Raja Ampat - over 40 years in the making

Papuan boy gives us the thumbs-up

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Fusiliers surrounded us

The wreck of a P47D Aircraft from WWII

After exploring underwater for over 40 years, last week I found the reefs of my dreams!
As far east in Indonesia as one can travel, among the islands of the four kings in West Papua, we dived on reefs so intact and rich in every imagineable form of marine life, that I couldn't believe this was real.
We shared our adventure with ten friends and there were times when we all congregated on the top deck, cruising among islands and seascapes that left us all speechless.
We dived in a river like inlet, that in fact was a long, narrow high-sided passage between two islands. Overhead a flock of parrots called out to us from the dense jungle. At the waters edge, just below the overhanging trees and only centimeters below the surface, large blood red soft corals and giant orange sea fans lined the limestone walls of this two kilometer long passage.
We dived on the outer slope of a small island, where we gazed in awe as thousands of fusiliers and blue lined snapper streamed around us in endless patterns.
We watched a dozen bump head parrot fish have parasites removed at a cleaning station. A turtle eating soft coral for breakfast, a hundred trevally schooling above us and a reef shark cruise beside us... and this was on just one dive.
After 12 days of sensory overload, we expected our last dive below a small wooden jetty, to be a little mundane. But, as had happened on almost every dive, we found something that was unique or new to us seasoned divers.
To our surprise, some children from the island came to keep us company below the jetty. Diving down, smiling at us underwater and giving us the thumbs-up. We laughed until sea water filled our masks, mixing with the tears in our eyes, our dreams had now been fulfilled by the reefs, islands and people of Raja Ampat, the Four Kings of Indonesia.
To view more photos from our trip, please visit our FlickrPhoto site by clicking on any of the photos below:

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