We made it to Raja Ampat, our 4th visit here since 2016.
After 3 weeks in the boonies, the first order of business was getting re-stocked with food and fuel. So we decided to pull into the marina.
Early March: A Few Days at Tampa Garam: We opted to go into Wick's Tampa Garam "Marina" on Feb 28. We had been in there on our trip back from Papua New Guinea in 2019, and so knew what to expect. This marina had been built as part of a resort complex that was no longer operating.
There are a few permanently based boats in the marina basin, but not much in the way of a real marina. An ex-pat Australian named Wick (Warwick Alliston) who has 5 or 6 businesses in Sorong (the primary city in Raja Ampat) leased the space to accommodate visiting yachts.
The entry is narrow and has a half-sunk ferry and a controlling depth of about 10 feet at high tide. But Screensaver, with a 2.1m draft, got in with no issues at half tide. Contact Wick by Whatsapp, and he will arrange for someone to guide you in. Ourselves, with a 1.1m draft, and having been in before, we went in on our own.
In addition to managing 2 marinas, Wick also does a lot preventive maintenance for the huge diving industry in Raja Ampat. Tanks, compressors, etc. Plus he knows every tradesman in Sorong, so can be a great source of who to go to if you have a boat problem.
We were surprised to see a big motor yacht in at the marina. It turned out to be a guy I had been chatting with on FB Messenger--exchanging information on anchorages, etc. in Raja Ampat. He was appreciative of the extensive information we post on our website, and so invited all the cruisers (all 3 boats) aboard his beautiful yacht for dinner. Very nice guy, great staff, great dinner. They were on their way from the Philippines to take the boat home to Australia. We enjoyed hanging out with them for a few days.
There are no piers in the marina, just a nasty concrete wall with some tie-points. So you have to med-moor... drop your anchor in the middle of the basin and gently ease backwards and toss your lines to someone on shore. With our twin engines (and a dinghy or two standing by) it was no big deal.
The tide is about 6 ft in range, and the wall you are tying to is pretty broken, so everyone stands off a good 6-10 feet, and uses the dinghy to go ashore. We didn't like tying our rubber dinghy to the nasty wall, so usually left it at the head of the basin on a small dock (careful not to obstruct others' use of the dock).
We arrived on a holiday weekend and the pool associated with the resort (which, unlike the resort, is open) was jam packed. We went one time, but never went back.
This marina isn't very convenient to the main part of Sorong--the route minibuses don't come all the way out to the marina. The only solution is to take an Ojek--a motorcycle--to where the route minibuses turn around. Or get Wick to arrange a taxi. Air conditioned taxi rate about US $10 per hour.
We organized a trip via taxi to drop me at the grocery store, and Dave take the diesel jugs to the gas station, and then pick me back up at the grocery store.
Cat food is scarce out here. Especially cat food the cats will actually eat. All during our cruise thru the Philippines last year I was trying them on different varieties of canned cat food, and they absolutely refused to eat it, no matter what the flavor. So, I kept doing what I had been doing--buying small "Tongkol" (very close relation to Little Tunny in the Atlantic) at the fish market, cooking them, and cleaning them. Here I am having fun again cleaning Tongkol. The cats, of course, are making sure Mom is doing it right.
Diving in Raja Ampat: Since we had to come back to Sorong to renew our visas in a couple of weeks, we didn't spend too much time in the marina. We soon blasted off to go diving with Biodiversity Eco Resort We did a bunch of diving with them in 2016, during their off season. Now, with barely any tourists in Indonesia, they weren't really fully open, but said they could accommodate a few diving days, and we were trying to negotiate a good deal for all of us to dive.
The whole dive negotiation got a little messy, though. Rather than diving as a group together, Yanina off Screensaver declared that she wanted her very own dive guide--to stay with her, at her side, the whole dive. She had had a couple of scares while diving recently, but desperately wanted to see what everyone was raving about under the surface in Raja Ampat, but she was also scared. Dave, on the other hand, wanted a guide that would range around and find critters for him to take pictures of. And Biodiversity only had one guide at that time. So we ended up splitting into 2 groups, diving separately, and couldn't negotiate much of a deal on price. So we didn't dive as much as we wanted to. But we did get a few dive days in.
Legendary Cape Kris in the Background
Kabui Bay For A Few Days: After we finished diving, we left Screensaver at Biodiversity and went up into Kabui Bay. We had gunk-holed a spot in the dinghy in 2016 that Dave really wanted to take Soggy Paws into...a very shallow sand spot unsuitable for monohulls. 00°25.05'S / 130°36.86'E
A River Trip: Another adventure we had in Kabui Bay is a dinghy trip up a river on the north side of Kabui Bay. We anchored the big boat off the river at 00°19.31' S / 130°35.75' E in about 8 feet of water (shallows slowly, pick your depth). Took the dinghy as far as we could go up the river... about 2-3 miles.
Stay Tuned for Part 2 of our Raja Ampat Adventures!
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