Under the surface, trees and coral meet ... (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Under the surface, trees and coral meet ... (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)

The blue mangrove of Raja Ampat

  Indonesia: Raja Ampat + Bali - March 2012

Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text: 

In Indonesia, in the Papuan archipelago of Raja AmpatCoral grows at the foot of the mangroves. A unique mixture of terrestrial and underwater life.

Blue water mangrove

It is called "blue water mangrove or "blue mangrovethe blue mangrove. In a few meters of water, life forms that are rarely seen side by side mingle: sea coral and tree roots.

The roots of trees plunge into salt water. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
The roots of the trees plunge into the salt water (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
We admire the corals, in less than 2 meters of water, in palms-mask-tuba. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
We admire the corals, in less than 2 meters of water, with snorkels (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Under the surface, trees and coral meet ... (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Under the surface, trees and coral meet ... (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)

Usually, mangroves develop rather on funds covered with terrestrial sediments, often very muddy, in coastal zones or near the mouth of rivers. The water is generally quite turbid.

But the labyrinths formed by the karst islands of Raja Ampat, in Indonesian Papua, offer a different type of mangrove: the water remains clear and the bottom is sandy, more maritime than terrestrial.

Corals and gorgonians can be seen developing there, right next to the trees!

Dead leaves and roots mingle with coral. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Dead leaves and roots mingle with coral. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
An imposing orange gorgon has developed just under the vegetation. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
An imposing orange gorgonian has developed just under the vegetation. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)

To discover in snorkeling

Underwater, the atmosphere is truly magical! Little current, shallow depth: it is an enchantment for snorkelers (swimmers in fins-mask-tuba).

When we raise our heads, we realize that we are under the foliage of trees, a kind of mangrove, whose roots plunge under the salt water.

Everyone in the water to explore the blue mangrove (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Everyone in the water to explore the blue mangrove (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
A world at once aquatic and vegetal. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
A world at once aquatic and vegetal. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Coral is proliferating in the shade of mangroves. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
Coral proliferates in the shade of mangroves. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
A dead trunk lies beneath the surface next to a coral potato. (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)
A dead trunk lies below the surface next to a coral spud (Raja Ampat, Papua, Indonesia, March 2012)

For me, it was the perfect place for "half air half water" pictures. But I must admit, I had a hard time: I am not good at snorkeling at all.

I find it easier to photograph by bottle diving, immersed under water, well weighted and stabilized with the weights and the BCD (inflatable vest). On the surface, you are tossed around by the swell, even if it is small... Not always easy to frame and adjust your settings at the moment of shooting.

But these few images still capture the magic of the place, unique in its kind.

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More to read:

→ All my dives in Raja Ampat since 2012

→ Raja Ampat: practical information to organize your trip

  Indonesia: Raja Ampat + Bali - March 2012

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  1. We want to dive with you! Thank you for these beautiful images taken on the spot. Yesterday, I saw a fascinating docu' on the life of a "classic" coral reef on TV and I have to admit that we learn a lot every day :-). And that it is beautiful! See you soon, have a good sunday

    1. @Détours du monde : I'm glad to have transported you, Sabrina! I also watched this program last night, it was Planète Bleue, on France 5... The years go by and I am still as fascinated by the beauty of the underwater world. I can't get enough of it!!!
      🙄

    1. 😀 😀 Well, then, I prefer to stay close to the surface in a lagoon, without mangrove or crocodile, with a few stingrays on my feet. It can make nice pictures half air half water, I think.

    2. @TheOtherGirl: I'm willing to try to take some cool half-air/half-water photos with stripes on your feet, but you'll have to be a cooperative model... 😆

  2. Who would have thought it... A mangrove so clear! Wonderful pictures... It's hard to believe that you are not at ease in snorkeling!!! (I can't believe it either)

    Congratulations again for everything 8)

    1. @Nouchka : thank you !!!! It's not that I'm "not comfortable snorkeling", it's just that I'm much more comfortable bottle diving. It's more comfortable in terms of stability and much less physically tiring, especially when taking pictures...
      🙄

  3. I also like this style of photo, half air half water. It's a nice change. The first and the last one are pretty awesome in terms of geometry (the curve of the water in photo 1).

    1. @Bruno: I made my first "half air half water" pictures in Egypt, in November 2011, because I was just getting my special wide-angle dome (without this dome, which is placed in front of the lens, and which offers much more surface than a flat window, it is almost impossible to make this kind of pictures) :
      https://petitesbullesdailleurs.fr/egypte-hamata-plongee-mer-rouge-20111205/
      The mangrove, where the water is calm and the bottom is close, lends itself well to this kind of images. But to get a nice "graphic" wave to give a more dynamic side to the picture is not easy, I must say... You have to shoot, shoot, re-shoot, until you get the desired effect.
      😉

  4. Hum Hum Egypt november 2011, it tells me something ... really nice your photos, thank you Corinne!

  5. great pictures, really this mangrove doesn't look like the ones I visited, so much clearer and with so many corals it's very nice!

  6. Ah that's good for me! I can't see myself going diving far from the coast, completely surrounded by water, at least not for the first time! 😉

    1. It is quite rare to find a dive site where you are in the middle of the sea without anything around. There must be a shoal somewhere, a reef that is almost at the surface. So, in general, we are close to a coastline, an island, or at least a piece of rock that protrudes from the surface...

  7. Raja Ampat? Like in Koh lanta! 😆

    "For me, it was the perfect place for "half air half water" photos. But I admit, I had a hard time: I'm not good at snorkeling at all."

    Personally, I found your photos very successful!

    1. @Pascal: yes, a season of the TV game "Koh Lanta" was shot in the Raja Ampat archipelago.
      Thanks for the compliment, but for snorkeling, I mean it's not as comfortable as scuba diving, to take pictures... 😉

  8. Thank you for this little moment of escape 🙄 !
    Mangroves are magical and are also necessary for other reef ecosystems. Unfortunately they are so threatened all over our planet... Your beautiful pictures are a tribute to their richness.
    Gaylord

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