Day 3

Tuesday, April 12, 2016
Raja Ampat, West Papua, Indonesia
We woke this morning to the sound of the engines starting and discovered that they were moving the boat again although they said we were to dive in the same area as yesterday.
I guess they decided it was too crowded there with another boat nearby .

It is a bit more exposed here and the boat is gently rolling from side to side. Earlier it was a bit choppier and we had to rescue the jam jars from rolling all around the parlour floor.
There is a lot more creaking and groaning in the old wooden vessel with a bit of movement in the ocean!

Our first dive was at a site called Four kings which was a series of underwater pinnacles that rose to within 5 metres of the surface.
There were little schools of barracuda and solitary Batfish as we made our way along the wall and the sides of the wall was adorned with giant pink and white gorgonian fans.
On top of the pinnacles we found colourful soft corals, leaf fish, mantis shrimp, pipefish and a turtle grazing on the coral.
Out in the blue was a school of swirling Trevally
It was a nice easy dive with no current which was very pleasant and at the end of the dive we were surrounded by friendly Batfish that came up and peered into our masks. They get so close that it is hard to get the camera on them .

After breakfast we did the 4 kings dive again since a lot of people enjoyed it so much.
It was similar to the first dive with very little current and lots of little reef fish and a few barracuda and other larger fish. We saw a turtle feeding on the coral, totally oblivious to all the divers taking its photo and at the end of the dive, Gun, the dive guide entertained us by blowing bubble rings.
Then it was back to the boat for lunch while the boat continues to roll from side to side.
Time for a snooze before the 3rd dive.

The last dive of the day was at Balak Kecil. An outcropping that rose to the surface, the top of which had a series of caves and holes that you could swim through. The soft corals on top of the reef were prolific and many of the rocks were covered in orange corals .
We were accompanied by Batfish along the way that vied for our attention. I do believe they enjoy having their photos taken as they push each other out of the way to get near you.
There was a small cuttlefish hovering on the sand that all the divers went crazy over as if they had not seen one before, but it rather paled in comparison to our giant cuttlefish that we have in W.A.
There were lots of fish around the top of the rock including Angelfish and sweetlips and a lot of little neons.

Now we have motored back to the area we were in yesterday which is much calmer and the boat has stopped its awful rolling motion.
Dinner tonight is Lasagne and chocolate cake which should whet the appetite nicely!

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