We arrived at lunch time on Saturday to torrential rain. Despite only having 3hrs sleep over a 40hr period we were determined to not nap. We managed to stay awake for the 5pm briefing to find out what we were doing the next day and struggled through a 7.30pm dinner before a long sleep.
Our second day called for an early wake up, luckily there were clear skies as we set off for our first dive of the day. We arrived near a pier and upon our decent saw a turtle, eagle rays and a million different types of fish. After a quick break and refuel we set off to our second dive site, at two tiny islands.
Day 3 was jam packed with a 7am call time. Our first dive of the day Melissa's Garden which was my absolute pick of the trip! I felt like Ariel in the Little Mermaid, floating amongst some of the most vibrant coral and marine life I've ever seen. Even better was that we had a private tour guide so could go at our own pace and take it all in.
We then stopped off at Piaynemo Island and hiked the 300 stairs to the look out. The view was phenomenonal. Second dive was at Batu Rufus where we saw a mantis shrimp (Doug's favourite animal) and swum in a real mermaid lagoon that was as colourful as a disney movie.
We then stopped off at Rufus Island for lunch and a relax before our third dive at Famwall where we spent most of our time following a turtle!
Doug thought I'd done very well with all of the activities so I was finally granted a rest day. We had a bit of a sleep in, then after breakfast, we wandered to the other side of the island barefoot, snorkles in hand and trailed by a cat who clearly thought she was part of the group.
It felt like we had our own private island with no one in sight, or perhaps a deserted island where we had been stranded haha. Doug and I spent hours drifting over coral gardens, snorkelling until my book was calling.
After such a relaxing day all we needed was... a bump in the road. It turned out our ferry for our last day had been cancelled and our options were either leave a day earlier or pay $1600 for a private transfer. After having no luck with our travel insurers we decided on the less risky option and decided that this would be our last night in paradise.
Another early morning, another set of tanks. Our first dive of the day was at the manta cleaning station huge, slow moving rays sweeping past getting cleaned by their fishie friends. At one point the current picked up and I genuinely thought I was going to float off to sea!
We motored to another island for two more dives. The current didn’t let up and we definitely got a work out!
We rushed back to catch the afternoon ferry to Sorong. However, it almost didn’t make it. A 30 minute delay then 3 hours with no air con (despite being in "first class", packed in like sardines... we were not particularly happy by the end of the ride.
Eventually we got in to our unintended stopover in the shanty town of Sorong... late, sticky and just in time to collapse before our early flight to Bali to see our friends!!
