Asia 2024

The rest of our days in Raja Ampat were unfortunately a bit sabotaged by the ear infection. After writing the previous blog post the ear actually became much worse at night and in the morning we hitchhiked a boat to Waisai as some people were leaving. We visited a local health center which cleaned the ear and diagnosed a fungal ear infection, giving me medication. The visit was even free as it was a public health center. :)

Not sure if that helped though, the ear kept going worse for two days and then improved on the same day as our departure time came. After the boat ride to Waisai and a ferry to Sorong we decided to still visit a specialist doctor.

First hospital did not have an ear doctor working today, but they pointed us to an another clinic. In the brand new clinic we found a professional-feeling doctor who spoke perfect English and diagnosed us both. I got to see inside my ear on a screen, which was an interesting experience. The ear condition was also interesting, there was some granulation (kind of scar tissue) growing and inflammation still going on. The doctor cleaned the granulation tissue with multiple tools and gave me antibiotic drops, so now I expect the situation will improve. Still need to do a control visit to an ear doctor in Thailand.

Sorong seems to be an interesting city to visit, we also walked through a local market, a souvenir shop and a pizza restaurant (oo, western food). The small amount of tourists visiting in this remote city seem to only take the direct route from airport to ferry harbour and the islands, so anywhere else in the city a white guy is something strange to the locals. All the kids are wanting to say hello and run after you, and the adults seem to do the same. Everyone is friendly though and not doing that for money like in popular tourist restaurants. :)

After Raja Ampat many things feel strange. Like having a shower, especially a hot one. Or having a room with a lockable room and no rats or lizards inside. Or having air conditioning. Or having to use pants and shoes. Takes a moment to adapt back to the civilized world. :)

I already miss Raja Ampat though, definitely need to come back. The diving waters are unbelievably good and life on the islands is interesting.

Yesterday we moved to a new homestay, just across the sea to opposite island. Not sure if that was a good move, but that's how I originally booked it, one week in the first one and some days in an another one. This one is even more in the jungle, houses are nicer but otherwise the atmosphere is a bit more boring.

While the previous combination of homestay and a diving center felt like a liveaboard diving boat on land where you get to know everyone and do things together here it's a bit more privacy. No common dining room, the food is delivered to each cottage to eat on own balcony watching the sea. Technically nice, but I still liked the common room option more. Also the food is very westernized and mostly from some frozen stuff, when the previous homestay was making much more local fresh home food.

Also, my previous ear infection returned and this time much worse.. Well, still have the antibiotic drops and we are also taking another antibiotic for malaria prevention which should also work on ear infections, so I expect it will heal soon. The nearest doctor is far away in Waisai, so have to survive until the trip home on Thursday. If it gets worse will make a doctor trip by boat of course, but it should heal with the medication we already have. Iryna has the same thing, just more mild.. Typical after tropical water diving and tropical climate.

The infection and the slight boring atmosphere with the place with no much to do meant we basically slept the entire day. Let's see if tomorrow have power to do other things. We walked to the nearby village through jungle though to see around and visit a small shop.

Just one dive today, with nothing else special than a big group of meter long barracudas that let us very close to them. And dolphins on the surface before the dive and manta rays afterwards, but neither of them we unfortunately saw underwater. :)

This was the last dive for now in Raja Ampat, but I think we will do a couple more on Wednesday. Tomorrow we should move to an another homestay, just on the next island though.

Same program today, just less dives. One afternoon dive for both of us and a night dive for me, as Iryna is not that big fan of them. Random fish and animals, nothing special. There are also small baby sharks swimming under our house. :)

Also our roof seems to have someone living in, a rat. The animal was making noise all night, probably having a nest-building project inside the roof. We woke up multiple times at night, trying to find with flashlights what is making the noise. In the morning I finally spotted it, staring at me from the roof like you can see in the picture. :)

The locals came to hunt, but without success. I think the rat was smart enough to escape well before that...

Diving day again, 2 times in the morning and one more in the afternoon. The morning destination was Cape Kri, where most amount of species and biodiversity in the world has been counted. It did not disappoint, a lot of marine life from turtles to sharks and a million small fishes and beautiful corals. Also a jackfish tornado. :)

In the afternoon we did one more dive just near our home pier, and that one was equally great. The was basically everything, from sharks to rays and turtles. Also the endemic Raja Ampat shark Wobbagong, the "bearded" guy in one of the pictures sleeping in a cave.

More diving done, now in very strong current and surrounded by million jellyfish. They unfortunately are also stinging ones.. I now have burns in leg and throat, which seem to be healing fast.

We also did a night dive and this time selected long wetsuits for jellyfish protection. In the darkness there is enough things to care about without trying to also avoid the stinging jellyfish. :)

Otherwise our daily program here follows the same form. Wake up at six, dive, have a nap, maybe dive, go to sleep. :)

First diving day done. Three turtles, multiple very funny batfish that decided to become our pets and follow us through the dives swimming around us and a shadow of a big manta ray that was unfortunately a bit too far to be clearly seen or photographed. Also a bearded shark, that is obviously typical to this area, it was sleeping under a coral. :)

So, there's marine life. A lot. And the water is clear, so I'm looking forward to the next dives.

Today the afternoon and evening were rainy, so not doing that much else. Just having a nap and spending time in the cottage, Iryna having some school lessons and me looking at some work things.

Arrived, after a long travel. First two flights to Surabaya and Makassar, a tiring four hour layover at the airport, departure at 03:35 to the last flight leg, a taxi to ferry port, 2h ferry and 2h motorboat ride and we are finally in this remote place called the last paradise. :)

Just woke up from a nap, hard to say much anything yet. The place is extremely beautiful, the sea is clear and full of life and we signed up for our first dives tomorrow morning. Can't wait to see how it is.

The nearest shop and restaurant are in Waisai 2h boat ride away, so we need to rely on the common cooking of our homestay. The lunch was not bad at least, although just simple rice, eggs and some kind of vegetable cakes. Water bottle would have been nice to remember to take with us, now we need to fetch water cup by cup to our bungalow. :)

Bali airport, ready for our two flights and boats towards Surabaya, Sorong, Waisai and finally Raja Ampat.The morning was just spent by packing and getting to the mainland by boat from the island.

I also did a quick visit to a local doctor on the island, to get antibiotic drops for ears. Seems like my annual ear infection after first dives is starting again, so it was better to get medication immediately before going to the jungle.

At least the doctor visit was fast. Half an hour after I started googling for a doctor and sending him a Whatsapp message I was already back from the doctor with the drops. He was a typical island/village doctor, a nice guy having a small reception room at his home yard. :)

Today was a bit more lazy day, just exploring the island a bit. We had an excellent back massage at one of the high-end spas of the island, drove around with a scooter having a couple of cold mango juices and that's it. :)

Tomorrow will be a long day, as we should move back to mainland, to the airport and have an overnight flight towards Raja Ampat. After the flight it will still be a ferry and boat before we reach our next stay. Wonder if there will even be Internet access as it's really remote..