City Seahorse, Inc. - October 16, 2008
This newsletter contains:
- Out of the Office October 23 - December 7
-
New Day in the Trip Video
- 2009 Trips / Summary of Trips
- Mike O's New Photo Gallery
- Indonesia / Raja Ampat News
Out of the Office
To book or get information about a trip, please send an email to tours@cityseahorse.com ASAP.
We will be leaving the office Oct. 23 for Indonesia and our two yearly back to back November trips in Raja Ampat. From Oct. 30 to Nov. 24 we'll be on the ship & diving Raja Ampat. Access to email during this time is very limited. From Oct. 23 - Dec 7, replies to your email will be delayed by 2-12 days.
"Day in the Trip"
2nd Video Online
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| Day in the Trip - Silversides on the Reef |
I've added a second underwater video to my "Day in the Trip" series.
"Silversides on the Reef" is also built from video shot during a single day of diving in Raja Ampat. It stars a couple of my fav dive buddies, Bruce Magun and David Bearden... but mostly gazillions of tiny red fish.
Both videos are on a new page:
http://www.cityseahorse.com/underwater-video
We'll do both the dives in those videos on two different 2009 trip routes:
http://www.cityseahorse.com/raja-ampat-halmahera-lembeh-strait-liveaboard-diving.php
and
http://www.cityseahorse.com/rajaampat
Write me at tours@cityseahorse.com
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Summary of Trips
I don't want to bore regular readers by repeating the trip summaries here. It is available for new subscribers (or if you need a reminder) in the August Newsletter at http://www.cityseahorse.com/newsletters/2008Aug18.html
Raja Ampat - Halmahera - Lembeh Galleries
Visit Mike Oelrich's new online gallery from the May 2008 Raja Ampat - Halmahera - Lembeh trip.
http://mikeoelrich.net/Raja_Ampat_Halmahera_Sulawesi_2008/
Mike's gallery has everything from beautiful wide angle scenes with the 1000+ barracuda, mangroves & giant clams to incredible macro pattern images. Mike is a good friend, a regular on these trips and my dive buddy for most dives on the trip where he created these images.
Bruce Yates' photo gallery and slideshow from the same trip was featured in the August Newsletter
More info for our 2009 trip is available at
http://www.cityseahorse.com/raja-ampat-halmahera-lembeh-strait-liveaboard-diving.php
Exciting 2009 Dive/Video/Photo Trips:
All trips include Raja Ampat. Sorong-Sorong trips are 100% within Raja Ampat. FakFak and Sorong - Halmahera - Lembeh trips will spend about 1/2 the trip in Raja Ampat.
I will not be offering spring (USA and Europe spring - April-June) trips after 2009. If you can't join us at other times of the year, this will be your last chance. Spring trips have the advantage of being in Raja Ampat when there are few divers. This year the weather in late May was near perfect and we only saw one other ship during our two spring cruises.
April 22 - May 04: Sorong-Sorong. 12 nights. $4095+
May 08 - May 20: Sorong - Halmahera - Lembeh. 12 nights. $4095+
The May 8-20 trip is a bit of a savings as only 1-way air is needed from Manado. Info about this trip is available at
http://www.cityseahorse.com/raja-ampat-halmahera-lembeh-strait-liveaboard-diving.php
Oct 29 - Nov 9: FakFak/Triton Bay - Sorong/Raja Ampat. 11 nights. FULL
Nov 12 - Nov 23: Raja Ampat, Sorong-Sorong. 11 nights. FULL
Nov 26 - Dec 7: Raja Ampat, Sorong-Sorong. 11 nights. $3755+
More info on Sorong-Sorong 2009 trips is at
http://www.cityseahorse.com/rajaampat
I have a guaranteed single cabin available only for April 22 and Nov 26 trips.
If you are interested in a 2009 trip, send me an email at tours@cityseahorse.comtours@cityseahorse.com.
All 2008 trips are full and fully paid. So no chance of a cancellation space available for 2008 trips.
