Mantas--they're like pigeons around here

We are definitely getting spoiled by the diving in Raja Ampat. Matt has joked that we should just sell all our dive equipment when we leave here.

Conrad and his pet turtle. The little guy had no fear (I mean the turtle).

Besides the fact that there seem to be big mantas everywhere, the coral and fish life is hands down the most abundant we have ever seen. We have been enjoying diving paradise with our friends on Field Trip.

Sarah from Field Trip

We did have a hiccup of sorts at a dive site called 'Blue Magic,' known for manta rays. We dove the site with Field Trip (and their guest Kerry). There was a 3-knot current as we were entering the water (it was a lot of effort to hold on to the dinghy and I could barely pull myself towards the anchor line from the back of the dinghy). We had read in the dive guide we had that dive boats sometimes tie a marker to the site to allow divers to descend together, so we anchored our dinghy on some dead coral at the bottom and descended.

After we had been down for a few minutes, the dive master from one of the live aboard dive boats started signaling to Mark of Field Trip and Matt that he wasn't happy we anchored there. His gesticulations indicated he was concerned that manta rays would possibly swim into the anchor line. As Matt had his head turned away to signal to the dispersed divers to come back to the line so we could leave, the dive master took out his knife and sawed through the dinghy line. Matt turned back in time to see the line (and dinghy) floating away. Luckily Kerry was able to grab onto the line in time and prevent it from flying free. The dingy anchor was recovered and everyone surfaced. Matt and I didn't realize until later that Sarah had stayed in the dinghy but if we had not caught the dinghy, it could have drifted along quite awhile, leaving scattered divers in the water.

We were livid and let the captain of the boat know how irresponsible the behavior of their dive master was. They seemed not to care. We always try and respect the local practice when we're diving, so had we known about the concerns for mantas we wouldn't have anchored the dinghy.  But we're still amazed at the overreaction of the dive master. We are also much more aware of the lengths that some people will go to.

Anyway, a picture is worth a thousand words.

A type of sea cucumber (Colochirus robustus)

 

These guys are rare around here.

Matt is becoming an expert at spotting these Wobbegong sharks.

Another a Wobbegong shark.

 

A shrimp busily cleaning out this hole for the resident Goby fish.

The orange ball on our tow line is yummy.

 

Nudibranch (Phyllidia varicose)

These guys are so darn photogenic.

 

Trio of lionfish

 

 

This heron decided to park on our boat for a bit.
Note the proximity to the grill--makes you wonder if
he tastes like chicken

Conrad got this shot of him doing a mating call.

 

A view of mini-Wayag

Waisai musings

Anchorage near Kabui Pass on the way to Waisi

We stopped at Waisai for a couple days to get some provisions. While there, we enjoyed some tasty, cheap eats and took advantage of the availability of Internet and ice-cream. As in Sorong, we (mostly Matt) attracted a lot of attention everywhere, with calls of 'Mista! Mista!'

Over water homestay

Waisai is the up-and-coming provincial capital of Raja Ampat. Eight years ago, the area was covered in jungle and is now a charming town with an abundant fresh market and good collection of stores. It is always a bit of an assault to our senses to come back to civilization after being away for a few weeks. Between the startling bang of firecrackers being set off randomly (we haven't figured out why yet--For Christmas? Just for fun?) and the ojeks (motorbikes--sometimes carrying a family of four) darting around, we get a little overwhelmed.

But it's never boring. While Matt was running errands one morning, a bunch of taxi drivers waved him over and convinced him to have a cup of iced coffee with them. As Matt's Indonesian is, let's say, limited and the taxi drivers didn't speak much English, the time was spent mostly by the men laughing at Matt and taking selfies with him.

Later in that evening, some cute toddlers were roughly throwing a tiny kitten onto the ground and giggling. Matt reflexively said, 'Aww, don't do that!' The kids just gaped at him and their parents pointedly ignored us. A group of young men walking in the same direction as us for a couple of blocks were laughing and, it seemed to me, to be jeering at Matt about his concern for the cat. We obviously have not gotten used to the difference in attitude towards animals, especially dogs, that we have seen in most places outside the U.S.

Raja Ampat Pictures

Bluefin Trevally

We're currently in Waisai for a couple days, getting some fresh produce and enjoying a bit of 'civilization'. Here are some pictures from our time so far in Raja Ampat.

A view of the karsts in Wayag.

