Raja Ampat – Day 3: The Green Vortex
RAJA AMPAT
Day 3: The Green Vortex
May 09, 2023
PART I
Waking up to a glorious sunrise, with a soft golden light enveloping the green islands surrounding us, I still couldn’t quite believe I was in Raja Ampat. Of course, with the schedule being so full, I didn’t have much time to ponder that.
After a light breakfast, Keith, Alex, Dom, and I were soon off on the Zodiac ready for our first adventure of the day, this time at My Reef – a seamount with a luscious coral reef at its summit. With there being a lot to see at the top, we were told we’d descend immediately over it and just hang around, making it an easy dive overall. And so, all geared up and ready to go, we back-rolled off the dinghy and started our descent without any further ado.
My Reef
It didn’t take long for us to verify all that Johnny had told us during the briefing. The reef, covered in both hard and soft coral, was abuzz with activity, with schools of fish everywhere you look – literally a feast for our eyes. I can honestly say that there wasn’t one dull moment during that entire dive.
With the Singapore Gang telling me all about the anemonefish they had spotted over the previous dives, this was my one goal. I had no idea that in these areas, anemonefish are as common as parrotfish are in the tropics, and so, I wasn’t quite looking out for them. But now that I knew, I was on my way to find Nemo myself. I mean, seriously, back when I was a kid, I must have watched the movie like a gazillion times, not to mention the megazillion times I played the computer game!
As ambitious as my plans seemed to be, it didn’t take long for me to fulfil yet another diving goal. After a few seconds of being close to the seafloor, I immediately spotted the orange, white, and black critters floating atop a bubble anemone – a friggin clownfish! Well, a false one, but a clownfish nonetheless. As common as they might be, I still couldn’t quite believe my eyes. The second I approached it, it immediately shot itself in between the anemone’s fronds, hiding itself and at the same time exposing the presence of its kids. I swear I must have spent at least five minutes just ogling the family. There, right in front of me, were Pearl, Marlin, and Nemo – a movie scene turned to reality.
Only a parallel to the movie soon flashed before my eyes. As Dom furiously banged on his tank, I had to tear my eyes away from the lovely scene, my sight falling on something I never imagined I’d even see – a shoal of barracudas. Hundreds of them. Hundreds of the flat, narrow, arrow-shaped creatures with their devilish grins, all pointing towards the same direction, moving in unison as if they were just one unit. Then, the leading ones at the front would suddenly change their course, and the rest would follow suit – their silvery scales glinting as they turned.
It was truly out of this world. More so when I was caught in their midst, the idea of them seeing me as clownfish eggs nearly making me crap my pants. They didn’t seem too bothered by my presence though, as they quickly diverged and rejoined the rest in order to bypass the ugly, non-appetizing diver floating in their way. I gotta admit I felt like fish bait at that point.
As we were kept busy by all these scenes unfolding in front of our eyes, Dom left us free to wander around whilst he busied himself sifting through coral for one thing or another. From a huge Napoleon wrasse to a giant hawksbill turtle, schools of fusiliers and jack bait balls, tiny nudibranchs and sea cucumbers, it wasn’t too hard for us to entertain ourselves.
The four of us were then brought together once again by Dom’s banging. As I saw him standing proudly with a macho pose, I knew what he had managed to spot at once. As I swam towards the fan coral that had had him occupied for the previous twenty minutes or so, I could hardly curb my elation, and, when my eyes managed to accommodate themselves and focus on what he was pointing towards, I practically let out a squeal.
A pygmy seahorse – a friggin’ pygmy seahorse! I had specifically requested he find me one, or else. Turns out, my sarcastic remark was one he took quite seriously. Finally, not only my FOMO had been assuaged, but yet another wondrous creature could be added to my list. The almost microscopic pink and white beauty, perfectly camouflaged with the coral its prehensile tail firmly clung onto, had me hover there in pure veneration. I guess the anticipation and the not knowing whether I’d be able to see one had made it all the more special!
Being one of my best dives ever, I didn’t even mind the safety stop, as I lay there reliving the great sights I got to behold up until a few minutes before. As I floated and daydreamed, I could see something opaque coming my way. A gelatinous snake of some-sorts. As it came close, or rather, as I approached the thing inquisitively, the opaque, jellyfish-like string materialised itself into a clump of planktonic tunicates – salps! Using jet propulsion to move about, they are known to regulate phytoplankton levels in the sea and are also important players in the ocean’s biological pump by transferring carbon to the seafloor. Beautiful beings indeed (and, also fun to play with!).
Keruo Channel
After the dive and yet another plentiful meal, I joined Siti (who was quickly becoming my favourite on the ship), on her quest to identify every creature we had seen thus far and all those we wanted to see – a tradition we’d keep during the entire trip.
It seemed simply ridiculous to think how much stuff I’d managed to check off my list in less than a year of diving and how much left there was for me to encounter. Whilst mantas, whale sharks, and whales might be the pinnacle of sealife to most divers, I had recently found myself getting more into the smaller, perhaps less intriguing stuff – say different kinds of coral and other miniscule beings which I’d previously disregard.
Our next dive would be at Keruo Channel; a coral slope in the middle of two islands. Whilst mostly uneventful, a word which can hardly describe any dive here in Raja Ampat, we did get to see some new stuff – most notably the Pikachu nudibranch amongst many others, and a box pufferfish which I had never seen before. Alex pointing towards a giant clam and making obscene gestures directed at it was something new as well – though somewhat tasteless. As we drifted comfortably along the moderate current, we got to see all kinds of corals and fish – truly a relaxing and peaceful dive. Especially right at the end, with the reef continuing up to the coast of the island, the wall covered in orange ahermatypic cup coral which gave me the impression of a sunken sunflower field.
