In Pursuit of Paradise

Since I last posted in the Changi Airport in Singapore so much has happened.

     Although we got a short reprieve from travel in our long layover, it did very little to take the edge off of our next three legs. The over night trip to Sorong was a rough one on our bodies and our minds. Singapore to Jakarta, Jakarta to Makassar, Makassar to Sorong. We arrived, bleary and exhausted, the next morning, and thankfully our bags joined us. When we exited the airport, between turning down an offer for a taxi every several steps, we were able to spot our hotel across the highway. A quick walk and check-in led us to a most welcome king-sized bed, in which we availed ourselves of some serious napping.

     We did a little exploration by foot to change some money, which was a bit of a fiasco in itself, but found little reason to leave our hotel as Sorong is certainly not a place I would wish to spend much time. It is a very busy city, alive with the rumble of traffic and the honking of horns as drivers whiz around each other. There was not much within walking distance worth writing about between the hotel and the bank we were directed to for changing US Dollars to Indonesian Rupiah. When we arrived at the bank and got in line to see a teller, a security guard came over to us and in very broken English informed us that they did not take the 100 dollar bills that we had ready to exchange and would not take 50's either. This was fine with us as we stashed our 100's and pulled out 20's. after waiting in line for about twenty minutes and arriving at the counter, the teller looked at our 20's and said that they did not exchange them and the only took "thousands". We looked at him confused as he repeated that they only take thousands before he grabbed his smart phone and showed us a picture of a 100 dollar bill. "Ooooohhhhh" we said in unison "Hundreds, yeah we have those". So we pulled the hundreds back out to be exchanged.  We left feeling very glad we were visiting in the era of the smartphone. We found no vegetarian food on the way back before getting caught in a downpour and scuttling quickly back to our hotel. The next morning the crew of the boat was scheduled to pick us up directly from our hotel.

     We awoke before our alarms and were entirely packed and ready prior to the opening of the breakfast buffet at 6:00 AM. Our rides arrived right on time at 7:30, and after some paperwork, whisked us away by car to the harbor where we boarded a ferry from Sorong to Waisai. The ferry took about two and a half hours, which is not counting the hour we sat on the boat after being boarded significantly early. Luckily our ferry ticket was included in our prepaid excursion, and they booked us in the VIP cabin. The seats were slightly bigger, but the main difference was the large screen at the front of the VIP cabin which played karaoke style music videos with light up subtitles. American pop was the majority of the selection ranging from Rihanna to Adele to Akon, but the highlight was for Laura and I was the full uncensored music video of "I Just Had Sex" by The Lonely Island, which was obviously ripped directly from YouTube with a 2011 promo for "Turtleneck and Chains" (the album it was released on) tagged onto the end. We made one of the dive guides who was escorting us on the ferry laugh in surprise by knowing all the words to the former SNL digital short.

     After the ferry arrived in Waisai we took a quick walk from the ferry to the other side of the dock to our awaiting home for the next week, "The Jaya": pictured below.

    She is a well aged vessel which has clearly seen a fair share of use, but all the necessities for a week chock full of diving were there. With more paperwork and introductions we pulled out of the Waisai harbor and our adventure began. We were two of fourteen passengers aboard the boat for the week. Two middle aged French gentlemen, a Brazilian couple, three young lawyers from Singapore, four older men from Hong Kong, one solitary French woman who we had met at our hotel the day before, and us. We were not only the only Americans on the boat but also the only passengers who spoke English as a first (and only) language. Everyone did speak English, mostly very understandably, and on top of that, everyone was very friendly. The whole of the group dynamic left very little to be desired.

     The crew of the Jaya consisted of four dive leaders and seven boat crew. The divers were Emma from Scotland, Matt from Zambia and London, Rachel from Melbourne, and Dais from Sulawesi. Dais was the only Indonesian dive guide, but the whole of the boat crew were local. Most of them were from Sulawesi or Komodo. Everyone on board spoke English and it was very interesting the range of accents just from the dive guides alone. Australian, Scottish, British, and Indonesian. I couldn't help but be reminded of Larissa Taras' accents aboard the Maka Koa in Hawaii and how she would have loved to hear all of the various dive briefings.

   Broad Strokes, our liveaboard experience in Raja Ampat was magnificent. But it certainly deserves its own post. more to come soon,

~Rivers