JohnM
Enthusiast
- Joined
- Jun 7, 2006
- Posts
- 11,854
- Qantas
- LT Gold
Tonight it’s on the bird PER-CGK on the first leg to start on Monday an eight-night trip on a 20-pax liveaboard boat out of Sorong, West Papua moseying around Raja Ampat, famed for its spectacular marine life.
A group of us, primarily from Perth, have taken exclusive use of the boat. @Daver6
and Mrs Daver6 
are part of the group. Some are divers; most are snorkellers.
Folks are making their own various ways to Sorong, most via Bali. I opted for PJM and me to go via Jakarta as we’ve not been there before. Being from WA and having visited the Batavia wreck site with its gruesome story at the Abrolhos Islands and having a couple of years ago met the late Hugh Edwards the diver/journalist who discovered the wreck, I’m keen to see the historical old town of Batavia.
We're on Mermaid II.
Raja Ampat.
Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula (on the island of New Guinea), Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals around the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.
Raja Ampat is considered the global epicentre of tropical marine biodiversity and is referred to as ’The Crown Jewel’ of the Bird's Head Seascape, which also includes Cenderawasih Bay and Triton Bay. The region contains more than 600 species of hard corals, constituting about 75% of the world's known species, and more than 1,700 species of reef fish – including on both shallow and mesophotic reefs.
Compared to similarly sized ecosystems elsewhere in the world, Raja Ampat's biodiversity is arguably the richest in the world. Endangered and rare marine mammals, such as dugongs, whales (such as blue, pygmy blue, Bryde's, Omura's, sperm), dolphins, and even orcas occur here. Endangered whale sharks, the largest extant fish species on earth, also thrive in this region.
Boat departure point: Sorong, with Raja Ampat to the west.
As usual, most of this TR will be done after return.
A group of us, primarily from Perth, have taken exclusive use of the boat. @Daver6
and Mrs Daver6 are part of the group. Some are divers; most are snorkellers.Folks are making their own various ways to Sorong, most via Bali. I opted for PJM and me to go via Jakarta as we’ve not been there before. Being from WA and having visited the Batavia wreck site with its gruesome story at the Abrolhos Islands and having a couple of years ago met the late Hugh Edwards the diver/journalist who discovered the wreck, I’m keen to see the historical old town of Batavia.
We're on Mermaid II.
Raja Ampat.
Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago located off the northwest tip of Bird's Head Peninsula (on the island of New Guinea), Southwest Papua province, Indonesia. It comprises over 1,500 small islands, cays, and shoals around the four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo, and the smaller island of Kofiau.
Raja Ampat is considered the global epicentre of tropical marine biodiversity and is referred to as ’The Crown Jewel’ of the Bird's Head Seascape, which also includes Cenderawasih Bay and Triton Bay. The region contains more than 600 species of hard corals, constituting about 75% of the world's known species, and more than 1,700 species of reef fish – including on both shallow and mesophotic reefs.
Compared to similarly sized ecosystems elsewhere in the world, Raja Ampat's biodiversity is arguably the richest in the world. Endangered and rare marine mammals, such as dugongs, whales (such as blue, pygmy blue, Bryde's, Omura's, sperm), dolphins, and even orcas occur here. Endangered whale sharks, the largest extant fish species on earth, also thrive in this region.
Boat departure point: Sorong, with Raja Ampat to the west.
As usual, most of this TR will be done after return.
