My favorite destinations for snorkeling trip in Papua are the islands of Numfor, Mansinam, and Manem and Raimuti. Among them the best is Manem. However, due to its isolated location, the trip to the island is quite complicated. The south eastern shore of Manem has coral reefs that are rich of marine life. Various species of fish such as the butterflyfishes, damselfishes or anemone fishes, parrotfishes, and sometimes dolphins can be seen around Manem island. Manem is around one hour boat ride from Numfor island. And Numfor is a 20-minute flight from Manokwari city - the capital of West Papua province in the eastern region of Indonesia. Susi Air operates Cessna 208 Caravan that regularly flies from Manokwari to Numfor three or four times a week. This aircraft is suitable for short airstrip of the tropical island of Numfor.
Travelers who want to go snorkeling in Papua need to bring their own snorkeling gear (mask, snorkel, fins, underwater camera). As a matter of fact, I usually lend my flexible water housing to tourists if they want to take pictures of the tropical fish underwater. The waterproof camera case is manufactured by Dicapac and is suitable for various types of pocket camera.
I have visited the Numfor and Manem islands several times and I still haven't explored the whole part of them. I hope that one day I will have the chance to explore these tropical paradise particularly their rainforests and coral reefs. For snorkeling in Manem, we need to go by a motorized outrigger boat in Warido village. Before traveling to the village, we have to buy some gasoline that we will give to fishermen who live at a lagoon of the village. Then, we will start our adventure to the tropical island.
When I was snorkeling with two Finish tourists on 1 July 2011, I saw an eagle catching fish which it later ate at the nearby rock. It was a beautiful scenery which I couldn't photographed. Tropical fishes that live in the coral reef areas of Manem island are more various than the ones that I usually see in the coral reef of Manokwari bay. Perhaps, it is because of the island's isolated location. The trip for snorkeling in Manem is quite expensive but it is worth visiting. I hope that I can go to the island again with some tourists who are interested in snorkeling over the pristine coral reef.
Environmentally Friendly Snorkeling Techniques
Because snorkeling is usually done in shallow waters, we must be careful with the corals. We must not stand on the corals or we will brake them. It takes tens of years for a coral reef to reach a size of our head. If we feel that we have to stand, we need to find sea floor that is only covered with sand. We also have to remember that coral reef is the tropical rainforest of the ocean. It absorbs CO2 gases which we emit every day when we ride our bicycles or drive our cars. We need to avoid throwing plastic wastes into the sea to keep the coral reef and the sea clean.
Also read:
Snorkeling Tour Package for Manokwari
Snorkeling in Manokwari
Snorkeling around Mansinam island
Snorkeling Trip to Raimuti Island
