For the morning of day 5 we will wake up in yet another beautiful location with lush jungle creeping down to the waters edge and coral reef abundant below. The area of Yangello provides some wonderful dives, the first dive we will do will be Mayhem. As the name suggests we can often have a huge abundance of scooping fish life around this site, with the right drop we will fall through a wall of fusiliers and then arrive down onto a sloping reef at the bottom. This dive site has a flat top and is a typical seamount of Raja Ampat, the shallow reef on the top is a great display of hard corals, with common sightings of wobbegong’s and black tip sharks. In the deep, grey reef sharks can be sighted, both wide-angle and macro can be shot at this site, or you can just sit back, relax and enjoy. We will drop for our second dive off the island of Gam, in the channel between Gam and Yangello. Citrus Ridge dive site is a favorite of many, with citrus coloured soft corals hanging from the rocky substrate, when the current is running you will see them in there best display. This site is home to schooling barracudas and jack fish, also home for the yellow bargibanti’s seahorses and is set very close to mangroves which provide the perfect opportunity to capture some unique photos, that typically represent Raja Ampat. From Yangello we will travel a short distance over to Arborek island a small village island located in the centre of the Dampier strait. This island from the months of September/October to April/May can be a hotspot for reef mantas. Depending on the conditions and season, there are various dive sites to choose from here and we will pick the most appropriate for the day. The dive beneath the Arborek jetty can be a wonderful option (also good for a night dive), wide angle photography here is perfect to capture the unique jetty seascape and schooling fish life. We will also head on to the Island, were we can visit non-profit NGO Barefoot Conservation's land based operation and experience the local village life of Raja Ampat. The local lady’s of Arborek village are talented crafts woman, and weaving is one of their specialties, from bags to hats, with the most spectacular being a hat weaved into the shape of a manta! In the evening we will have a presentation about Manta rays from one of the Marine Biologist working for Barefoot Conservation, so everyone can leave the trip feeling confident with the identification process between reef and oceanic mantas. (3 dives)
