There is an on board newspaper of sorts that outlines the coming events and has a few other tidbits in it. One of those is the weather report. Tuesday 13 September Partly cloudy with some rain in the afternoon. High 82 F/27 C. Low 79F/25 C.
That sounds survivable.
We are in Cenderawasih Bay Indonesia. Cenderawasih Bay is Indonesian for Bird of Paradise. The island of New Guinea looks like a big bird, and we are in the neck part just below the head. The Auri Islands are part of a maritime park that encompasses about 30 square miles and has some of the most pristine coral reefs in Indonesia. And we get to swim on them!!!!
To disembark everyone from the ships we are broken out into groups and loaded on the zodiacs in regular intervals. Apparently it’s “FAIR” to rotate everyone so I’m not always first. We are transported to the beach and we get the opportunity to get right out to the reef. It is about 100 meter swim out to where there is a drop off and the coral is alive with a huge abundance of every kind of fish you can think of and many you have never seen before. The water temperature is about 27 C so you definitely get tired before you get cold. An hour and a half of snorkeling and enjoying ourselves and we were kicked out of the water to catch one of the last boats back to the ship.
That was the morning swim and it got better on the next island, the next reef. The coral was better. The fish were better. There were fewer people around so even the limited competition we had in the morning was better. And finally we got to swim from a snorkel platform so we didn’t have to “waste time” getting to the good stuff. Slip into the water and WOW! The snorkel platforms were set up about 300 meters apart and against a mild current took about 45 minutes to swim to the opposite one. Photos, stopping to watch fish and look at coral meant it was not an arduous swim at all. The trip back took about a half hour and again we were on one of the last boats to go to the ship.
Enjoy every adventure you can and get your money’s worth it is so much fun.
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