Ian and Robyn off Reeflections II passed me the name of a friend, Warwick (Wick), who would help us if we came into the town of Sorong(on the western tip of Papua or Irian Jaya). Wick contacted us and was very keen for us to call in. When we explained that we were transitting and had no cruising permit for Indonesia, he suggested we stop at Sorido / Kri dive resort at an island 40 miles NW of Sorong, where we would meet up with his supply boat, Helena, who would bring out our order.
So that's what we did. Arriving in grey skies and rain we struggled to find a suitable anchorage and eventually anchored in 40 metres of water just off the small eco-style resort of Kri. The resort comprises just six traditional style stilt huts built over the water and is totally focussed on diving. A few hundred metres around the point is the sister resort of Sorido which is more up-market. We went ashore and met the Dutch manager, Maya, who arranged for us to have lunch with the guests and made
us welcome. The supply ship Helena came in and our food and fuel was delivered to the resort jetty.
An issue developed about payment as we didn't know the exchange rate. The staff of the resort, straight away called their base to get a rate and then arranged to hold the payment for Wick. The guys operating the dive boats took the fuel out for us and overall just kept watching us to see if we needed anything. The owner and builder of the the two resorts, Max, came round to meet us (and more importantly oversee the transfer of a new desalinator unit.)
Max is Dutch and a long term ex-pat, and has an wonderful enthusiasm for the area and seems to have a deep love of sharing the area with others. Before building the resorts here he spent months travelling around the islands in a large Zodiac inflatable. With dive gear and compressor aboard he scouted for dive sites and eventually chose Mansuar / Kri islands. The recently built Sorido resort has modern units set just off the beach and are invisible from the water. He gave us a tour around and showed
how much of the furniture is made by themselves with locally milled timber and, all in all we gained the impression that the place is quality driven. Over dinner at Sorido we met some of the guests and the dive leader, James and his partner Helena.
Dinner talk covered our travels and of course, the diving. We were encouraged to come diving and again, they made this possible by offering for us to pay by bank transfer when we get to Australia. Max had earlier showed us the proofs of an article in National Geographic, who came out to do a story several months ago. Apparently this area as been declared the most bio-diverse area on the planet. This information coupled with looking at the stunning article photos, was more than enough encouragement
to stay another day and go for a dive.
The dive we chose was called Sardines, after the large schools of small fish that frequent the spot. A point in the reef protrudes into deeper water and the current passes either side and up into the shallows. We dropped in and went straight down to 25 metres, than finned against the considerable current to get to the point, where the current eased, and we were able to watch the fish life. It was a very good dive but hard maintaining position in the current. Courtney retired early, burnt out from
fighting the current. I ran out of air soon after and Liz and the rest followed shortly. The coral life was stunning and while not the massive schools of fish promised, there were large schools of 'sardines' and many large trevally cruising around. Others on the dive saw several white tip reef sharks and a turtle.
A combination of headaches and tiredness excluded Courtney and I from the next dive but Liz prevailed and came back with descriptions of larger schools of fish, more varsities, and all set in a wonderfully diverse coral garden.
The next day we did some washing and boat jobs to get ready to leave for Darwin or Gove?
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