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:
Français 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.
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!
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.
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
