Raja Ampat – Day 2: Dive, Eat, Sleep, Repeat
RAJA AMPAT
Day 2: Dive, Eat, Sleep, Repeat
May 08, 2023
PART I
I slept like a baby, save for a one-hour hiatus at 2 AM. After three weeks in Malta, my body still hadn’t quite adjusted to European time, let alone Indonesian time. Now, I found myself waking up in the middle of the night wide awake and with uncontrollable hunger pangs.
That said, sleeping was by far nowhere on my list of priorities. I couldn’t wait to dive! I was up and about before dawn – starting my day here in Raja Ampat with a glorious sunrise colouring the jungle-covered hills in all hues of purple and pink. At 6 AM we were served an allegedly light breakfast and by 7 AM we were all set for our first dive. I’d be diving with Dominic – a divemaster – along with Keith and Alex, and we’d be starting off at a dive site called Friwen Reef. The staff pretty much spoiled us sick, with the only thing we had to take care of being putting on our own wetsuits. Having said that, when they saw me struggling as I tried to wriggle my way into the undersized garment, they did come in to assist me at once. Which means they practically did everything for me.
Wetsuit, check. Weight belt, check. Fins, check. Goggles, check. Just like that, we found ourselves all geared up on the Zodiac as we made our way to the first dive site. By this point, I could hardly contain my enthusiasm, the anticipation having been building up for the previous three weeks. In fact, I was literally sitting on the edge of my seat when Dom told us to jump. Fortunately, that’s kind of a prerequisite to do a back-roll – a segue Dom used to announce his favourite joke: Do you know why scuba divers roll back off the boat? Cause if they roll forwards, they’d stay on it.Â
Friwen Reef
One, two, and three, and finally, my body was once again where it belongs – out in the open sea, warm, wet and wild. As familiar as I had grown to diving, the seascape waiting for me down there was nothing like I’d ever seen – or better yet, a familiar view that seemed like an amplified, much better version of what I had seen.Â
Here, all life seemed to be richer than anything I had ever witnessed. Soft and hard coral of all hues, shapes and sizes, the rocks covered by tunicates, sea feathers and brittle stars, the sandy bottom littered with starfish and sea cucumbers, the water saturated by schools of fish of every kind – snappers, damselfish, fusiliers, sardines and jacks. The sea, teeming with life, was never as vibrant and alive to me as it was during that first instance. Looking up from the depths to see the deep blue water becoming clearer near the surface, the sunlight broken by the shadows and glints of a thousand fish, it felt like nothing short of a dream.
Â
Having started on the deeper aspect of a steep slope, we made our way northwards, going shallower and shallower as we proceeded. From two-spot and midnight snappers to regal and six-banded angelfish, from vagabond and spot-banded butterflyfish to starry and black-spotted pufferfish, we were kept entertained throughout. The list goes on – Moorish idols, unicorn fish, coral trout, blue-fin tuna, squirrel fish, lionfish… You name it, and there it probably was. But the MVP?  That was definitely the snapping mantis shrimp I saw scuttling about – one of the many creatures on my to-see list. You see, these tiny beasts not only hold a record for the punch they kick (which has the same acceleration of a pistol), but they also hold the world record for best eyesight; sporting sixteen photoreceptors as opposed to our three. Friggin’ insane!
Also the non-fish participants. Like the Sailor’s eyeballs (something I had seen way back in Utila and thought was a steel ball of some sorts), or the gold-mouth tunicates (which were plentiful and had me in awe throughout). Everything down there was so, so cool!
Underwater Insecurities
As much as I was enjoying myself, I have to admit there was something missing, or rather, someone. Having now replaced Amelia, my dive buddy, with Alex and Keith, it felt a bit weird that I’d be diving without her. In fact, throughout most of the dive, I found myself swimming on my own, keeping my finds to myself without partaking in any social behaviour much like a recluse. Not to mention, Keith was as slow as a sea cucumber and Alex seemed too attached to the surface. Dominic, on the other hand, I took a liking to. He’d give us our space and freedom to roam about and he’d point out the cool stuff whenever he’d spot something.
