Raja Ampat Wonders

Part of the fun of returning to Raja Ampat was being confident we'd see some incredible creatures but it was exciting to wonder what new animals we would meet this time.  Matt did a wonderful job taking pictures on most of our excursions, but some things were too fast to capture.  We swam up on a dugong (similar to a manatee) and my first thought was that it was the fattest fish I'd ever seen! We saw black tip reef sharks nearly every time we jumped in and daily from the porch.

We had several rays that spent their days under our house and they were always fun to watch.

The ocean here teems with fish and coral.  The sheer abundance of life can't be captured in a single picture and in some spots it's absolutely overwhelming to take in all the colors, shapes, and textures making a life together. God certainly designed some incredible creatures.

The trusty Papex boats ferried us all over the islands and onto many beautiful beaches.  It was always fun when we were able to spend time on the beach with the French family.

This beach was a favorite of ours from our first visit.  It's not even a real island, just a sandbar that appears at low tide with gentle water stretching out in every direction.

Such a perfect place for morning tea! And the village in the background has some amazing views to enjoy every day.

We didn't even have to leave the Papex pier to see incredible fish.  Two resident lionfish swim around all day and Alex always looked before jumping in because he was pretty scared of them.

This guy had me checking the stairs every single time I used them.  It's a highly venomous scorpion fish taking a break on one of the staircases.

We spotted the resident turtle several times as well.  We didn't see nearly as many turtles this trip and most were very scared of us.  Turns out that turtle soup is a local Christmas delicacy and these survivors did not want change their status.

I think we all had new fish we enjoyed spotting this time.  I loved watching the graceful batfish, especially when we ran into big schools of them.

We were really lucky to see the shy wobbegong shark on several different occasions.  They're so odd looking and generally hide under large rocks, so they're difficult to spot.

Ben had a tiny baby fish that swam with him most of the morning! (the tiny guy against the white of his shirt)

Alex has always been a huge fan of clownfish and we saw so many different colors and types in lots of different anemones.

Friwen beach was always a favorite stop and we got to visit several times during the week.

Matt got a nice shot of this reef shark.  They usually appear and disappear quickly and we became much more alert to spotting them this year.

Yellow needlefish

The crown of thorns starfish is an invasive species that eats coral, so on the few occasions that we ran across them, our guide would kill them and remove them.

We enjoyed the "beauty corals" at Arborek and saw a big Manta ray glide past while we enjoyed seeing giant clams.

This creature was a little scary but he was pretty sun safe.  The new reef-safe sunscreen we bought had zinc in it and was incredibly messy.  But you could see if you missed a spot!

Once again, Indonesia gave me a lovely rash.  I was covered by the end of the week.  Some of the bumps were from jellyfish but I think a lot of the spots were reacting to plankton...it's normal to feel tiny stings when the water is full of plankton but I was the only one with evidence.

We did see a few big jellyfish but thankfully no one got tangled with anything like this.

One of the things we definitely wanted to do this time was see the Manta rays.  We didn't see any on our last trip but also didn't make any special effort to find them because we'd seen some around Komodo.  We went to Manta Point on a gorgeous morning and were so fortunate to spot 7 of the incredible fish.  

Manta Point is a sandy area where the Mantas come to get cleaned by resident fish, so they cruise back and forth slowly while the wrasse fish dart in and out cleaning their skin and gills. We just floated above them for an hour and watched the peaceful giants come and go.

The French dad was diving below us with his guide and their bubbles made for a fun place to swim as well.

Matt dove down for a closer look.

We did our surface time at the tiny office on the water that used to regulate how many people could visit the mantas in a day.  It's now deserted because the number of tourists in Raja Ampat certainly isn't going to overwhelm the mantas these days. The boys with their dive guide, Apo.

While we were enjoying our tea and pastries, some rainy weather started moving closer, so we decided to pack up and head to our next snorkel spot quickly.

