reef hook on maybe 25% of the dives. The resort enforced a 30 meter maximum, and come up with 50 bar or after 60 minutes, whichever comes first policy. I ended up coming up with close to half a tank sometimes. I appreciate that the nearest deco chamber is in Manado, and that obviously safety in remote locations like Raja Ampat is imperative, but the restrictions seemed a bit OTT at times. Also, I have to note their 32% nitrox mixes are very variable, as I got a blend of anywhere between 24% and 33% on any given tank.
There were indeed lots of fish as Raja Ampat is renowned for. But thats kind of where it ends. The diving was simply boring. The old quality vs. quantity argument. Yes, ok, there were lots of fish, but the visibility wasnt good, the corals largely seemed in poor condition, and it just lacked colour. It was also frustrating going to a site like Manta Sandy and finding 10 other dive boats there (not an exaggeration, I counted), all with 8-10 divers on board. Unsurprisingly, with that many people in the water, no mantas showed up. There really needs to be some degree of coordination on sites like that between the various resorts and liveaboards its a joke the way things are operating at the moment.
I did a couple of mandarin fish dives, and saw a few no mating rituals though. And I also did a fluo night dive, where they put a visor over your mask (and camera lens) and send you out with a blue UV dive light, which makes certain proteins in the corals and some animals light up as fluorescent. Interesting to do as a once off thing purely for the curiosity factor, but not something I can see myself doing again.
The diving in Raja Ampat wasnt bad as such, it just left me wondering why on earth so many people rave about the place. Perhaps if the viz had been better Id have come out of the trip with a different opinion, but it was what it was, and I was left somewhat underwhelmed.
It was not a cheap trip, and I left Raja Ampat feeling it was not particularly worth the expense. #FML
[h=2]Raja Ampat photos are here...[/h]
---------- Post added January 4th, 2016 at 01:02 PM ----------
[h=1]Ambon[/h][h=2]Flights[/h]I flew directly from Sorong to Ambon on Garuda. Pretty straight forward, but the guy at the Garuda counter in Sorong did try to hit me for excess baggage. Not going to happen. Because all of my domestic flights were on the same ticket as my international flights, I was entitled to 30kg for the whole trip. If your Garuda flights are “domestic only” then you only get 20kg. He had to get his manager, but I didn’t have to pay.
The flights home were more complicated than I felt they needed to be, but due to the flight schedules, it was the only option: Ambon-Makassar-Jakarta-Denpasar-Sydney-Brisbane-Townsville. All was fine until I got to Denpasar – for some odd reason, security took issue with all my camera gear. Made me unpack literally everything from my backpack, opened everything, removed battery covers, etc. Let me go without a word afterwards, so I have no idea what the problem was. Surely this was not the first time a diver had gone through security with camera equipment. Eventually I made it home, very tired, but with all my stuff.
[h=2]Resort[/h]I’m just going to preface this one with: #FML
Actually, the resort itself was great: fresh water, actual proper hot water showers with real water pressure, wifi (very temperamental), air conditioning, and the bar had Coke Zero!
However, on the first night, I was fast asleep, when all of a sudden I feel this excruciating pain in my head. One of the metal blades on the ceiling fan had fallen off and struck me in the temple at 4.30am…Yes: #FML. No real damage was done (a small bump on the head notwithstanding), it was just a rude (and early) wake up call. I still went diving later that morning without incident.
Food was good, if not a little boring. Breakfast was a buffet; lunch was a soup, main, and fruit plate; and dinner was a soup, main, and dessert. It would have been nice if the mains were a little more varied (everyone got the same thing, so it was a very set menu), but I won’t complain too much – they did deal with my dietary restrictions relatively well (eventually – they thought no dairy just meant no milk, and they kept bringing me stuff with cheese/butter in). I ended up eating a lot of fruit and unsalted peanuts. Not the end of the world, but I was happy to be heading home after 2.5 weeks in far flung Indonesia to a more stable and diverse diet.
[h=2]Diving[/h]The guides at Maluku Divers are creative, they just gave me a spare inflator unit to use on my busted bcd for the week so I wouldn’t have to rent one of theirs. We have a winner! Also, I got schooled in Photoshop by one of their photo guru dive guides. I had been doing everything “the hard way”, but he showed me a really easy way to deal with a particular editing process. Much appreciated!
