Travellingman reisverhalen - - Raja Ampat (Birie)
Day 14: Vrijdag 20 maart 2015
Raja Ampat (Birie)

At 6.15 am the alarm clock went off. I had slept badly, but was nevertheless reasonably rested. Especially after a few cups of coffee at breakfast. The sea was still unsettled, but we went to a local dive. You can also go to more remote places, but that takes over an hour to get there. First we went to Yellow Coco, mainly sand and behind Birie Island. It is incredible to see what lives here. Jellyfish and nudibranchs were probably normal animals that you would expect, but there is also a lot off small stuff like a pygmy octopus and various other critters. After 64 minutes we were back at the surface and had a coffee break at housereef number 2 on the jetty. One of the staff was just trying to fix an engine of one of the boats.



A second dive was a little further into the bay and was a combination of sand and coral and had the name Goa Kecil. Also here enough to see such a pygmy sepia, various nudibranchs, blue dotted stingray, young Harlequin fish and the little ones that Nico, our dive guide, pointed out for us. After 70 minutes we were back up and went back to the hotel where we went for lunch.

After some relaxation (the hammock is nice) in the room, it was diving time at 2.30 pm again. This time we sailed to another village, where we dove on Arefi Brau. During the diving there was again much to see, such as a Ribbon eel, wrasse, various nudibranchs (there are really a lot different kinds; in the dining room there was even a whole book about them), large clams, banded pipefish and various fish. There was some current that constantly changed direction, also called washing machine. That made the dive at the end more difficult. Finally we finished the dive after 65 minutes and went back to the hotel, where we relaxed. The water was a bit higher while at lunch, the tide was extremely low and the house reef was almost dry.

At 6 pm a night dive. This time there were two other divers with us. We dove again on another piece at the rear of the island with the name Birdy slope. Again lots of different fish, creeping feather stars, mini octopus, dormant (parrot) fish and other small fry. After 65 minutes the dive was over and we went back in the dark back to the hotel.

After a quick shower we went to eat. After dinner Martin looked in one of the many dive books with fish looking for something he had seen. I walked back to the room. Later Martin came back, but he suffered from the mosquitoes. Sitting outside was not an option for him and went to bed. A mosquito net made the mosquitoes stay away, along with the fan, which also caused some cooling. Around 10.15 pm we went to sleep.

Initial publication: 28 maart 2015
Last update: 05 mei 2015
© A. Heeroma

  • Travel route

Indonesia tour
»Day 1 Amsterdam - Jakarta
»Day 2 Jakarta - Banyuwedang
»Day 3 Banyuwedang
»Day 4 Banyuwedang
»Day 5 Banyuwedang
»Day 6 Banyuwedang
»Day 7 Banyuwedang
»Day 8 Banyuwedang
»Day 9 Banyuwedang
»Day 10 Banyuwedang - Makassar
»Day 11 Makassar - Raja Ampat
»Day 12 Raja Ampat (Birie)
»Day 13 Raja Ampat (Birie)
»Day 14 Raja Ampat (Birie)
»Day 15 Raja Ampat (Birie)
»Day 16 Raja Ampat (Birie)
»Day 17 Raja Ampat (Birie)
»Day 18 Raja Ampat - Jakarta
»Day 19 Jakarta - home

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  • Indonesia
    »Banyuwedang
    »Batanta - Birie
    »Makassar









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