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Sunday, July 10, 2011

Snorkeling in a tropical island of Manem

I was traveling to Numfor island last week. It was really a nice experience. I guided two tourists from Finland. They were Marko and Rita Laakonen. We went there for some snorkeling and birdwatching tours. Numfor island has a number of places whose underwater environment is covered with pristine tropical coral reef. One of them is Manem islet. Tropical fish are abundant in the waters of this island. We went there by an outriggered wooden boat that was powered by a 15 horsepower outboard manufactured by YAMAHA. The sea surface was quite rough due to strong wind that was blowing from the south.
It took more than one hour to reach the islet. Immediately after landing on the white sandy beach, we started snorkeling over the coral reef that was rich of coral reef fish. Thousands of species of reef fish could be seen and photographed at the depths between 1 to 5 meters. The Finish tourists used a Canon pocket camera that had been protected with a flexible water housing manufactured by Dicapac.
The underwater picture below shows how two reef fish, probably, the Eastern Triangular Butterflyfish, were swimming away from the snorkelers. Besides snorkeling, Numfor is also a great place for birdwatching. There are parrots, hornbills, dove, and kingfisher that live in the island. The Finish tourists really liked birdwatching and butterfly watching in Numfor island.
As a tourist guide, I have been promoting Numfor island and Manem islet as tourist destinations since last year. I hope that through this project, the indigenous Papuan people who live in Numfor can get economic benefits from this eco-tourism program so that they will not be tempted to use destructive fishing methods that really harmful to the pristine marine environment that still exists around the tropical island. 
Manem islet is a small tropical islet in Indonesia. If you want to visit this islet, you need to fly to Denpasar or Jakarta. After that you can take a domestic flight to Manokwari - the capital of West Papua province of Indonesia. From this city, I can guide you to the islet. If you are interested in snorkeling in the tropical island of New Guinea, please, contact me via my email: charlesroring@gmail.com, I will be happy to arrange your trip and guide you around.
Also read: coral reef in Manem islet

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