RAJA AMPAT REEF

The TRIP. Healthy reefs, unusual reef structures and dive sites. Unusual dive sites and the most diverse marine life area ever recorded. Huge schools of fish: barracuda, surgeonfish, fusiliers, batfish, sweetlips... macro creatures: blue-ring octopus, pygmy seahorses, double ended pipefish, shrimp gobies, nudibranchs, and loads of reef fish. Beautiful unspoiled topside scenery.

This is a trip you will never forget.

About US and the TRIP:

We've spent over 43 weeks creating images on 4+ dives per day in Raja Ampat over the past 10 years and know the reefs and conditions necessary for optimal image and video making. This will be the 13th - 17th trips we've made with a group (we're addicted!) here. Irian Jaya (Papua) is where we want to go for our diving holiday, so join us and find out why.

Since 1999, Deb has written several dive magazine articles, created several websites for the area (more to come), has contributed photos to dive magazines in Asia, the USA and UK, presented shows at DEMA, Seaspace, UPS & dive club meetings and wrote the Raja Ampat section of the Periplus Guide to Diving in Asia.

While our guides in Raja Ampat have been excellent at finding the reefs, they have not been aware of the conditions photographers' need in order to create outstanding images. We've worked it out.. although with much arguing and stamping of feet !

We've dived many of Raja Ampat's best sites dozens of times and we've explored by small boat many areas that our liveaboard trip will visit. In our exploration and time in Raja Ampat we've also dived sites that were a waste of time (2008 note.. unfortunately now some of the famous ones!). We'll be giving those a miss on these trips.

This will NOT be an exploration trip. Although we will try a few new sites, we don't believe photographers and videographers should spend this much money and their time searching for places where they might get a decent photo.

While we do not offer underwater photography instruction (except for beginners and some assistance with intermediate composition, lighting, etc.) or seminars, we do offer a well-organized trip with all the details worked out.

We strive to include only compatible divers & photographers on our trips so that everyone has a great time as well as brings home great photos.

Over the past 16 years of arranging dive trips for groups to Indonesia, the Caribbean and the Philippines, we've learned a great deal about what most photographers want from a dive trip... i.e. great diving, freedom to get that perfect shot, good tasty food, comfortable accommodations, stable electrical supplies ! and a congenial group to share the big finds and photo conversations.

We do screen our guests, and require they behave themselves while on our trip... so if you are grumpy, want to hog photo subjects found by the guides and your desire is to be unhappy and let others know, .. please find another trip.

About Raja Ampat Diving:

Don't delay. If you want to see Raja Ampat in all its glory.. get there ASAP.

Water Temp : The water temperature is 1mm neoprene or polartec diving, usual temperature is 84-86F with an occasional "chilly" 82F spot. We've had no problem with cold when diving 4 -7 long dives per day.

Liveaboard Travel: These islands are very close together. We plan not to make long journeys, but to keep the boat in an area for several days and dive the sites surrounding that area as conditions (current, angle of the sun, time of day) provide the best photo ops on a site. We aren't into crossing oceans, we're here to see the marine life and get those images.

Conditions: We choose the best season for diving the area. In fact, the liveaboard organized the rest of their schedule around our trips. The seas are typically flat.. like glass in some areas. Through the surface, split images and surface reflection shots are often possible.

Wide Angle Photography: There are VERY unique formations and unusually large schools of fish that make this an excellent area for wide angle photography. Again the trick is getting into the right spot at the right time. Sometimes this means you must be able to descend quickly to get down and out of the current. The same reef can be amazing or boring depending on the current & light. Sometimes the sites are shallow and you need to look near the surface for the best photo ops. We'll tell you what is special about each dive site during the pre-dive briefing.

Macro Photography: Can be done on nearly every site.. if you just ignore all the fish... We have several sites that we particularly like for macro. The silty bays, although not "clean" have abundant and unusual macro life. No pollution though.. only clean dirt out here. We always see pygs (pygmy seahorses), nudibranchs.. there are unusual small fish, a newly discovered species of epaulette shark, the "Walking Shark".. the ever present anemone fish, sometimes blue-ring octopus or flamboyant cuttlefish.... we've seen a lot of the allied cowries on the soft corals.. really just too much to name.. please ask about macro.

Current: While there is a lot of current on certain sites, we do NOT want or plan to drift and try to take photos (with one exception). We do NOT want guests to be struggling with camera gear in strong currents. If you don't know how to dive in current, let us teach you.. that is the #1 specialty that doesn't get taught. We've noticed that many divers are afraid of current simply because they do not know how to deal with it. (note.. we can drop divers who don't like the current behind the reefs in protected areas.. they won't see the best diving, but whatever makes them happy.. we'll do it).

Raja Ampat Island

The Raja Ampat Island in Irian is group spreads out over a huge area and consists of over 610 islands. The four largest islands are Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. The area's reefs are covered in a diverse selection of both hard and soft corals. Most of the areas reefs are pristine, with mile after mile of perfect hard corals, drift after drift of soft corals of many species and colors ranging from brilliant red, to shocking yellow pretty pink and exotic purple. Most reef dives are very colorful. The tourist would be able to experience the best dives sites within those islands, which include Cape Kri, Mellisa's Garden, Sardines Reef, The Passage, Nudibranch Rock, Wai Island Night Dive.

Raja Ampat is the western island of Papua Island. The name of Raja Ampat based on the legend. This area had begun with 6 eggs that found by King Waikew in Waigeo Island. But from the 6 eggs, just 5 eggs had crack. The last was become an egg stone till now on.