During this one, I also went into deco for the very first time. More than worried I found myself annoyed at my very conservative dive computer. Turns out, if you go over its limits, you have to leave it out of the water for at least a day in order for it to reset. Luckily enough, Keith had a spare one I could use!
PART II
Melissa's Garden
The second dive was followed by another at Melissa’s Garden – one of the most popular sites in the archipelago.
The shallow coral reef, whilst beautiful in and of itself with all the vividly colourful coral, didn’t quite live up to its reputation. I mean yeah, sure, there were heaps of garden eels at the sandy bottom and shoals of wrasses and the occasional black-tip roaming around, but I didn’t quite get the hype surrounding the dive site. In fact, I didn’t quite mind the fact that my GoPro’s battery died out on me after the first ten minutes. Not until we got right to the very end, that is.
Somehow, inexplicably, the green seafloor beneath us was moving and glinting. On closer inspection, we quickly realised it wasn’t quite the seafloor we were swimming on – rather hundreds of thousands of green damselfish. I’m not joking, the vast expanse of water and coral around us was all covered by the very same fish which one wouldn’t usually look at twice. But seeing millions of them swimming about in unison? It’s honestly indescribable – a dizzying scene that had me wondering whether I was delirious and making it all up. It felt a lot like being in the middle of a leaf storm – which, up until that point, I didn’t know was a thing.
We spent some ten minutes just hovering about, witnessing the magically surreal show around us. Truth be told, I could have stayed there for hours on end. I can’t begin to describe how I felt – I was in disbelief, in pure awe, constantly thinking about how lucky I was to ever see such a thing. And, just before we had to ascend, the very same spectacle was taking place behind our backs – this time round with millions of black damselfish instead.
By the end, I literally couldn’t even. And neither could the others. I don’t think I ever got back from a dive and went on and on about the things I had seen for so long. It was definitely my favourite dive till that point. Kinda sucks I have no videos of my own to look back onto it!
Postcard Vistas and Currency Landscapes
The cycle was finally broken. No more dive, eat, and sleep. It was time for something new. Something that felt quite welcome by this point in our trip. A trek up a viewpoint in Piaynemo Island!
This paradise is characterised by karst that makes it one of the best and most precious sites in all of Indonesia – with a geological history dating back millions of years. Perhaps for this reason it’s unsurprising that such landscapes are printed on the highest denomination of Indonesian Rupiahs, with the people of Pam, Saukabu, and Saupapir – the inhabitants of the island – being supremely proud of their natural heritage.
Whilst the word trek is a hyperbole to say the least, the view at the top of a staircase that led up to a hill surrounded by forest lived up to its reputation and was nothing short of breathtaking, with tens of small islands dotting the reef below us, all surrounded by the emerald and turquoise water that made everything look like a paradise. Whilst this would just be a brief detour and an extra stop, I still thought it was a pity we couldn’t spend a few hours to take it all in.
Night Dive at Piaynemo Jetty
Gotta admit, being on land, even if for a short while, felt good. After, it was time for yet another night dive. We’d be diving at Piaynemo Jetty; a coral slope connecting the island to the sandy bottom. Here, Johnny told us, would be our best shot to spot the blue-ringed octopus. This creature had been on my to-see list since I was nary but a kid full of dreams and wishes. I mean come on, they have beaks that release the potent tetrodotoxin venom. If that ain’t cool I don’t know what is…
And so, off we went, me begging Dom to help me fulfil this lifelong quest, knowing he had fulfilled my previous request satisfactorily. As always when it comes to night dives, seeing a different kind of ocean coming to life fills me with a fascination unlike any other. The parrotfish and triggerfish that usually scurry around the reefs are either nowhere to be found or hidden within tiny crevices in the rocks. The schools of jacks and damselfish are replaced by clouds of detritus that shine bright under the torch light. As dark and tranquil as the sea is at night, it is still very much alive and brimming with activity.
During this dive, most of us seemed to go at it quite independently, each one exploring every possible nook and cranny along the coral slope. I for one managed to find a few banded coral shrimps and reef crabs; some of which were red and others beige with brown-red spots on their carapace, as well as some of the ones we had gotten used to seeing during the day like pink anemonefish, goatfish, and barracuda. Alex’s lucky spot was the cutest, tiniest bobtail squid.
As absorbed as we all were in our search and discovery exploits, it took Alex, Keith, and I quite a while to reach Dom after hearing his relentless banging. Once we finally got there, he pointed frantically at a tiny hole in a rock, fingering it to show us there’s something inside – or rather, was. With my best “I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about” hand signals and facial expressions and his “you very well know what I’m talking about” pissed demeanour, I quickly realised what had just transpired. As he confirmed once we were back on the surface, he had managed to spot the infamous blue-ringed octopus. Unfortunately, by the time we managed to get to him, it had found refuge inside the hole in the rock. So close, yet so friggin far!
Stay wild,
Marius
Post-Scriptum
That night I dreamt that whilst diving, I got stuck into this current that pushed me up towards the surface. I’m not talking gentle lifting, I’m talking strong, violent, non-consensual bodily displacement.
As I tried to reach for my LPI in order to deflate the BCD, I also realised that the current was so strong I couldn’t even move my outstretched arm, meaning I was completely and utterly helpless. Needless to say, I saw my life flashing right in front of my eyes as I neared the surface at top speed, the pain in my lungs suddenly more real than ever. That was it for me, that was the end. And that’s when I woke up.