As for the diving itself…Hit and miss – much like muck diving anywhere I suppose. Had some great dives, had some not so great dives. Visibility varied between 1-15 meters, and temperatures varied between 26-29C. That being said, the diving was quite similar to Lembeh in terms of critters, although Ambon has better viz in general and less people (sort of). I say “sort of” because despite the fact that there are so few dive shops in Ambon, on some sites we still ran into 3 other groups of divers. Seriously? In my experience in Lembeh, the resorts at least seem to make some kind of coordinated effort to go to different dive sites so that they’re not overcrowded. In Ambon? Debatable.
We asked about night diving every night, but it kept getting cancelled due to the tides and current in the channel…#FML. I do need to comment on the current – it was so bad on some dives that you really needed a reef hook to stay still long enough to take a photo (only it’s muck diving, so there was nowhere to actually hook into, and a muck stick wasn’t always sufficient) – worse than Raja Ampat at times! How you’re supposed to do macro in those conditions is beyond me – we ended up calling a couple of dives early because it was so bad. I think this may ultimately be the deciding factor on whether I return to Ambon or not. Unfortunately, the current ruined more than one dive, and prevented us doing any night dives the entire week, making it an issue that isn’t present in Lembeh – and honestly was something I hadn’t even remotely considered to be an issue before this trip, because who would have thought a reef hook was necessary on a muck dive?
However, I did finally see a weedy rhinopia. Still no psychedelic frogfish – that makes me a sad panda. Actually, I did ask about it, because it was honestly the only real critter on my “list” for the week – but was told that nobody had actually seen one around Ambon for several years now. Yes, #FML. The consensus around Ambon seems to be that scientists took them as specimens for research, and effectively wiped out the entire population as a consequence. I really hope that isn't true, because as much as I support scientific research (as a scientist myself), that just screams "ethics violation!".
[h=2]Ambon photos are here...[/h]
[h=1]Raja Ampat[/h][h=2]Flights and Transfers[/h]For a place thats so close to where I live geographically, its actually quite a long and drawn out process to get there. I had to fly Townsville-Brisbane-Sydney on Qantas, and then overnight in Sydney because of the flight schedule. Then Sydney-Jakarta-Makassar-Sorong on Garuda early the next morning. All up it took 42 hours to get from Townsville to Sorong Ive been told it was quicker to get there from the US. Go figure. On my Garuda ticket, I was allowed 30kg baggage, so that all came in no problems. My bag was checked through all the way through to Sorong, so I didnt see it once I left Sydney. Unusual, because I normally need to collect it in Jakarta to clear customs before my domestic connections, so a short moment of panic ensued when I didnt see it there. Otherwise, the trip was just long and boring, totally uneventful. I spent lots of time in Starbucks during my layovers drinking coffee and using their wifi.
We landed in Sorong quite early, so the resort transfer who met us at the airport took us to a hotel for a couple of hours to get breakfast and sit in the aircon while we waited for the other morning flights to come in. We were then taken down to the port to catch the speedboat to the resort. It was rough, and took about 2 hours. The smell of the outboard engine fuel didnt make the situation any more pleasant. I really wasnt feeling well by the end of it, but we had made it to Kri safe and sound and with our luggage.
[h=2]Resort[/h]I stayed at Kri Eco Resort on Kri Island. It had come recommended to me due to its location proximity to good dive sites. I had originally tried to get on the Pindito liveaboard, but it didnt have availability on my travel dates, so I went with the resort option instead. Hindsight is one of those things really, isnt it?
The resort itself is nice enough for an eco resort. I stayed in an overwater bungalow, which was fine the room had a double bed and a couple of tables for your stuff (and power outlets for charging), but no bathroom. The bathroom facilities are in a shared block at the top of the jetty. I knew this, it was fine in principle. What I had not been made aware of was the lack of fresh water. I was not told this by the person who recommended the resort, nor the travel agent I booked with, nor is it mentioned on the resorts webpage. This was a problem.
