{"id":6782,"date":"2019-12-12T01:54:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-12T01:54:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=6782"},"modified":"2019-12-12T07:58:35","modified_gmt":"2019-12-12T07:58:35","slug":"natures-cathedral-wayag","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/?p=6782","title":{"rendered":"Nature’s Cathedral – Wayag"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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We\u2019re very excited to visit Wayag as we\u2019ve heard so much about this iconic northern area of Raja Ampat. While we were back working in Sydney we gazed enviously at the photos from our cruising friends who\u2019d come this way and dreamed of the day we could be here. And now we are!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Wayag is about 100NM north of Sorong, so we break the trip up by doing overnight stops at Besir Bay on the south side of Gam Island (rapidly becoming a favourite anchorage) and then the picturesque channel between Batangpele and Minyaifun Islands. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The morning sun lighting up some unoccupied homestay huts at Minyaifun Island<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

But before we get to Wayag we have a line to cross. No, it doesn’t involve insulting each other, it’s the other line. THAT line. The equator.\u00a0 It\u2019s my third and Bruce\u2019s fourth time by boat, so we\u2019re getting a bit blas\u00e9 about the whole deal – but it\u2019s a good excuse to crack open a beer and send a small libation Poseidon\u2019s way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Crossing the line – probably a few more of these in the itinerary (beers too!)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Wayag doesn\u2019t disappoint. It\u2019s simply stunning, comprised of hundreds of limestone karst islands creating a maze of waterways and inland lagoons nestled in clear blue coral-filled water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Approaching the entrance to Wayag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Phinisi at anchor in Wayag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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such stunning scenery<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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idyllic comes to mind..<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Early morning is my favourite time, just as the sun\u2019s rays are creeping over the tops of the peaks. It\u2019s absolutely quiet and still, as if the world is holding its\u2019 breath before the day starts. Surrounded by towering cliffs reflected in the stained-glassy water it feels like we\u2019re in the midst of a giant natural cathedral. There\u2019s even an organist in the guise of a crow, letting out his soulful \u201cCawwww\u201d that echoes around the anchorage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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dawn in Wayag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Ahh, the serenity…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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And sunset is just as good<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s plenty of places to anchor here, and plenty of room. Unfortunately \u201cJams\u201d are just leaving as we arrive, but it means we can take their prime spot off a beautiful sandy beach. It\u2019s idyllic, but it turns out not quite so private as we initially thought – it\u2019s also the preferred site for the live-aboard boats to celebrate their final night in Wayag. Depending on the budget, these range from all-out swanky setups complete with tables, chairs, fairy lights and candlelit dinners, to the basic beach barbecue with guitars around a bonfire. It\u2019s quite entertaining so we\u2019re happy to stay put.  Apart from the tourist boats, there\u2019s very few other yachts here – \u2018Sarabande\u2019 are here when we arrive and pass on their local tips, but they\u2019re heading back to Waisai, so as far as we can tell it\u2019s just us and another Swiss yacht in the next bay. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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our ‘not-so-private’ beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Toucan basking in Wayag<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We spend a week soaking up the atmosphere, exploring the waterways by dinghy, snorkelling and kayaking, and of course doing the obligatory climb up Mt Pendito. It\u2019s steep and the last section is definitely challenging with ropes to assist the climb but we make it up (and down, just as daunting!) and it\u2019s definitely worth it for those glorious views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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How about these views?!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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The intrepid climber – I think he’s lost a few kilos!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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the obligatory selfie at the top!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We do a couple of dives at \u201cBommie Bowl\u201d and \u201cRidge Rock\u201d. We don\u2019t have accurate tide data for this area, so getting the timing right for slack tide continues to be a hit-and-miss affair (mostly miss). We\u2019re quickly discovering that trying to gear up in the water is hopeless – by the time we\u2019re ready to descend we\u2019ve drifted off the dive site, so the only way to do it is to gear up in the dinghy, drive up to the entry point and do a \u2018negative\u2019 entry (backward roll off the boat, no air in the BC, straight down to the bottom). It\u2019s a pain to have to tow the dinghy but it\u2019s the only way to do these dives safely.  As elsewhere in Raja Ampat, the coral and fish life are extraordinary, it\u2019s just not easy to photograph them when you\u2019re flying along in the current! We see blacktip reef sharks, turtles and masses of fish of every variety.  I spend most of my time after each dive poring over our identification guidebook, trying to find yet another new-to-me fish. It\u2019s certainly a diver\u2019s paradise here in Raja Ampat and we\u2019re only just beginning to scrape the surface of the hundreds of possible dive sites. I think we could be here a while\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We\u2019re very excited to visit Wayag as we\u2019ve heard so much about this iconic northern area of Raja Ampat. While we were back working in Sydney we gazed enviously at the photos from our cruising friends who\u2019d come this way and dreamed of the day we could be here. And now we are!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6782","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-svtoucan"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6B46t-1Lo","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6782"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6786,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6782\/revisions\/6786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6782"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6782"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/svtoucan.com\/svtblog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6782"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}