Our last dive day. We had the option of only one dive and ending the day with a trip to see some rock painting and some flying foxes. I wanted to go, but then I learned it’s a 1.5 hour trip there and 1.5 hours back, and we had a five hour boat trip to Sorong the next day. So I preferred finishing our trip with my favorite dive site and then naptime on the porch.

Dive #1: Magic Mountain
No mantas to say goodbye, but we had such a lovely dive on the shallow pinnacle. Loads of fish and coral. I took a 360 video, just because sometimes I like to have them.

Loads of fish

Brain coral

Post Dive Relaxing
And when we returned to our bungalow I took a 360 there as well. I think I’ll watch it again and again, just so I can remember the sound of the water lapping against the rocks.

I took the second dive off, content to let Magic Mountain be my last dive for a while. I sat on the deck, read, and tried to sleep. But instead I kept thinking, “In three days, I’ll be back in the cold of New York.” It’s always great to go home, but it’s not always great to leave paradise.

Misool bay, with palm tree shadow

Even in an eco-paradise, you get escape the Indonesian trash… or the random solo flip-flops

Scooby Snacks
Don and Frank procured some more bait for shark-feeding in the afternoon. Though, truth be told, Frank – who cultivates fish for a living – had apparently been hoarding bait in his room fridge for the last week. (other people travel with shoppers, wine-connoisseurs, or experts in various aspects of whatever … I travel with fish-lovers and bait-fish-hoarders) So we had a lovely afternoon of shark feeding. Don called his bowl and zip-locked bag of fish “Scooby Snacks” which cracked me up.

Don, Frank, Julie, Cor, their cameras, and little sharks

Frank and his baggie of tuna

A black tip and a camera

“Scooby Snacks”

Evvy, Frank, Don, and a shark

The shark feeding went on for a while, occasionally broken up by changes in the current, entry/exit of various people in the shallows, and the human snack time (“Fourth Breakfast”). I was taking some topside pictures when the staff beckoned me to the jetty where two octopuses danced around a pillar – one big one octopus and one baby one. They were amazing to watch change colors and texture, and I took my eyes from them for one second and immediately lost them in the reef.

There was an octopus down there, but even I can’t find it anymoreAs the sun set and the current changed (again), we found that two bigger black-tips had been attracted by the bait fish and were circling the jetty and into the shallows. Any other group would find this a deterrent for being in the water, but not this group. “Sharks in the water” means “get your camera now!”.

Sunset over the dive jetty

Another sunset photo from the bungalow

Dinner
Our last dinner was a delicious satay bar-b-que (the peanut sauce at the resort was always a favorite), complete with a cake for Eric’s upcoming nuptials.

Dining area

Bar-b-que

Bar-b-que

Eric and Pam’s surprise engagement cake

Engagement Cake

We wrapped up the evening with a slide show E put together with everyone’s photo submissions. It was special to see what each person focused on this last 10 tens, and very special to see the reefs again through the eyes of our photographers. I submitted my topside photos, so I actually had a section all my own; like I’m a real photographer or something!

Waiting for the slide show to start

Slide show watchers: Evvy, Colin, and Nana

Light