From the fifth eggs that had cracked, the 4 eggs was become men who become King of four big islands that is Waigeo, Batanta, Salawati and Misool. While the one egg became a woman, had wash away and stranded in Biak Island. That woman was born a child named Gura Besi that known as the historical man of Raja Ampat, because of his heroic story.

The regency that formed based on the constitution number 26 in 2002, is the development of Sorong regency on 12 April 2003. This area has 46.000 km2. But, 85% of this area is archipelago area. There are 610 islands in this area. But most of them have no social life. This regency has 10 districts and 85 villages with about 48.707 men.
maleo,
Geographically, this area has strategic location. Its boundaries is:

North side: Pacific Ocean
West Side: North Maluku
South side: Maluku Sea
East Side: Sorong Regency

For the fauna sector, Raja Ampat has rarely fauna, such as; red birds of paradise (Paradise Rubra), Wilson birds of paradise (Cicinnurs Republica), Maleo Waigeo (Spilocuscus Papuensis), and rainbow fishes. Hence, for the flora, Raja Ampat has many kinds of Orchids, Waigeo palm, ironwoods or black woods, 'keruing', 'ulin' woods, etc.

Because of its various nature profit, Raja Ampat will declared by Maritime Ministry Freddy Numberi as ancient regency, based on its location that not only rich of fishes, but also its sea herb and the pearl.

The Asmat

Asmat people who live along the remote southeast coast around Agats are famed for their artistic "primitive" woodcarving. Modern civilization did not reach this area until recently. Agats has an interesting museum filled with woodcarvings and other objects. The area however is still largely untamed wilderness. Asmat crash received a boost in late 1960s under a United Nations supported project to encourage local craftsmen to keep alive their art.

The Asmat homeland comprises the rugged and isolated southern coast of Irian Jaya. It is an area of approximately 10,000 square miles and comprises mainly swamps and mangroves.

Ancestor figures were traditionally made only for the festival honoring Fumer-ipits. They wear a unique costume. Tourists demand, however, is as resulted to change to this custom. Previously, after the festival, the figure is discarded into the forests near a sago tree because it was believed that as the wood of the carving is deteriorated, the power of the ancestor was transferred to the sago palm. Other ancestor carvings are designed as elements in larger carvings, such as canoe prows, paddles or ancestor poles.

The Asmat believe that all things have a spirit whether humans, animals, plants and even special locations such as a whirlpool or the bottom of a river. They also believe that the world is divided between that which can be seen and that which is unseen which is the realm of the spirits. It is considered important to maintain a proper balance between the seen and the unseen. In this respect, birth and death balanced the population between the seen and unseen realms and one cannot take place without the other. This would manifest itself in disease, hunger, death and misfortune that will be caused by the unsettled spirits.


The Asmat Shields

Traditionally, shields were carved prior to a headhunting reprisal raid, which was organized to avenge the death of the ancestor for whom the shield was named. A shield always represents an ancestor. It is named after him and the ancestor's spirit is believed to be present in the shield and make the owner fierce, powerful and invincible. Shields are considered so powerful that it may control the owner. Shields also provide spiritual help to the owner in hunting regular prey for food.

A shield is carved out of the lightweight flattened (or plank) buttress root of a mangrove tree-- the root is planed to half an inch thick, except for a protrusion left on one side for a handle. The front of the shield is carved in high relief. They include symbols of wild boar tusks or bones, flying foxes, the tails of tree kangaroos, whirlpools.

Some symbols are believed to be so powerful that just by seeing these symbols, the enemy will flee in terror or be immobilized in fear. But such powerful symbols require strict rituals of appeasement. A special feast, the yamas pokumbu is held to call upon the ancestor's spirit to enter the war shields.

The spirit in the shield must be properly treated or it might cause disease, or doom hunting efforts and rot the sago palms. During festivals, shields are decorated with tassels of sago leaves and placed near each other so the spirits may interact. Shields are placed near doorways to protect the home from evil spirits and human intruders.
Shields from different areas have different features: some have a phallic protrusion at the top; others have a symbolic head at the top, yet others add facial features of the ancestor at the top.


The Asmat Drums

Asmat drums are made in exactly the same way that the mythological figure Fumer-ipits is said to have made the drum that brought the Asmat people to life. The drums are carved from a single piece of wood and the handle is decorated with head hunting symbols and covered with the skin of a monitor lizard, attached with an adhesive made from blood and lime. Indeed, the mythological Fumer-ipits was thus not only the first wood carver but also the first drummer.

The hourglass shaped drums take a long time to make and require constant attention as the drum may split during the drying process. Each drum is carved from a solid log being specially selected for its soft centre, which can be easily removed with a hard palm wood stick. A lot of water is needed for this task which is usually performed by the banks of a river preferably at high tide so that the wood chips wash away. Once the centre hole is made, the hourglass shape is obtained by placing hot embers on the wood to burn it slowly. The charred canter is then scraped out afterwards; the exterior is shaped out leaving the curved handles.

Holding the drum close to a fire and allowing the skin to shrink to the correct tension tune a drum. Because of the high humidity, a drum skin loses tension rapidly and needs to be retunaed every twenty to thirty minutes. The picture of the drum is determined by its length and diameter. Each drum can produce only a single tone and so usually a number of drums and drummers are used.


Kasuarina Cape

Named of the big casuarinas trees, which grow in that area. Casuarinas Cape is just two kilometers from Sorong town on the Bird's Head peninsula of northern Irian Jaya. Good for swimming and recreation.