I can deal with not having a fresh water shower for a week. My camera gear cant. I was unable to get a camera rinse tub of fresh water, because the only fresh water the resort gets is used for laundry, cooking, and drinking. It is not for frivolous things such as camera equipment. I was quietly seething inside. I figured that I could at least rinse my camera off in the shower then, but it turned out that the showers are a mix of fresh and salt. And #FML. Honestly, if youre not a photographer, the resort is probably fine. I just dont think the setup at Kri Eco is particularly suitable for photographers. My advice is that if youre staying land-based in Raja Ampat, ask very specific questions about fresh water availability at the resort. I had assumed it wouldnt be an issue, because nobody mentioned it to me as being an issue. It was an issue.
The food was ok. I got really violently ill one night (Christmas Eve again, #FML) and had to sit out a couple of dives as a consequence. Not entirely sure what it was, but a couple of others got sick as well that night, just not to the same degree, so we figure it was something we ate. Other than that, it was a decent mix of western and Indonesian. They can cater to dietary restrictions to a degree (I have an allergy, and it meant having to forego dessert each night, but I never went hungry).
All of that aside, the resort is kind of lovely. It had wifi that worked well, and cell phone reception if you needed it. Yes, its basic, but the people were wonderful, and its really quite pretty
[h=2]Diving[/h]Dont hate me. I have one word: overrated.
I went to Misool a long time ago before the resort was even built there so this was not my first trip to Raja Ampat. I hadnt been particularly impressed the first time, but it was a long time ago, and I wanted to give it another chance. I tried.
First thing, my bcd crapped out on me the power inflator unit died as I was setting up my gear (yes, #FML), and I ended up having to rent a bcd from the resort for the week. Not sure what happened, as Id dived with mine less than 2 weeks prior at home and it had shown no signs at all of having a problem. Perhaps it got banged around a bit too much on the flights over or something. Anyway, that was easily sorted, just frustrating I like my setup.
So we get in to do the check-out dive on our arrival day, and as Im descending, my camera housing floods (SERIOUSLY? #FML). The camera itself was dead, but because I am a total pessimist, I always carry a second camera body. Yes, I had a backup camera. All was not lost. I was just really Annoyed at this point. I didnt let it ruin my holiday, but I was wondering what else could go wrong
The diving itself Meh. The visibility was probably about 10-12m on average. My dive computer said water temperatures varied between 26-31C (I dove a 3mm full length wetsuit and never felt cold, even in 26C, so Im guessing it wasnt that cold for long). Current was strong, nothing unbearable though only used a reef hook on maybe 25% of the dives. The resort enforced a 30 meter maximum, and come up with 50 bar or after 60 minutes, whichever comes first policy. I ended up coming up with close to half a tank sometimes. I appreciate that the nearest deco chamber is in Manado, and that obviously safety in remote locations like Raja Ampat is imperative, but the restrictions seemed a bit OTT at times. Also, I have to note their 32% nitrox mixes are very variable, as I got a blend of anywhere between 24% and 33% on any given tank.
There were indeed lots of fish as Raja Ampat is renowned for. But thats kind of where it ends. The diving was simply boring. The old quality vs. quantity argument. Yes, ok, there were lots of fish, but the visibility wasnt good, the corals largely seemed in poor condition, and it just lacked colour. It was also frustrating going to a site like Manta Sandy and finding 10 other dive boats there (not an exaggeration, I counted), all with 8-10 divers on board. Unsurprisingly, with that many people in the water, no mantas showed up. There really needs to be some degree of coordination on sites like that between the various resorts and liveaboards its a joke the way things are operating at the moment.
I did a couple of mandarin fish dives, and saw a few no mating rituals though. And I also did a fluo night dive, where they put a visor over your mask (and camera lens) and send you out with a blue UV dive light, which makes certain proteins in the corals and some animals light up as fluorescent. Interesting to do as a once off thing purely for the curiosity factor, but not something I can see myself doing again.
The diving in Raja Ampat wasnt bad as such, it just left me wondering why on earth so many people rave about the place. Perhaps if the viz had been better Id have come out of the trip with a different opinion, but it was what it was, and I was left somewhat underwhelmed.