Anemone Fish

Peacock Mantis Shrimp

Blue Nudibranch (Chromodoris lochi)

Tassled Scorpionfish

Anemone shrimp 

Raja Ampat

Raja Ampat is renowned for diving. It's also a huge area with relatively few people. So far, we have been to a couple of spots in Wayag and an isolated anchorage called Uranie. Any one of these anchorages could be used as a base for weeks upon weeks of diving. The other day, we were with our friends on Field Trip, talking about our cruising experiences (they have been out six years to our five). We all marveled at how many more cruising boats there were in the U.S. and Caribbean than in this neck of the woods. Here, there are live aboard dive boats, fishing boats, and tourist speed boats. We even met some of the crew from the jaw-dropper Octopus, owned by Paul Allen of Microsoft fame. But, besides each other, we have seen only three other cruising boats in the month or so that we have been in Raja Ampat.

True to its reputation, the diving has not disappointed. The variety and number of coral and fish is impressive. In many cases, it seems the best diving corresponds with strong currents. It is good to have two boats of certified divers and two dinghies so that we can coordinate the best way to approach various dives, including having someone sit in the dinghy during some dives (thanks Mary Ellen and E!).

On one recent dive, Matt and Mark on Field Trip got a good long look at a wobbegong shark who patiently sat still like a well behaved dog while Matt clicked off photo after photo from just inches away. Unfortunately, Matt's footage was lost when the Faux Pro (an Akaso--a less expensive Go Pro-like camera) went missing somewhere between when Matt hooked it onto his BCD and when he got back to the boat. The camera wasn't expensive but finding a replacement in these parts isn't going to happen. I'll save the story about the expensive Ikelite camera housing and strobe debacle for another time. Let's just say that Ikelite is a bad word around here lately.

Since Sorong, we have celebrated Thanksgiving and Mark's tenth birthday. We're waiting to hear from a haul-out facility in Indonesia before we decide if and when we go to Darwin. Something as simple as a price quote gets to be very complicated without a cell phone signal and not speaking the local language.

The Idiot Tax

The first replacement Automatic Voltage Regulator

Our friend Matt Myren refers to The Lottery as the 'Idiot tax.' We apparently have our own version of the 'Idiot Tax' on Perry. Basically, it's the extra money (and time) we spend because we are too optimistic about how well any given boat project will go (and consequently how long it will take and cost). But more so, we really need to learn that if it ain't (completely) broke, don't try to fix it.

This time it was our generator seal. It has been leaking slightly for a couple of months but the conventional wisdom is that a slow leak is not a big deal. We planned to address it the next chance we got (which we thought would probably be Australia when we work on our prop shaft and strut). But, after talking to some knowledgeable local contacts here, we decided to have an Indonesia mechanic take a look since the labor rates would make the whole project much cheaper than getting it done in Australia.  The mechanic originally recommended worked for about $50 US a day but wasn't available right away. Another mechanic, Rudy, also came highly recommended and would still cost a fraction of the price we would pay in Australia.

With our limited Indonesian, Rudy's limited English, and Google Translate, we negotiated a fixed price (starting at 6 million rupiah, we settled on 2.5 million rupiah--$450 US down to $185 US). Rudy started work. It was going relatively well, though he had trouble getting one of the parts off (which is nothing unusual for pretty much anything on a boat). Eventually he came up and said that the seal was actually fine and that the leak was actually coming from someplace else which you couldn't see until everything was apart.  We took care of the leak and Rudy started to put everything back together.

During all this, Rudy was sweating profusely in the hot engine room and at one point near the end had to come up because he was getting dizzy. Matt had rigged up a fan to try to get more air flow and supplied lots of liquids but it is just really hot and humid here and being cooped up in a hole roughly the size of a port-a-potty with half the head room. It's the last place you want to be when the boat is in full sun, less than one degree away from the equator. 

In the late afternoon (he started work in the morning and worked all day except for lunch and a few breaks), Rudy reassembled the generator.  Matt started up the gen to test it. The motor started up and ran but it wasn't putting in any AC power (which is what we use to charge the batteries, desalinate water, and fill our dive tanks). Everyone's spirits sank at that point and the troubleshooting started. To make a long story a bit shorter, one of the windings was damaged during the work and Rudy was able to re-solder it. When we started it up again, he decided to tap on the windings with his screwdriver while the unit was running, to see if it would 'spark' to indicate voltage (why he decided this, we'll never know).  It sparked...and also shorted out the Automatic Voltage Regulator (the fuse that blew apparently wasn't enough to protect the unit).  So now the unit was only producing 310 volts--waaayy more than the 230 V it should have been making.

