That morning we were transported over to the liveonboard vessel, MV Raja Ampat Explorer. The boat turned out to be a lot better than I expected! A t the rear of the pinisi was a room for the diving gear, at the front, an air conditioned lounge area with a dining table, sofa, TV, desk, fridge, and a small library. Behind this were the kitchen and crew quarters. On the deck below there were five cabins, each with two single beds, air conditioning, a table, a cupboard and a bathroom complete with hot shower, a sink and toilet. On top of the lounge was an open area with deck chairs to relax in. Behind that were the pilot room and the two suites taken over by the organisers. One suite was for Nina and Yasmin, and next to them were Eli and I. Yep, I had managed to get Eli to bunk with me rather than share with a man I had never met before.
The first event was to get to know everyone, though most of us were already good friends. Nina, Yasmin and I had been close for years. Rini was a fellow writer at Bentang. Juni worked at the same office as Rini. Ezra was my cousin. Ken had been a friend of Ezra's since high school. Eli was an old friend I had been to Israel with, and the remaining four were all colleagues. The two men noone knew were Panda and Tato', the most serious divers among us and also underwater photographers. It was also time to meet the crew, including the two DMs (Dive Master), Om Joni and Kris. Wow! The ratio of crew to passengers was almost 1:1.1 felt like Onassis!
That evening would be the initial check dive to test our skills and split us into groups. Om Joni was a bit worried when he saw the results! This was the problem when you were deliberately looking for "no hard core divers" most of us were just beginners, and some had only just got their license. From then on, at every predive briefing, Om Joni always reminded us, "Let's dive properly! I don't want any thrashing around out of control!" I didn't understand what he meant until a group of divers passed beneath us, their buoyancy control going up and down and their fins kicking into the reef. Then I heard, "Hm! Hm! Argh! Argh!" which apparently was the sound of Om Joni "screaming" underwater, his eyes wide open, pointing something out to us. Those divers were all from our boat and they really were thrashing around out of control! Embarrassing.
It was a liveonboard diving vessel, so... the main activity was diving. We were up at 6:30 a.m. for a light breakfast and diving, then it was time for a big breakfast and more diving. Next up was lunch and an afternoon nap, then more diving, shower and finally dinner. Every time an activity began, the bell rang. It was annoying at first, I felt like I was in a herd of goats, fed and then put out to work.
However, we had paid a lot for this, so I made sure I took advantage. The good thing was, as the days passed, the less divers there were. It was their time of the month so some of the girls were not in the mood, Eli had flu, and Rini had diarrhea. Even some of the men wanted to stay onboard and enjoy the boat. That left Panda and Tato', plus me and Juni with Om Joni. If anyone else wanted to dive they were put in a group with Kris. I found out that diving in a small group accompanied by experienced divers could be a lot of fun.
I also found out that Raja Ampat is not the best place for beginner divers. There was not a single dive site without a strong current. It's not so bad if the current is gentle and in one direction, but here it was really strong and could change direction completely and unexpectedly! We had to make a negative entry almost every dive, rolling off the side of the ship and descending immediately to deep water so we were not carried away by the upper currents.
If you had a problem equalising, or were not a strong enough swimmer, it was easy to get left behind by the group. With a ratio of DM to divers that was less than ideal, one DM might have to look after seven divers, you could not expect any special attention. Furthermore, everyone used a different amount of oxygen so you had to be able to come up to the surface safely by yourself, calculate how much air you had remaining, monitor your time and depth, and work out your safety stops. Every diver needed to be able to look after himself in conditions like these! However, all this hard work was rewarded with some spectacular underwater scenery.
According to Conservation International, Raja Ampat has the most diverse selection of coral and fish in the world. There are 1,309 species of fish, 537 types of coral, and 699 kinds of mollusc all of them in good health. So, when you go underwater the landscape is incredibly varied and active. In general, the stronger the current, the greater the number of fish. Because there was a lot of plankton and the skies were overcast, visibility was fairly low at around ten metres. However, this was more than enough to keep us amazed. The landscape under Raja Ampat comes in walls, slopes, caves it is a perfect environment for the growth of a diverse coral reef. In one area alone you can see coral in the shape of a table, a brain, a cauliflower, a flower, a fan, a pillar and more. Then there are soft corals that look like leather, flowers, putri malu39, and brightly coloured trees.
Even the clams were turquoise and fuchsia. My eyesight is not so good, but because I was with a photographer I could see his macro view of nudi branch, flatworms, pygmy seahorses and species I had never seen before. Fish of all colours passed us by and were almost always schooling. I was used to seeing jackfish and fusiliers, but this was the first time I had seen a school of yellow barracuda. Raja Ampat is also famous for its Wobbegong, also called a carpet shark because they really look like carpets with weedlike whisker lobes and their habit of digging into the sand.
We saw black tip sharks and turtles, but my favourite was the manta ray. Skimming just above the sand, we saw seven threemetrewide mantas passing back and forth with gentle flaps of their huge wings. At a spot known as "Blue Magic" we found a different species of manta which was chubbier and cute! Then, during a safety stop at a depth of five metres, with no view of anything around us, suddenly three mantas glided right up to me. Amazing!
There was only one thing that got me down about diving in Raja Ampat: when your oxygen was almost out. If we were some kind of hybrid who could breathe underwater, I think I would never come up to the surface. Or maybe not! A week on a liveonboard vessel can be a lot of fun even without the diving.
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