The weather is highly unpredictable and can change quickly at the equator and before we got close to our next site, it was pouring.  The best way to breathe in the rain was with my snorkel!

The rain was heavy but it calmed the ocean and made everything really lovely.

We jumped in to attempt our snorkel (we were already soaked!) and the water was warmer, but the rain was so cold.  The surface was uncomfortable and the rain was loud, so we didn't last long.

Wet towels are better than no towels! But by the afternoon the rain had cleared and we went out again.

We were so grateful for the chance to visit the paradise that is Raja Ampat again.  Just in the two years since we'd last visited, there were so much more development all around the islands.  I'm happy that we will remember it as the untouched paradise before it really "arrives" on the map.

Merry Christmas!

Christmas had a different look for us this year! Christmas Eve was just a bit warmer than what we typically enjoy but we weren't complaining.

We had a festive dinner in the common area with free flow wine and cokes for everyone and the joy of celebrating together was shared by all.

The clouds blocked the stars most nights, but we did go back and enjoy some Christmas carols on our porch under the night sky in lieu of a church service.  Instead of candles (which I packed but couldn't find), we enjoyed the phosphorescent plankton twinkling in the water.

Sunrise was lovely on Christmas morning and the sharks were active in the water. I love that there is a fin breaking the surface in this picture! 

We were up early so the kids could open a few gifts and then we could facetime with all the grandparents before breakfast.

It's rare that we have to wake the boys on Christmas morning!

Gifts were very simple this year.  The boys each got some candy, legos, and a nerf gun game to share. It was so refreshing to take the focus off of gifts and shopping this year and simply enjoy the season in this unusual year.

They did get certificates to ride 4-wheelers again on Bali, our next stop before returning home.

After a lovely and quiet morning, we switched up the schedule and most of the guests did the Passage day trip around Gam island. Instead of starting the day with snorkeling, we did some sightseeing and enjoyed a gorgeous sunny morning.

Each group had their own boat all week, so we traveled in a big caravan throughout the day.

The stop at the bat cave was lots of fun for us, not so much for the bats that left one by one.

Morning tea was at a postcard perfect deserted beach on the other side of the island.

The baker on staff woke up at 4am each day to bake fresh pastries and bread for the guests each day.  Alex was a huge fan of the chocolate donuts!

Alex and Henri were busy building a sandcastle at one end of the beach.

Ben chose to build his own on the other side.

Once we made it around the island, we snorkeled, had a picnic lunch on the beach, and did one more snorkel close enough to hear a pod of dolphins nearby.  Several people spotted two small whales that day as well, but we only saw the spouts.

As the sun set on Christmas day, we were missing our families, but so happy to have had the chance to celebrate the birth of Jesus in glorious creation.  It was a memorable day for sure.

 

Scuba Lessons

Alex was dying to try scuba diving and Apo, the dive master, approached us to offer lessons with the two French teenage girls.  Ben was suddenly interested as well!

They did a lesson one afternoon while Matt and I went out to snorkel, and the next morning we all visited the Papex "pool" for them to do some practice on the sandy bottom.

The instructors went down one-on-one with the girls first and the boys waited patiently in the boat.

Matt and I set out to snorkel around the small island and passed by the girls and the instructors.

All the kids did great in 6-8 feet of water.  They practiced their signals, finding a lost regulator, and clearing water out of their masks, and just generally being comfortable under the water.  We had our morning tea on a nearby island and then headed back to the resort for the real deal.  The current was calm and the conditions were just right for the kids to go down more than 20 ft at the end of the pier.  This time the boys got to go first.

They descended slowly to the bottom and explored the coral garden where the resort is replanting coral that was destroyed years ago. 

 Both boys were so excited when it was done and really enjoyed the experience.  Alex really wants to pursue it in the future and Ben is happy having had the experience but plans to stick to snorkeling. We were pleased that they both tried something new and scary without us.