Snorkeling with 4 Dutch Tourists

Nemo Fish

Two days ago I had a snorkeling tour with 4 Dutch tourists at Bakaro beach. We left Hotel Triton where they stayed at 09.00 by motorcycle taxis for north-east coast of Manokwari city. It was quite a long ride and we arrived the beach around 15 minutes later. However, we did not walked into the water immediately. We still did some hiking tour through an unprepared road, passing by farmlands that belong to the people in Aipiri village. We also saw a lot of coconut trees that stood along the coastal area. We experienced some rain during the morning walk but it was quite short. After walking for 1 hour, we arrived in Bakaro village. It was a nice place for people who liked swimming and snorkeling because it was located in a bay. The sea was calm and the beach was of white sand. 

Red and Black Anemonefish; and Three-spots Dascyllus

The Dutch tourists changed their clothings to the ones that were suitable for swimming. A few minutes later, they walked into the sea to enjoy swimming and snorkeling. It was a clear water and they were able to see coral reef, fish and other marine life in the water. They took the pictures of the marine environment using Gopro camera.

I joined them one hour later. I used a good pair of swim fins, a set of mask and snorkel. I said to them that I would do some freedivings especially in coral reefs where nemo fish thrive. I found some colonies of nemo. They lived together with three-spots dascyllus and other fish as well. 

Anemonefish in Coral Reef

To take pictures of them, I dived into the depths of 3 to 5 meters and positioned myself to be on the same eye level with the fish. Slowly I approached the nemofish and then pressed the shutter button of my camera. I made a few photos from several different directions. I used Nikon AW 130. It was quite good for taking snorkeling pictures. After spending around 1 hour in the sea, I and the Dutch tourists returned to the beach. 

Charles Roring with some Dutch tourists

We continued our tour to Mansinam island where we visited the cross monument and went hiking to Jesus statue. It was a warm summer day. We made some pictures around the area and then walked down to Air Salobar beach in the south of the island. We stayed there for a while enjoying the beauty of the quite beach. 
We returned to Hotel Triton again at 16.00 local time.

One of the tour participants, had a little wound on his feet. He accidently hit the coral rocks at the beach. There were tiny shards from the coral that stayed in his wounds. So, I called a friend of mine who was a doctor to help take them out. She came with her friends and did a little surgery to take the coral shards out of his wounds. In less than 15 minutes she finished the job. We said thank you and good bye to the Dutch tourists. I returned home again with pictures from the sea that I could share in this blog. - written by Charles Roring
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