It is an area called Raja Ampat. Raja Ampat is translated as 'The 4 kings' Known on board as Rogers armpit it is a group of four main islands and is the home of the most diverse reef and sea life ecosystems on the planet.
In only one dive off of the ‘house reef' on Kri Island an expert logged 328 species of fish..
The unfolding of our unique schedule, the people we met and the few dramas that occurred along the way are all a part of being at sea and travelling in remote places. It was brilliant!
Our welcoming committee on arrival into Indonesia consisted of 8 uniformed officers who promptly set about wiring up our steering and engine controls! This was not the most friendly of approaches to visitors that I have experienced and I was a bit put out by it! The action was to prevent us from moving while our permits were issued. Perhaps the permits and papers would have arrived in a more timely manner if I had agreed to furnish their requests for souvenirs?
After two long days however, a bloke eventually showed up and cut the wires. I took some delight in telling him that we have at least 3 other ways of operating the engines and steering on board but he just grinned at me.
So, it was just after lunch on the 2nd Day when we finally heaved the anchor and headed off on the 4 hour journey to Kri Island. I wanted to arrive before dark as there is a reef and a narrow gap to negotiate. We had made contact with a local guy who agreed to come out in a boat to lead us through the reef. They also dropped a young lad off onto our boat who was supposed help us through from on board. The excited young man was escorted to meet me on the bridge, where I was carefully matching radar bearings and depth soundings to the paper chart. The chart reassuringly advises in italic letters ‘incompletely surveyed’ so I was thrilled to see the smiling young man who was to be my local guide. I don't know why I expected him to speak any English and then he was so amazed at our air conditioning and electronics that he was baffled into a stunned silence. I thought that he may take a bearing of the mountains in the distance or line up two banana trees or something, even peer over the bow and point the way but there was nothing! Only a giant, wide eyed grin.
The local boat of choice in this area is a long slender boat, carved mostly from a tree, normally with additional out-riggers for stability and a small outboard engine. These boats have a maximum depth of under one meter.
It suddenly dawned on me that the two meter deep reef that I was trying my hardest to miss with our 3.5 meter keel had never been of importance to anyone here! The penny dropped in my small brain, that despite the eager help available, we were on our own! Obviously, with great skill and cunning we made it through the reef without incident.
Our anchor was soon, carefully lowered into 40 meters of water and as the boat settled to it, I was able to relax and the stunning scene became clear. We had arrived in our first paradise of the trip.