It was not a cheap trip, and I left Raja Ampat feeling it was not particularly worth the expense. #FML
[h=2]Raja Ampat photos are here...[/h]
---------- Post added January 4th, 2016 at 01:02 PM ----------
[h=1]Ambon[/h][h=2]Flights[/h]I flew directly from Sorong to Ambon on Garuda. Pretty straight forward, but the guy at the Garuda counter in Sorong did try to hit me for excess baggage. Not going to happen. Because all of my domestic flights were on the same ticket as my international flights, I was entitled to 30kg for the whole trip. If your Garuda flights are “domestic only” then you only get 20kg. He had to get his manager, but I didn’t have to pay.
The flights home were more complicated than I felt they needed to be, but due to the flight schedules, it was the only option: Ambon-Makassar-Jakarta-Denpasar-Sydney-Brisbane-Townsville. All was fine until I got to Denpasar – for some odd reason, security took issue with all my camera gear. Made me unpack literally everything from my backpack, opened everything, removed battery covers, etc. Let me go without a word afterwards, so I have no idea what the problem was. Surely this was not the first time a diver had gone through security with camera equipment. Eventually I made it home, very tired, but with all my stuff.
[h=2]Resort[/h]I’m just going to preface this one with: #FML
Actually, the resort itself was great: fresh water, actual proper hot water showers with real water pressure, wifi (very temperamental), air conditioning, and the bar had Coke Zero!
However, on the first night, I was fast asleep, when all of a sudden I feel this excruciating pain in my head. One of the metal blades on the ceiling fan had fallen off and struck me in the temple at 4.30am…Yes: #FML. No real damage was done (a small bump on the head notwithstanding), it was just a rude (and early) wake up call. I still went diving later that morning without incident.
Food was good, if not a little boring. Breakfast was a buffet; lunch was a soup, main, and fruit plate; and dinner was a soup, main, and dessert. It would have been nice if the mains were a little more varied (everyone got the same thing, so it was a very set menu), but I won’t complain too much – they did deal with my dietary restrictions relatively well (eventually – they thought no dairy just meant no milk, and they kept bringing me stuff with cheese/butter in). I ended up eating a lot of fruit and unsalted peanuts. Not the end of the world, but I was happy to be heading home after 2.5 weeks in far flung Indonesia to a more stable and diverse diet.
[h=2]Diving[/h]The guides at Maluku Divers are creative, they just gave me a spare inflator unit to use on my busted bcd for the week so I wouldn’t have to rent one of theirs. We have a winner! Also, I got schooled in Photoshop by one of their photo guru dive guides. I had been doing everything “the hard way”, but he showed me a really easy way to deal with a particular editing process. Much appreciated!
As for the diving itself…Hit and miss – much like muck diving anywhere I suppose. Had some great dives, had some not so great dives. Visibility varied between 1-15 meters, and temperatures varied between 26-29C. That being said, the diving was quite similar to Lembeh in terms of critters, although Ambon has better viz in general and less people (sort of). I say “sort of” because despite the fact that there are so few dive shops in Ambon, on some sites we still ran into 3 other groups of divers. Seriously? In my experience in Lembeh, the resorts at least seem to make some kind of coordinated effort to go to different dive sites so that they’re not overcrowded. In Ambon? Debatable.
We asked about night diving every night, but it kept getting cancelled due to the tides and current in the channel…#FML. I do need to comment on the current – it was so bad on some dives that you really needed a reef hook to stay still long enough to take a photo (only it’s muck diving, so there was nowhere to actually hook into, and a muck stick wasn’t always sufficient) – worse than Raja Ampat at times! How you’re supposed to do macro in those conditions is beyond me – we ended up calling a couple of dives early because it was so bad. I think this may ultimately be the deciding factor on whether I return to Ambon or not. Unfortunately, the current ruined more than one dive, and prevented us doing any night dives the entire week, making it an issue that isn’t present in Lembeh – and honestly was something I hadn’t even remotely considered to be an issue before this trip, because who would have thought a reef hook was necessary on a muck dive?
However, I did finally see a weedy rhinopia. Still no psychedelic frogfish – that makes me a sad panda. Actually, I did ask about it, because it was honestly the only real critter on my “list” for the week – but was told that nobody had actually seen one around Ambon for several years now. Yes, #FML. The consensus around Ambon seems to be that scientists took them as specimens for research, and effectively wiped out the entire population as a consequence. I really hope that isn't true, because as much as I support scientific research (as a scientist myself), that just screams "ethics violation!".
[h=2]Ambon photos are here...[/h]
