Saturday 18 June 2016

18th June 2016 - Raja Ampat rally day - from Waisai and beyond

Saturday 18th June 2016



There are many benefits to being part of a rally…



Today we certainly got our money’s worth.  It just happened to be the Waisai Day!  We were supposed to go and look at birds of paradise in the jungle clad hills above Sapokreng village but something was wrong – Too wet?  Too dry?  Not sure.  So we missed out on the birds and didn’t leave until 7am, in two speedy powerboats.

Our captain, Saka, was wonderful.  Full of good cheer, jokes, information and competence.



First stop – Painemu, where we had been before with John last year.



It is still extremely beautiful



And well worth the step climb up many steps…



Next stop – Pulau Arborek, also very familiar to us.


I still love this welcome sign!
And very wonderful!


Pretty things growing under the jetty
We had lunch and then most of us went snorkelling under the jetty and beyond.

nudibranch
Fabulous!


I had forgotten the four giant clams in a cluster a few hundred metres down the beach.  Bigger than any I have seen anywhere, I am sure.  Glorious!

Each clam well over one metre
There were things of beauty everywhere, big and small.

But eventually…I had to come out of the water and get back into the boat.

Captain Saka then took us to a fabulous snorkelling spot between Kri and Mansuar Islansds, where we all hopped out of the boat and swam along the reef wall with the current until he felt the need to come and pick us us.

Pete!
It was totally fabulous.

Turtle!
Now I am so tired I can barely speak, or type, and my computer is about to lose its charge.  It has been a bit overcast so we don’t have much power so this might all f-a-d-e away…

Pete following turtle!
Like me!

But I have to buck up because at 6.30 we are all going to a gala dinner…






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