Misool, 31 January 2025

This morning we reached Raja Ampat. This is a separate island group, north of the spice islands, and I think it will mean more wildlife and less people overall. We got to Misool, the southern most island. Off to the east side of the island there are a couple of arms reaching out into the sea and we anchored off one of those. They’re not so much a peninsula as a series of limestone islands. The islands are all tall and narrow, worn away by the sea, a bit like Halong Bay in Vietnam.

First thing this morning we were out for a snorkel. Unfortunately the conditions kept changing and it took quite a while to get into the water. This was in a sheltered bay, but even then they couldn’t keep the tender steady and repositioning it disrupted everyone snorkelling in the vicinity. The middle of the bay was murky with a coral wall around the edge. The conditions generally put Lynn off and while I found the reef fairly interesting, there were maybe 70 people in a limited area and constantly having to avoid people drove me crazy.

We got back, cleaned out gear etc and had lunch. Then Lynn had a rest while I went on the afternoon excursion. The boat trip started in heavy rain but it cleared after a while. This wound between the small islands and came to a couple of rock art locations. These were on cliffs several metres above the water and it’s not clear who, when, or how they were done. Between the islands it is a mix of very shallow water and reefs, then deep channels.

Eventually we reached a jetty and steps that lead up to Harfat Peak (Puncak Harfat) the stairs were long and not always reliable and at the top was a muddy slope, but eventually it reached a viewing point looking over the islands. Coming down was even more precarious and because it was humid and there was no breeze I was soaked in sweat by the time I reached the bottom.

We got a short rest before dinner, which was a buffet tonight and our best opportunity to really eat too much. 

Sawai, 30 Jan 2025

We’re north of yesterday’s location and on the other side of Seram Island – so the ship had to sail around the southern end of Seram and it took a while to get here.

This morning we stopped to snorkel at Pulau Besar and the tenders took us to the channel through the reef. It was similar to the last few days in terms of visibility and the reef, but it was warm and very calm and made for a relaxing swim. While I did this with most of the passengers Lynn largely had to run of the ship to read and potter about.

I got back just in time for lunch, and then we had a short while to read before going ashore in the town of Sawai. This village is at the base of steep mountains that disappear into the clouds, and there is jungle growing on every available surface. The seafront is so small that the village extends out into the bay on stilts, with jetties and fish pens adjacent to the houses. Everybody had come out to watch us arrive and we traipsed down the narrow street to a small concrete square where there was dancing and drumming. As usual there were speeches on a speaker system that so distorted the voices we had no idea what anyone was saying.

We walked up a small hill to a point where we could see over the town. It looks like most houses have electricity but not running water.

Then we walked back through the town to a stream which the village has tiled for a short section, where the children swim and families do their washing and collect water for cooking.

After this it was back to the ship for the usual quiet evening routine.

Saparua, 29 January 2025

By the time we woke this morning we were off the island of Saparua. Still in the general region of the spice islands. Like other ‘expedition cruises’ we’ve been on, the focus is very much on excursions and things are worked around them. So breakfast was from 6.15am and the first tender left at 7.30.

This went off to the nearby island of Pulau Molana. Which isn’t inhabited but has some old buildings. We went for a very short walk but there wasn’t much to see apart from a couple of tied up coconut crabs, which the locals were presumably planning to eat later. I went for a snorkel while Lynn read. Again the water was warm and the visibility was very good. The coral was patchier than the last couple of days, but there were definitely more fish, sometimes in quite large schools.

By mid morning we were on the tender headed back to the ship. Every snorkelling trip then involves a fair deal of washing, rinsing and trying to dry clothes, so our cabin is adorned with layers of clothing at varying degrees of dampness.

After lunch it’s a short ride to the town of Saparua. We are now used to the crowd of locals all sitting about to watch us arrive, some recording us on phones. We walk the short distance to the soccer pitch where there are first some dancers and singers accompanied by ukeleles (which sounds much like Polynesian singing) and then young men with spears. It was extremely hot until we got back near the shore, when a sea breeze made it much more bearable. There were really two things to see, another dutch fort (Fort or Benteng Duurstede) and the local museum. The fort has recently been repaired and whitewashed so it was quite smart. The museum was entirely dioramas showing scenes from history, mostly about rebelling against the Europeans and later independence.

Then the usual resting, talk where we’re told about the next day, and dinner which requires polite conversation and we have a choice of two entrees (one of them soup), three main courses (seafood, meat, vegetarian) and one dessert.