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| Reef & Fish Diving |
Papua Diving can, by special request, schedule a trip to dive the shipwrecks in the Manokwari / Dore Bay area on the east side of Irian Jaya's "Bird's Head" peninsula. Although there are wrecks all over the Sorong and Raja Ampat area, Dore Bay is protected from wind and waves and has good visibility. You can often see the entire wreck.
The wrecks here are intact, very little has been removed from them even though they sit in shallow water. The wrecks are covered with corals and sponges and are home to many species of marine life. In addition, a very special area we named "Critter's Corner" is one of the world's best areas to find weird and unusual creatures in the sand.
We dive 6 wrecks, mainly shipwrecks but also one aircraft, in the bay during a one week tour. Usually we make multiple dives on one wreck in the same day so that we can see it all. We do 3 dives per day while in Manokwari, usually 2 day dives and a night dive.
Divers meet in Manokwari (via Biak) for the wreck diving, instead of going to Sorong for the camps. Accommodations are in the Arfak hotel, a former Dutch Marine corps officers mess, situated on a hill with a beautiful view overlooking Dore Bay, Mansinam and the Lemon Islands, as well as the Arfak Mountains which stretch across the opposite side of the bay. The hotel is a very basic Indonesian style hotel. Meals are taken at local restaurants, except for a breakfast of bread, fruits, boiled eggs and coffee or tea served in the hotel dining room.
Transportation between Sorong and Manokwari is by overnight ferry. The ferry is a German ship with clean cabins and good food. Divers are transported between the ferry dock in Sorong and the dive lodge by fiberglass boat(s). Please check with us to schedule a Makowari wreck diving trip.
"At first I did not believe the wreck dive stories of Max Ammer,... I do now, if you are a wreck diver or a World War II buff, Irian Diving can satisfy your wildest dreams."
Kal Muller, Diving Indonesia, 1999
The Cross Wreck
One of our favorite wreck dives this shipwreck is marked with a large cross, the landing spot of the first Christian missionaries to Irian Jaya. 200 meters off the beach, the ship stands upright in a patch of white sand in 18m. of water. The wreck, overgrown by hard and soft corals is surrounded by fish life. The ship's lamps still stand in place or lay on the deck, blown down by the explosion. On the rear of the ship one can see two rows of depth charges.
Wreck certified divers can penetrate into the engine room. At night the ship comes alive with corals showing their polyps. Huge Napolean wrasse and humphead parrotfish choose the Cross Wreck for their evening's resting place. We often see 2 huge Napoleon wrasse of 2m. each and 10 humphead parrotfish from 1 - 1.25 m. in length!
P40 Aircraft Wreck
In early 1999, Max found the wreck of this P40 aircraft underwater that was shot down during the war. The pilot's son, who was only 1 year old at the time of the crash, never knew his father and until '99, never knew what had become of him. The son is currently learning to dive and plans to come to Manokwari to dive this wreck in 2000.
The aircraft at 27m depth is in good condition considering the crash and very recognizable. It's tail section and the wing tips came off when it hit the water and are laying nearby.
Shinwa Maru "Friendy Spirit"
Shimwa Maru is the most impressive of the wrecks. Its 120+ m. length lies on its port side starting at 16m to a maximum of 34m of seawater. The ship was bombed while sailing and has huge holes, one on the starboard side and one in the bottom. It is loaded with mine sweeping equipment, technical equipment, car batteries, cables ammunition, sake bottles, etc. some of which have fallen out though the hole in the side. Two diving helmets are especially worth a look and photos.
This shipwreck is not as densely covered in corals as the Cross Wreck, but is home to many schooling jacks and loads of pipefish! The bridge's wooden floors have long since collapsed, and the instruments tumbled to the sea floor below. All is still there. Rows of portholes, storage rooms full of equipment, kitchenware everywhere (even chopsticks) and lots and lots of sake bottles. The Shinwa Maru was a cargo ship, possibly a 1904 British made vessel.
Critters Corner
Max found this spot at the end of a Cross Wreck Dive. While searching for items that could have been blown from the wreck by the explosion that sank the ship, he dived toward the nearby shore. When he ventured out the sand and broken rubble, intuition told him to look closer. Just in front of the Cross and around the corner towards the nearby village jetty, he found several frogfish, many leaffish, devil scorpionfishes, a small dark seahorse, different mantis shrimps and many more. Critters Corner is Max's favorite muck dive site!
This is an outstanding night dive, especially for macro photographers. At night the nocturnal critters come out. You will see plenty of molluscs, nudibranchs, octopus, snake eels and more.
Mellissa's garden |
| Sorong,
Indonesia Office: + Papua Diving Jl. Gn. Gamalama 3 98413 Sorong Papua Indonesia + Phone: +62 (411) 402 660 / 402 661 Fax: +62 (951) 328 038 |
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