Day 1: First Dive in Raja Ampat

When I say “resort” you’re probably thinking luxury bungalows and villas, infinity pools with a nearby Jacuzzi, spa treatments, all-you-can-ever-imagine-and-eat buffet, and a romantic getaway. Especially if I say it’s a resort on a remote island you’re probably seeing some apparitions of the Maldives in your head.

But not Sorido Bay.

Not unless you consider a cottage as a luxurious bungalow, the endless ocean as your pool, the current beating against you as a Jacuzzi, the humid air as your sauna, tasty meals as your buffet, and holding hands 20 meters underwater as romance.

Then you’re in paradise.

Much more so than the Maldives, I would argue. You have everything you need, and it’s such a simple life you’re living, but definitely not boring. I think “boring” is a word invented by lazy people who refuses to find something to do. There is always something to do, something new to see, something new to think and invent. The beauty of nature is the fact that you can’t look at the same scene twice. Either it changes or you see what you didn't see before. It’s amazing!

Two passengers on board the boat with us, Steve and Jutta, are actually part of the management team at Sorido Bay. Seeing the resort from afar as the boat closes in, it didn’t look like much. It is located in a bay and concealed mostly by trees which grew everywhere. The backdrop of the resort happens to be a mountain and a tropical rain forest  Very different from what I’ve ever seen. I mean, a genuine rain forest in the backyard and the endless ocean with coral reefs out the front door? That’s just mind-blowingly awesome!

Once we got on the jetty with all our luggage, Jutta showed us around. Every building has got a natural touch to it and decorated with Papuan cultural artifacts and paintings. Not overly done, just plain and simple. I was kind of surprised that the weather here is not as hot as the Maldives. It’s definitely humid, but I didn’t find myself sweating walking around in the open at all. The temperature is actually perfect. I would say somewhere between 75 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit.

The walkways are made out of wood and raised around a foot from the ground. It was kind of magical, not that they made it any different from other resorts, especially when we were walking to our cottage because it goes right by the forest. Jutta said that there are monitor lizards (kinda like komodo dragons, but smaller) and all sorts of other animals around the area. We are in nature after all.

The view of the jetty.

The entrance with reception area.

Walking in.

The beautiful walkway.

It's like a magical scene. :3

The name of our cottage.

Our cottage!

After settling into our cottage, I found two unexpected roommates. One was quite welcomed, while the other, not so much. There was a gecko above the air conditioner and a spider on the ceiling of the cloth hanging area. They were like a supersized version of the animals, because they were huge!

The giant gecko!

A close up. It has like little claws and stuff.

The horrendous spider. It disappeared after two days so I'm just going to go ahead and assume that the gecko got rid of it for me.

Because Raja Ampat is a marine protected area, everyone that dives there is required to pay a fee. And you can't fish in certain areas to conserve marine life. I thought this was pretty neat because it's a way to help protect the delicate balance in the ocean.

Even though we just landed and arrived, we went for a refresher first dive in the Blue Hole. This dive site is literally right off the jetty. Step off the jetty and you're in the Blue Hole. It's basically a submarine sinkhole right in front of the resort with an abundance of reef life. Kinda reminds me of the Great Blue Hole in Belize, but much smaller (not that I've ever been there or anything).

We met our local dive guide, Eddy, who seemed friendly but a little shy. Steve, who was also diving with us, said he would warm up in time. It is a requirement that we assemble our dive gear by ourselves for the first dive in order to show them that we actually know what we are doing. Took me a while to remember how to connect everything, but I did it! :) After this first time, the crew will be the ones to assemble everything for each dive. But of course, you do the basic check every time before going in the water.

It's always a good idea to do a refresher dive by the house reef, especially if you're a little rusty and haven't dived in a while. Last time I dived was in the Maldives beginning of March. New gears should also be taken into consideration because you need to get a feel for it before taking on harder dives. I had a new wet suit to try out and figure the weight to accompany it.  It was a 3mm Henderson suit. And I gotta say it's a pretty dang good one! Really easy to put on and take off, even when wet.

At first, I struggled to descend into the depths. But that was probably because the wet suit is brand new with lots of air bubbles in the fabric. The weight that I went down with was 3kg. However, once I start descending I had to add air to stay neutrally buoyant. I later asked Steve (because he's a dive instructor) whether I should drop a kilo, he said I could try but I might be too positively buoyant.

The Blue Hole was amazing! I really regret not having a camera to take pictures underwater. My mom decided not to bring her GoPro because she hasn't learned how to use it just yet, and neither do I know know how to operate it. -_- There were just an abundance of corals and fish. My favorite part in this dive was when I saw this group of silvery fish with their mouths wide open and swimming around and around as if filtering the water for plankton or something. But they don't really look like the kind of fish that eats plankton or algae, so I don't really know what they were doing. I just thought it was funny and cute how they held their mouths open in a big 0-shape. :)

And since there were literally no current, I could see the fish poop suspended in mid-water; streaks of what might have looked like rain on land. At first I was wondering what they are until I saw a fish poop as it swam past me, hahaha! Then, as we were ascending by the jetty, I saw so many batfish under the jetty among its pillars. It was a wonderful sight simply because even under the jetty there were corals growing everywhere and fish hiding among them.

Overall, just a wonderful arrival day!