School of Sweetlips, tightly packed and very relaxed.
In my previous post, I just talked about the dive resort I stayed at in Raja Ampat, the bungalow, the food, the sunsets. But, you might ask, what about the diving? That’s what it’s about, right?
You’re right. Gentle reader, diving is the reason to go there. And the diving in the waters of Raja Ampat is absolutely unreal. Words failed me for quite a long time, and if you have met me, you know it’s not easy to shut me up.
Well, words failed me. And iMovie. And the sheer number of beautiful things I’ve seen, and filmed with my little Gopro, overwhelmed me. However, given the absolutely awful weather that prevails here in Germany (snow at Easter!), I finally spent a few days in front of my computer, and tried to compile at least a little overview. So here comes.
First of all, I’ve never had such thorough dive briefings, with artful reef schematics drawn fresh on the whiteboards, every day:
And beautiful, uninhabited islands to have the surface interval at (with donuts!!):
Of all the fish, corals, mollusks, crustaceans, whatever that swims in the oceans, Raja Ampat has most of it. Only more and bigger individuals, bigger schools, trusty individuals. And there are some weirdos like Wobbegongs, too.
A weirdo, i.e. Wobbegong. True to their name, carpet sharks spend most of their time lying around doing… not much.
A beautiful Scorpion Fish.
My first Cowrie, ever.
Tiny Lionfish at night.
Those are Shadowfin Soldierfish, if I am not mistaken.
I am hanging on a reef hook due to some current, watching the show.
In the following video, I’ve tried to summarize some of the beauties of Raja’s reefs:
But of course, there is so much more to see…