A small rock island off the
coast of Gam, about 10 min. from our resort. During WWII this island was
mistakenly bombed. It was thought to be a Japanese ship as it is nearly the
correct size, about 100 ft. (30 m.) in diameter. The swift currents rushing
past the island appeared to be the wake of a boat. The site is one of Max
Ammer's favorite and is named for his son, Mike
Mike’s
point is one of our most favorite dive sites. It has amazing landscape, rock
island, plateau reef, slope, bommies, wall, soft coral gardens, hard coral
slope and TONS of fish! The east side of this island was one of the primary
shooting sites for a National Geographic magazine photo shoot. The US edition
is scheduled to include a 25 page Raja Ampat article later this year.
The island rises up with walls on two sides from a depth of 130 ft. In
front of the South wall there is always a huge group huge group of sweetlips
(we have counted them to be more than 250 individuals) around a gigantic
boulder. A shelf at approximately 80 ft is a great place to look for small
creatures, such as the pygmy seahorse. Many of the particular species of sea
fan preferred by pygmy seahorses grow on the shelf and our hawk eyed guides
normally can show you 3 different species of Pygmies on a single dive here.
From the shelf, sheer vertical
walls rise up to about 40 ft. The walls are covered with small corals, sponges
and tunicates. Photographers will find plenty of macro subjects on these walls
at night.
The bombing created interesting
topography. Two chunks broken off by the bombing made a shallow tunnel where
it fell beside the island. Golden tubastrea coral, tunicates and soft corals
grow near the surface here.
