Where in the World is Pat?

Raja Ampat is truly a diver and snorkeler paradise! Soooo many fish and corals everywhere you look!

Seeing an Octopus on this trip is one of my goals. So far, I have seen two reef octopus hiding in holes on the reef slopes. But I really want to see one in motion, like this video below by Evan Johnston (follow him on Instagram at of___earth ). Evan is an Irish marine biologist, free diver/ scubadiver, instructor and talented underwater videographer. He has been at the Resort for the last 6 weeks taking video, for their future marketing and gave me this video for inspiration!

The Reefs of Raja Ampat are stunning and teaming with wildlife. The guides are super knowledgable of the 35 different dive / snorkel sites that surround the Resort. The guides get such joy in sharing it all with us and point out some of the most unique and tiniest of it's creatures.

Have I mentioned how good the food at Eco Cove Resort is? Everyday you are given a choice of 2 entrees for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Plus they put out a snack every day at 4pm and you get tea/coffee and cake or savory pastry, every morning outing between the first and second dives or snorkels. Here a sampling and some of my favorites!

When Camie and Timothe got engaged I spoke to the Resort and arranged a special dinner on the dock for them and they also decorated their suite. It was lovely and Bosco and I also paid for their drinks that evening. The next day, the Manager of the Resort sought them out, after breakfast and said he also had a special treat for them. I was sitting with them and he has a thick Indonesian accent and what we heard was he was going to meet them at 8 pm and take them into jungle, behind our huts and take them to get coconuts, that come in many colors? We also heard him say they make a special treat, very sweet and we thought he said crepes? We were intrigued, but also curious why at 8pm in the dark and he also mentioned cholesterol?? The rest of the day, we joked about the great coconut adventure they were about to get! Special newly engaged package!

Day 3 started with a trip out to see Manta Ray . Sure enough we saw one in the first few minutes. The only thing disappointing was the amount of trash in the water here - plastic everything. The guides clean up what they can, but it appears to be a losing battle. SO SAD!

Day 1 @ Eco Cove Resort we met this lovely young couple, Camille and Timothe from France. At the 6:30 pm nightly briefing, we found out we were randomly paired with them for the next day's excursion to the famed Melissa's Garden in the Fam Islands, which is about a 35 minutes boat ride from resort. We sat with them at dinner and instantly connected.

Getting to Cove Eco Resort on Yeben Island in Raja Ampat , Indonesia took us three plane rides, a ferry and finally a private boat ride to the resort. We left Perth, Australia on Easter Sunday Morning and we arrived at Cove Eco Resort at sunset on Tuesday night. It is a beautiful spot, but like alot of places in Raja Ampat remote and your biggest cost is fuel / transport to get there and back. We got hit especially hard for having to change our flights on Easter due to the weather we hit in Australia, delaying our departure by a day. But all is good and we are excited to be here!

Monday April 6th is another travel day for us on our destination to remote Raja Ampat . We started the day at 5am to make our 7am flight from Denpasar, Bali to Sultan Hasanuddin Airport in South Sulawesi for our brief layover to connect with our flight onto Sorong, Indonesia.