Final days of Raja Ampat

Hi, let's jump right in ...

How do you describe being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of fish? A picture is worth 1,000 words but a picture is really not going to convey the mayhem of being hooked onto a reef in a strong current while millions of fish school and swarm all around you.... I'm afraid it just cannot be described.

The last half of our time on La Galigo was filled with great dives, beautiful sunsets and a couple of small hikes.

This iconic view in Indonesia, called the Raja Ampat Islands, is actually depicted on their 100,000 bill (about $6).


On our last dive the dive leader told us, in the pre-dive briefing, that there was a clam as big as he ...  100% guarantee.  Ok Ambat, whatever.

We get down to the clam, which looked similar to this one below, and it was five feet long and about two feet across!  It was so big Carsten could not see it - LOL! He was looking for something small - couldn't see the forest for the trees... the visibility was not terrific at that point so this picture is actually of a smaller clam - only about four feet long.


Our favorite are the clown fish hiding in the anemone ... the colors are so vibrant - even underneath you can see the bright blue.


This is what a "waterfall" of fish looks like:


This is a cuttlefish.  They are rare to see but they are the coolest how they motor along with their weird ruffle fin motion.  Also y'all - they CHANGE COLOR! We saw it and have the video of a cuttle fish changing from black to yellow in a matter of 10 seconds.  Crazy!


This is a batfish. They are everywhere but this one was super curious and friendly. He followed us around for at least 20 minutes.  He has scratches on his side so you could tell it was him - he was super close to us the whole time.  Cute little guy!


Gorgeous turtle on the last dive -

After the last dive we jumped in the small tender boats and headed for the Blue River.  It was a crazy ride.  We picked up these two guides and switched over to a "long boat" for the final part of the journey.  The swim creek was about a 20 minute walk into the jungle.


Here is Sheri jumping into the spring-fed tributary of the Blue River.  It was cold and refreshing!


The sunsets were beautiful!

We made some friends on La Galigo and really enjoyed the boat and crew, as well.  

Right now we are in Khao Lak, Thailand for a few days before boarding MV Bavaria for the next week of diving.

It is hot, hot, hot here in KL but we will venture out to see what there is to see.  For sure the beach!

More later,

Sheri & Carsten

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