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| Raja Ampat Marine Protected Area Map Distributed to Raja Ampat Trip Operators by Conservation International larger version |
Indonesia News
In case you didn't know: The US government lifted its travel warning for Indonesia last May. There has been a warning or advisory ever since I dived Indonesia for the first time in 1990. We've never been worried about traveling in Indonesia, but its great to know that US State Dept. agrees with us.
Indonesian airline inspections are increasing with planes that don't pass being grounded until repairs are made... flights more safe for us! This reinforces the idea that travel insurance to cover cancelled flights and rerouting is a good thing.
Raja Ampat News
This map of 7 Marine Protected Areas in Raja Ampat, was forwarded a couple of weeks ago from CI to me as a trip operator specializing in diving Raja Ampat. Click on the map for a larger version.
These MPA's cover many of the areas we dive, but not all of them. In fact some of our very favorite dive sites are not in the MPA's!
Excerpts from the report:
"Modern SCUBA-based scientific exploration of the marine habitats here (Bird's Head Peninsula, Papua) was very limited until earlier this decade when a series of rapid ecological assessments were sponsored by international conservation NGOs (Conservation International - CI, The Nature Conservancy - TNC, and The World Wide Fund for Nature – WWF). These surveys, conducted by several of the most respected coral reef researchers in the world, revealed a treasure trove of marine species, many new to science. As of September 2008, current species tallies for the Bird’s Head include over 1350 species of coral reef fish (including 1223 in Raja Ampat alone and at least 25 endemics known only from this region), 600 species of hard coral (fully 75% of the world’s total and over ten times the number of coral species found in the entire Caribbean), and 57 species of mantis shrimp (including 8 endemic species known only from the Bird’s Head)."
..."Although there has been significant progress in improving the management and conservation of Raja Ampat’s marine resources over the past 3-5 years, there is still much work to be done and the challenges are formidable. Raja Ampat is a HUGE area (50,000 km2 – which is over 50 times the size of Bunaken National Park, by comparison)"
... "Within Raja Ampat proper, the network of seven MPAs was officially declared in May 2007, with the MPA areas selected on the basis of diversity of marine life, presence of rare/endangered species assemblages or aggregations (eg, turtle nesting beaches), current condition of marine resources and tourism potential, resilience of reefs to global climate change (due to factors such as frequent cold-water upwelling), and genetic connectivity with other reefs (especially targeting areas that have good potential as a source of fish and coral larvae for “seeding” other nearby reef areas)."
These NGO's are working with the local Raja Ampat government and villages to start protecting these areas with patrols and by educating the local people. Still it is up to individual divers and dive operators to protect them from diver damage.
We now see damage on some of the most famous dive sites from divers and liveaboards. Still, the diving is so amazing that new divers to the area will not realize the decline. To ensure the best diving for our groups we are dropping some sites from our itinerary and adding new & different sites each year but we don't want to need to do this.
Divers on our trips are expected to respect the corals and critters. SMY Ondina follows the rules which are required to be posted on every ship in Raja Ampat, however there are some ships and groups that do not follow them. If you are concerned about protecting these amazing dive sites, ask your ship's cruise director or captain to see their copy and help them follow the rules to protect the dive sites.
This is only an small portion of the CI report and/or liveaboard rules. If you would like a full copy, email tours@cityseahorse.com and ask.
2008-09 Liveaboard Trips
There are spaces still available on the SMY Ondina 2009 "normal" trips. The schedule is here:
http://www.cityseahorse.com/indonesia-liveaboard-schedule.php.
Contact me for individual or group bookings for 2009 or to start planning for your group for 2010.
If you do not want to receive news and trip notices like this, remove your address from our list by using the Unsubscribe info at the bottom of this note.
Happy Diving!
DebF
Deborah Fugitt, City Seahorse, Inc. tours@cityseahorse.com
6387B Camp Bowie, #308, Ft. Worth, Tx. 76116
Phone: (817) 626-0636
www.cityseahorse.com/rajaampat
www.cityseahorse.com/raja-ampat-halmahera-lembeh-strait-liveaboard-diving.php
www.cityseahorse.com/indonesia-liveaboard-schedule.php