By the end of the dive, I felt nothing short of high. Being back underwater after so long felt incredible to say the least. And, much to my surprise, my technique, air consumption and attitude towards diving were pretty much unchanged – something I was quite wary of prior to the first dive.Â
Having had practically just started my diving adventures, I felt as if I’d be quite inept compared to the very experienced divers in my company, with a few of them having logged a couple of thousand dives each. I, on the other hand, only had some 85 dives to my name and with the Utilan incidents still fresh in my head, I can’t say I didn’t have any insecurities. But, as it turned out, all of that was just my crap. In fact, the only thing I realised I lacked by the end was knowledge – with Siti, one of the Singaporean ladies, being a marine biologist. In fact, it was her who had spotted the pygmy seahorse despite it being less than a centimetre in size and usually perfectly camouflaged against coral. Charmaine, Norhaisha and Stacey, the other three in her group, were also lucky enough to see a black-tip reef shark.
Whilst I usually suffer from terrible FOMO (or borderline jealousy), I felt as if I had seen way more than I had anticipated; hoping only to see them in future dives instead of going all ‘woe is me’ on myself.
My Safe Haven
Following the first dive, we had some time to rinse off, have an ‘actual’ breakfast, and then even get a few minutes of rest before the second one. It had been less than a day but somehow, I was already tired of being in the presence of other people constantly. I couldn’t enjoy a cup of coffee in the dining room or a cigarette out on deck in peace without having to partake in a conversation.Â
As such, despite my initial resolution to spend as little time in my cabin as possible, I found myself spending more time there than I otherwise would have. When I would feel like chatting, I’d pop out of my chambers once again. That said, the group wasn’t really one I particularly liked. Keith would go on and on about his life experience – a nice thing were it not for the fact that he repeated the same stories over and over. Alex had this dark humour that borders on all kinds of ‘isms’. Ebe was super nice but not much of a conversationalist. The Singapore Quartet tended to prefer each other’s company. Aled and Mohammed, on the other hand, seemed over-eager to talk to me given that us Maltese have Arabic blood and speak a Semitic language. That said, with there being a language barrier between us, it proved to require too much effort to effectively communicate with them. So yeah, my room was my safe space.
After a short nap to try and get over a massive, quasi-suicide-inducing headache that had me wondering whether I was decompressed after my very first dive, we were ready for our second dive.
PART II
Mioskon Reef
This time round, we’d be diving at Mioskon Reef. Here, we’d be starting at a sandy bottom at around some twenty metres in depth, going up and southward over a coral slope towards Mioskon Island.
With Dominic wanting to show us that which our group didn’t manage to find on the previous dive, he started sifting through corals and sea fans in order to spot some of the most elusive creatures. It was at this point that we got to see various nudibranchs. Though I had encounered a few back in the Caribbean, stumbling on these critters always feels like I somehow managed to set my eyes on a mythological creature – given their unrealistic colours and surreal beauty.
You see, these marine molluscs are soft, shell-less slugs but despite this, they have the coolest way of fending off predators. Their strength lies in their ability to steal the defence mechanism of cnidarians, usually anemones. The vibrantly coloured gastropods employ chitin – a glucose derivative at the front of the digestive system – to deflect the harmful effects of stinging cells and transport them to tentacle-like structures on their backs known as cerata in order to ward off their predators. Whilst doing this, they also continue to consume the owner of the stinging cells. Friggin’ rad, no?
Â
Still, so far, no pygmy seahorses were to be found. I can’t say I was disappointed though, with schools of round and tall-fin batfish and redtooth and orange-lined triggerfish keeping us amused. Also a few moray eels, spotted stingrays and parrotfish – with the giant Napoleon humphead wrasse stealing the show. As impressive as these fish are, I can say the same about the beautifully coloured giant clams we got to see, their lips retracting and their shells closing the second you approach them, making for a trippy sight to behold. Oh, and the synaptid sea cucumbers, which look like something straight out of Aliens vs. Predator with their contracting and expanding bodies and their intestines extruded out of their mouths. So, so cool!
