The marine environment along the shores of Arfak mountains is still covered with very good coral reef. It is a nice location for snorkeling and scuba diving. In my previous articles, when I talked about Arfak mountains, the main topics will be birdwatching, the magnificent birds of paradise, the vogelkop bower bird or the protection of tropical rainforest of New Guinea. In today's post, I will be writing about the beauty of the underwater world of the waters of Arfak mountains.
On 17 August 2011, I, accompanied by Kosal Welerubun (as boat driver) and his beautiful daughter Anastasia (as boat navigator), guided 2 Dutch tourists to the Angresi beach of Arfak mountains. We went there by an outrigger wooden boat. It took around 30 minutes to reach the coral reef. When we arrived there we had a small tour along the shore to find a good location for snorkeling.
I would say that all of the corals in this area are still in their beautiful shapes. Angresi is quite far from Manokwari harbor which is always busy with cargo and passenger ships. I didn't see plastic wastes drifting on the surface of the sea water. I didn't see any broken corals caused by human activities either. The coral reef of Angresi consists of various species of hard and soft corals. Some of them are table corals, brain corals and staghorn corals.
It was the first time I used my underwater camera for taking pictures of the tropical fish and the reef. I was very happy with the results. I think I would write more articles about the marine environment of the coastal area of Arfak mountains to promote it as snorkeling destination in Manokwari. When I was snorkeling, I was able to shoot some reef fish using my underwater camera. Some of them are surgeonfish, lined bristletooth and damsel fish.
After around 1 hour snorkeling over the pristine corals, suddenly I was called by Mr. Welerubun. He said that he saw some dolphins. I immediately swam to him and climbed the boat again. The dolphins were swimming away from us leaving the Dorey bay to the open sea. I took my digital camera and aimed it at them. I zoomed up the picture and pressed the shutter button. I could still make some pictures of the dolphins. For me watching the dolphins that day was a nice bonus in addition to snorkeling at this new site. I think will bring more tourists here in the coming months.
If you are interested in visiting Manokwari and snorkeling in this Dorey bay, please contact me (Charles Roring) via email: peace4wp@gmail.com or by whatsapp to: +6281332245180.