Marc's Public Blog - Diving

Here is a google photos picture gallery if you'd like that after viewing this post: https://plus.google.com/photos/106981743284611658289/albums/6073787459128610737?authkey=CPHRzYaNzL6VSg

After diving Raja Ampat with Waow last year we had a fantastic time (huge boat with big rooms, more crew than guests, great crew, and satellite internet on the boat during the trip, what else could you ask for? :).
At the time, Jay and Kay, the cruise directors recommended that we come back for their once a year trip from Maumere to Ambon (part of the trip they need to do from Bali to Raja Ampat after they're done with Komodo). This trip goes from Alor (many sea snakes) to the Banda Sea towards Ambon. You do get to see bigger stuff like a school of 50 or so hammerheads, giant humphead parrotfish, and huge schools of diverse fish. I also got to see 3 cuttlefish on one dive, and I love those things :)

large crew, 24 people

cool poster

After a sunset dive, we had a boobie come on our boat and go back to our main boat with us. He was probably tired of flying and sleeping on a boat is better than drifting at sea all night :)

we gave him fish :)

Anyway, this was about diving, so let's get back to that. The Waow Crew was again fantastic, they took care of all our diving needs every day, and took us to great dive sites where I was able to take these pictures with a crappy point and shoot camera.

A couple of video medleys first.
Sea snakes are awesome, this is compilation of some of the ones I saw on a single dive. They are very poisonous, have no predators, and are inquisitive, so sometimes they'll come check you out, but you're not their food and they have no reason to attack you:

Our very last dive, we found a young blue lobster that didn't know not to run around the reef, so we went to play with it a bit :) Our dive guide also saw a manta shrimp and ferreted it out. After that it gave up on hiding:

this corral (animal) had little hair in its mouth, sensed something going in, and then closed down on it

This parrotfish had a protection bubble around it, created for protection when sleeping at night

this was a 4 meter shark, it was huge

One dive, we got very lucky and found a school of hammerhead sharks, about 50 of them, and I was able to get in the middle of them for a few pictures:

Thanks to Arturo for taking this picture

Manta Shrimp, usually very shy and hard to find

One dive, I got lucky, and found 3 different cuttlefish. Usually they just sit there and let you take pictures all day long, and change colors depending on their mood (annoyed, scared, or relaxed):

Diving, how does it work? Which way is up?

Here are some video bits:
Small fish pulsing with light:

I love those fish. We always joke that we should take 2 together and make a knot with their hair tail :)

A classic, but clownfish are always fun, expecially these:

Electric Jellyfish found during safety stop. I had colors pulsing through its body:

Nice flouder fish:

I love cuttlefish, so many colors and minicing abilities

Another one on the same dive. This one was a bit afraid because it had gotten bitten by something else earlier (I later saw a piece missing). This is why it was swimming away from me:

So many schools of fish on Amet Knoll on the 11th day:

Most of the time was spent on the boat, but we had a land excursion at Pulau Naria, a port where Dutch, British and Portugese used to fight for the rights to indonesian spices, and specifically the nutmegs (noix de muscade) that were growing there. We got to see a fort that was used to defend the island:

nutmeg

we had a 2nd breakfast to sample local goods

we finished with a market visit

poor little kitten, it's a bit sick

Also, one of the islands we stopped at had an active volcano, very cool:

thanks to Arturo for this picture

And before we knew it, the 12 days were over:

BBQ dinner on our last night

nice fondant au chocolat

the staff sung songs that evening

And that was the end of 13 wonderful days, thank you to all the crew!