Before our ship departed for Triton Bay, we had an Early Morning Zodiac Cruise. We left the ship and headed towards Syuru village where we’d had such a remarkable visit the previous afternoon.
View of part of Syuru village from the Creek.
This time, it was much quieter. Because it was near high tide, the mudbanks which had been such a feature of our arrival the previous day were covered in water. We were able to continue up the creek on our right and on our left past part of the village which was just waking up. We exchanged greetings with some of the villagers before crossing to the right hand side of the creek to study the mangroves. The Asmat Swamp is a wetland sometimes claimed to be the largest alluvial swamp in the world. It is a diverse area. The creek we were on was, of course, tidal so the dominant species were the mangrove and the nipah palm which have adapted to a saline environment. For more information about these interesting adaptations, see the Wikipedia articles Mangrove and Nypa fruticans.
The distinctive appearance of Mangroves with the 'root system' lifted out of the water.
Inland, the swamp is fresh-water allowing a wider variation of vegetation to develop. After an interesting cruise along the creek, we returned to the ship at 9.00 a.m. The ship’s funnel was already emitting dark smoke, suggesting that the main engines had been recently started prior to getting under way on the next leg of our voyage – the 283 nautical miles to Triton Bay.
Approaching the special "marina deck" incorporated into the stern of 'Caledonian Sky'.
During the day, there were three lectures on diverse topics but I was still trying to document our earlier adventures and transfer my photographs onto my notebook computer for safe keeping. Later in the afternoon, there was time to visit the Bridge. During daylight when the ship was underway in 'open water', there was an "Open Bridge" policy, so I was a fairly frequent visitor.
View of the Arafura Sea from the Bridge, late afternoon on 1st February 2015.
Triton Bay : Monday, 2nd February 2015
We were still travelling towards Triton Bay when I took breakfast on Monday.
Nearing Triton Bay, early morning, 2nd February 2015.
At 9.00 a.m., I attended the lecture by Lea McQuillan, a naturalist from the ship’s Expedition Team, about the Coral Triangle. By the time this interesting lecture was complete, the Captain had moored at Triton Bay in deep water and the Zodiacs were being made ready to offer a Zodiac cruise of Triton Bay.
Zodiac Cruise
We set off by Zodiac for a network of small islands in Triton Bay, limestone pillars fringed with trees struggling to remain attached. Tidal action had eroded the limestone at water level so as to undercut the pillar, leaving the columns balanced on a much smaller base.
Passing between two limestone islands, showing the remarkable 'undercutting' at water level.
The Zodiac enabled us to examine the trees and flowers on the islands close-up. At one point, there was a cave large enough to actually take the Zodiac inside. The area only seemed suitable for craft like the Zodiacs but suddenly a large passenger vessel appeared, the K.M. ‘Wally Philan’ and sailed right past us. There were at least a couple of hundred local people on the foredeck, the roof of the superstructure and the afterdeck, all apparently delighted to see us, waving and cheering. Our 'local expert', Oswald, from Destination Asia, confirmed that it was a regular ferry service. The 'K.M.', he said, stood for 'Motor Ship' and the name would be the owner's name.
Lots of enthusiasm, not so much Health and Safety.
Ashore in Triton Bay
After lunch, the Zodiacs took us to a sandy beach where we disembarked into water a few inches deep (a ‘wet landing’) The weather was good and there was a narrow beach of fine, white sand leading to the water’s edge, allowing both swimming and snorkelling. But a number of people reported that the pull of the tide was greater than expected and, after a bit of floating around, I found that I was getting buffeted by the tide so I retired to the sand. Later, I walked the extent of the beach with some of the ‘beachcombers’ from the passengers.
On to Andamatta and Kokas
Once again, the ‘Caledonian Sky’ sailed overnight to our next destination – this time Kokas and Andamatta. I’ll tell you more about that area next time.
You can find all the posts on this trip here.
My pictures
Triton Bay.
[Minor revisions, pictures and links to pictures added 24-Feb-2015]