Â
By the time we got to the shallow reef, it felt like we were pretty much in an aquarium, with a gorgeous array of corals and algae making the view in front of us appear seemingly unreal. As much as I had loved diving in Latin America, I had to admit that this was on another level, with the marine life a thousand times more abundant and the coral as healthy as I’d ever seen it. In fact, the only place I could compare these dive sites to were the ones in Coiba National Park in Panama.
Blue Magic Reef
By the end of the second dive, it felt like we had already fallen into a kind of routine. Dive, eat, sleep and repeat. As soon as we’d get back on the Sea Safari VI, we’d be greeted by the staff with an overly enthusiastic high-five, we’d all rinse off, go to the dining room where a cup of fresh juice would be waiting for us, and then indulge to our hearts’ content with the most delicious food we could ever eat – squid being a ubiquitous ingredient in every meal.
After lunch and another short nap, we had arrived at our next dive site – Blue Magic Reef. And lemme just say, the place lives up to its name; a seamount with incredible coral formations and stunning sea life. The second we descended, our views were obscured by thousands of damselfish and fusiliers, with the occasional triggerfish and surgeonfish making their way through the crowded waters.
As we struggled against the current, with Dom having to tow Keith around, we got to observe a variety of fish I had never seen before, like leopard cod and clown triggerfish – the colours of which left me wonderstruck. Others I had already seen before, like barracudas, porcupinefish and scorpionfish were brought to life in a new way here, the reef so different from what I was so used to.
Right at the end, all worn out from fighting against the current, Dom’s banging brought us close to each other, and, after swimming towards a rock he was pointing at, we could see a wobbegong carpet shark in all its glory. Named after an Aboriginal word meaning ‘shaggy beard’, these interesting beings have a flat round head and a barbed chin, a blobfish-like mouth and two puny eyes, two ray-like fins on the sides of its body and a long coiled tail at its base. With a beautiful pattern resembling some Persian rug, the perfectly camouflaged beast stood there, unmoving, its gills pulsating.
As if that wasn’t enough, during our safety stop, whilst staring into the blue abyss that lay ahead of me, I also caught a glimpse of a moving shadow. As I approached it, it suddenly started taking the shape of something I hadn’t seen in quite a while, something I had been dying to see – a shark! A black-tip reef shark, specifically. Unlike its white-tipped counterpart, this one appeared to have more shark-like qualities, in that it has a streamlined body with a pointy head and a malicious grin, along with ominously dark tips on the dorsal fins and tail. Truly a wondrous creature!
Night Dive at Ransiwor Reef
Three dives in, and we still had one to go before calling it a day. Dive, eat, sleep and repeat. Our second sunset in Raja Ampat was no less impressive than the previous one, and, under the cover of darkness, we were on the Zodiac once again ready for our first night dive.
With the sun having just set, the second we turned on our flashlights, the jet-black waters turned alive – with one part of the sea going to sleep, and the other waking up. From giant clams to reef crabs, from shrimps to extra-terrestrial synaptid sea cucumbers, the seemingly lifeless ocean was brimming with activity. That said, the sleepy fish lulling about did contribute to a certain sense of serenity and tranquillity which can’t be quite appreciated during the day. Especially so when I’d stumble upon a parrotfish, usually hidden between some crevice or recess in a rock, their elegant blue-green tails folded onto each other.
It was one of the most relaxing dives ever, more so compared to the previous morning’s dive. I had forgotten how tranquil and calm night diving is, the stillness and silence taking over all my other senses. In fact, the second we ascended, none of us spoke a word, still busy taking it all in – the beauty of all we had seen and the permeating peacefulness of just floating about in complete darkness. It felt so, so good!
And just like that, our first day of diving was over. We embarked the ship once again, and, after dinner, as I sat on the deck with a coffee and a cigarette, I couldn’t wait for more. Five more days of this! I couldn’t friggin wait!