The trip to Fam Island had been described by outgoing guests as the highlight of their stay. With that recommendation, we were all very keen to go. Brian staying at Yenkoranu next door managed to negotiate a deal for IDR1m per head including the long boat ride and 2 dives. The extras included a stop at Manta Point (if we weren’t already diving there), going to a lookout, food and water.
We had cakes at breakfast at 0630 at Yenkoranu as our breakfast doesn’t start that early. Then we set off soon after 0700.
It was a wet and bumpy ride towards Fam Island. We stopped briefly at Manta Point where the crew had spotted some mantas. We hopped in and I saw some dark shadows in the deep. Others had a slightly better glimpse but it was fleeting.
From there we went to a high lookout at Pianemo which gave us a view described as mini Wayag. Wayag is the iconic landscape of Raja Ampat as seen in many brochures but it is rather more difficult to access.
We did our two dives with a lunch break in between on an island where there were a couple of monitor lizards hanging out. You can read about my dives here.
On the way back, we stopped at Arborek Island which appears to be a base for the conservation work conducted by the Umbra research vessel (the mothership is very distinctive looking while the little offshoot is very cool looking). They are searching for and tagging mantas. Dream job for scuba junkies! Arborek was extremely well kept unlike most badly-littered Indonesian villages. I could quite easily live there!
We finished with some photos on the white sandbar near Pulau Kri.
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- View from the lookout at Pianemo.
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- View from the lookout at Pianemo.
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- At the lookout at Pianemo.
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- At the sandbar near Pulau Kri.
