written and photographed by Mary L. Peachin
Sep 2001, Vol. 5 No. 10
We had arrived at Wayam after a twenty-four hour ride on the liveaboard dive boat that had departed from Biak, Irian Jaya, in Indonesia. The atoll was so small it was not even a dot on the map, the closest marking on the map was the island of Waigeo.
With a giant stride, we plunged into the depths of the Halmahera Sea. As we dropped down to the reef wall on the western end of Wayam, we enjoyed the feeling of weightlessness. It was as if we were skydiving without speed, wind velocity or the abrupt g-force of the chute opening or bungy jumping without a rope tied around our ankles.
The site of this incredible dive was nameless. Its bottomless reef started in about ten feet of water. Its virgin wall appeared untouched, as if other divers had never seen it. Covered with soft corals, there were sections with sand shoots appearing like avalanches followed by large canyon overhangs that made the topography of the wall spectacular.
Playfully, my buddy and I dived off the top of the wall. Atop a sand chute, we quickly equalized our ears as we plummeted through schools of silver sides until reaching a depth of 100 feet. We loved the feeling of neutrally buoyancy as we headed into the depths rather than drifting the current at a level depth.
But after several “freefalls” we leveled at sixty feet to closely explore the reef. A variety of anemones with schools of clown fish and black spotted damsels swayed in the light current. We saw many different colorful nudibranchs. Lionfish clung to the undersides of cliff overhangs in underwater canyons. Schools of jacks, tuna, and triggerfish cruised the wall while an occasional reef shark swam by. Lobsters and eels hung together in rocky crevices.
The reef wall at Wayam was not a typical location for a night dive. It had no bottom, or underwater landmarks a diver could recognize from an earlier day dive. After spending several hours on four previous dives, my buddy, Peter Matthews, and I decided we couldn’t pass the opportunity to dive the wall at night. We had spent too much time diving off the sand shoots instead of fully exploring its length. Our vision would be limited in the dark, but we knew the night “critters” would be fascinating.
We agreed on a short twenty-minute night dive. We thought Wayam had been the greatest dive during the day, we never expected the ultimate night “critter hunt.” Lionfish were out in force, their poisonous fins swaying in the current. The reef was covered with peacock rays, filefish, large pencil urchins, and banded shrimp, just to name a few. The ugly tasseled Woebegone shark and a green crocodile fish rested camouflaged in a sandy location. Every inch of the wall was covered with a different “critter” or soft coral. An unidentifiable yellow ball, looking like a Christmas tree ornament, appeared unattached to the reef. Perhaps it was a type of algae, fungus or egg sack.
Suddenly, our twenty-minute night dive plan had exceeded an hour. We were neither tired nor chilled; we were totally distracted by the beauty of the wall. After spending more than three hours on this nameless wall off the western point of Wayam, we concluded that this remote reef wall was the most beautiful and diverse site we had ever dived.
Irian Jaya is known for the beauty of its islands and rainforest. Its people, the Dani and Asmat, were known as headhunting cultures. Indonesia has a great deal of diversity, culture, and religious customs. As fascinating as the country might be, my buddy and I will forever treasure our night dive on the gorgeous reef at Wayam.
For further information: www.islandream.com or email mary@peachin.com