15 Jan 2020
The boat continued its trip south while we slept, and by morning, we had arrived at our first dive site. Raja Ampat means four kings in Indonesian, and refers to the 4 biggest islands in the area:
Today, we will be diving around Darum, an island off the eastern side of the southern most of these islands, Misool.
Most of our days were fairly structured to allow maximum diving with plenty of rest in between:
- 0630: Wake-up call, light breakfast (toast and fresh fruit for me!) + place your order for main breakfast
- 0700: Dive 1
- 0900: Breakfast- I tried to sample everything they offered (a variety of Indonesian and Western dishes), but kept coming back to the pancakes 🙂
- 1100: Dive 2
- 1300: Lunch- buffet style
- 1500: Dive 3
- (nap, snack)
- 1815: Dive 4- usually a night dive!
- 2000: Dinner- served
We were split into 4 groups: some people came with buddies and were grouped together while some, like me, were solo- I ended up joining an awesome group of 3 medical folks.
Our departures were staggered, so we weren’t all crowding the deck at once, and guides and departures rotated each day, to keep things fair. It was very efficient once we settled into our groups.
There was a briefing held before each dive, and Nora, our cruise director, drew the most amazing maps of each site!
Dive #1 – Candy Store – Darum
I made the very rookie mistake of plugging my strobe (underwater flash) into the wrong port, so it never fired. Unfortunately, I didn’t notice until the end of the day when I downloaded all my pictures 🙁 But I still saw a lot of cool stuff:
Cool-dude hair on a sea mushroom (totally the proper scientific terms there):
Those purple/yellow things were everywhere! Also, that clam slammed shut right after I snapped this:
Sand Lizardfish:
Blacktip Grouper:
This little guy would NOT stay still, but he was the coolest fish ever! A juvenile Harlequin Sweetlips:
First nudibranch of the trip! Goniobranchus kuniei:
Dive #2 – Andiamo Ridge – Darum
Another sea of fish greeted us on this dive:
Reticulated Sandperch:
Two-lined monocle bream:
Bubble Coral shrimp! This guy was only about an inch long!
Tasselled Scorpionfish:
Ugh, these Red-toothed Triggerfish were everywhere, and had an uncanny ability to sense when you wanted to take a picture. Figures the best shot I have of him is the day my lighting was off:
These Masked Puffers were also everywhere, and I took a picture of every single one! I love their dorky shape!
Bicolor Angelfish:
Juvenile Yellow boxfish! I love these guys!!
Leaf Scorpionfish:
Dive #3 – Andiamo Pinnacle – Darum
This was a big site, so we swapped to the other side for this next dive.
Fish soup:
I love lazy starfish:
Lionfish! He’s native to this area, so it’s ok:
Two-lined monocle bream:
Orange-spotted Trevally:
A pair of Trevally:
More nudibranchs!! Goniobranchus coi:
I discovered that using my hand-held spot light worked quite well for close-ups.
Dive #4 – Daram’s Surprise – Daram
Our first night dive of the trip!
You know it’s gonna be a good dive when the first thing you spot is a whole pile of nudibranchs!
Sea Star:
Sea Star, minus a leg:
Tiny crab!
Tinier crab!
Cool coral:
Donald Duck Shrimp:
Seriously strange critter!
Nassau Grouper?
Phyllidiella pustulosa– these guys were everywhere, and yes, I took a picture of every one!
A sleeping parrotfish- usually they find a hole and just their tail sticks out, but this guy was just chilling here, smiling in his sleep…