A NorthernLights replacement AVR has a price of almost $700 US exclusive of shipping. Of course, the price doesn't even take into account that it's nearly impossible to get things shipped here, let alone in a timely fashion.  So we did our best not to strangle Rudy, who actually demonstrated quite a bit of competence up to the point where he fried the AVR. Maybe it was the near-heat stroke that addled his brain near the end. He assured us that he could find a new AVR for a lot less in Sorong (or somewhere that we could get it within a day or two).

He found a Chinese-made model for 1.5 million Rupiah (a little over $100), but we're not sure whether it is beefy enough or whether it will be fried if we installed it. We have been spending the last few days trying to figure out our options for (a) getting the Northern Lights part; (b) seeing if the Chinese-made AVR will work; and/or (c) limping along without a generator until we get to Australia. As we mentioned previously, it's a bit of a nightmare to have parts sent into Indonesia.

While we wait, we pray for sunny days and when needed, run our starboard engine with its recently beefed up alternator to charge the batteries. We were getting a bit low on water because it hadn't rained for awhile and Sorong's harbor was way too dirty to make water. Luckily, the day after the 'Breaking of the Generator' was perfect for battery power and water production. It poured in the morning, giving us the much-needed water, and then the sun came out for enough time to give us a good battery charge. We're good for water for now and have had (knock on wood) an uncharacteristic string of sunny days.

So the exact price of our 'Idiot Tax' remains to be seen. If we had to do it again, we would have waited until Australia where there were better options if things went wrong (which they almost always do). Even if the low-cost AVR works, we have paid into the tax with time spent sitting around sweating and some additional grey hairs. Stay tuned for more...

UPDATE: The new Chinese-made AVR seems to work for now!  We found a slightly beefier model at a bit of a higher price. This was after Matt spent the morning fixing the connections so the generator would start (Rudy and his friend, an expert on the electrical side of generators, were down there troubleshooting the day before and knocked a couple of the starting circuit wires loose). There was much swearing, which was fortunately muffled by the engine room. So, final tally on the 'Idiot Tax': we may actually have broken even or even paid less in dollars ($370 USD versus ? for the work in Oz). However, we definitely paid a hefty bill in time and headaches.

But maybe we learned something...or not (old dogs, new tricks and all that).

Around Sorong

Sorong is not a picturesque city, but it has a lot of energy. It is our first stop in 'Asia' and the differences with the Pacific Islands we have frequented in the last couple years are a shock to our systems. There is much more of everything: supplies, cars, roads, people, pollution, garbage.

Happy Mark with rice and hot sauce.  Added
bonus: It's OK to eat with your hands here!

 

We went to Tembok Berlin (Indonesian for 'Berlin Wall') one evening for some local fare. There are dozens of food stalls lined up offering whole grilled fish and pieces of barbecued chicken. We chose a place recommended by one of the Customs officials, placed our order, and sat down. A young man brought 4 bowls of water and placed them in front of us. Matt asked (using the International hand gesture for washing your hands) whether they were for washing our hands. That was apparently a hilarious question and the whole staff cracked up. I guess it would be like someone going into a restaurant in the US and asking if a napkin was for wiping your mouth (versus, say wrapping your food with it and eating it). We laughed sheepishly along with them.

Homemade firecrackers made from plastic bottles, duct tape,
and some sort of flammable fluid. Very loud.

The fish and chicken we ordered was flavorful and moist. We all took a little too much of the sambal (spicy chili paste) and spent the rest of the meal trying to stop our eyes from tearing up. We have a long way to go before we can keep up with the locals who seemingly pour the stuff on by the gallon. It's hard to believe they have any taste buds left.

Visually inspecting the inside of the cleaned tank for corrosion.

While exploring options for hauling out Perry in Indonesia, we met Wick Alliston. He owns Pt. EON Engineering, which hydro-tests Scuba tanks, among other services. Ours tanks were due, so we dropped them off to be tested and Wick kindly offered to show us how they do it. It was fascinating for the adults and children. He also invited the kids to splash around in the pool with his lovely daughter. He has been a huge help and an invaluable source of local information.

Pressure testing the tank with water.

Tricks for Treats

Conrad is Napolean (I think the others are self-explanatory).

Halloween this year was in the middle of our long haul from Papua New Guinea to Sorong. We had been sailing during the day and stopping at night to avoid the logs that had wreaked havoc on our propeller and engine. We were with our friends on Field Trip again and had hoped to have another beach party like we had the previous year. The beach we found had a great surf but was all but nonexistent at high tide. 

Instead we had 'Tricks for Treats' on Perry. The kids performed a variety of tasks in return for candy. For example, they had to sing a song, do a small play based on parents disciplining their kids, and choreograph dance moves to 'Ghostbusters'. We all enjoyed the evening and were up early the next morning to continue our journey.