Snorkeling and bird watching in Dorey bay of Manokwari

Yesterday I and Paul accompanied David Scott (a tourist from England) to islands in the Dorey bay of Manokwari Papua. We left my bookstore for the Ketapang water taxi station at 9 a.m. The weather was cloudy when the water taxi took us to Mansinam island. I asked the boat driver to land on an empty beach around 1 kilometer away from the village of Mansinam. There were some birds singing in trees neaby the beach. Some mangrove trees grow offshore making them look similar to a small island.

I took off my clothes and began snorkeling. I brought an underwater camera with me . The corals scattered around did not look bright due to the lack of sun light. It was not a digital camera. It was only a film camera that is protected by watertight container. I used around half of the film roll and decided to use the other half on another island.

Swimming and snorkeling in Mansinam island was fun. I was able to locate some corals that I found beautiful. Unfortunately I could not shot them well because small waves pushed my body. Trying to avoid trampling on the corals, I practiced neutral buoyancy. But this made me even more difficult to take pictures of the corals. I could only hope that the photographs would be good enough when printed.
After swimming and snorkeling in southern beach of the Mansinam island, we walked to the village where we visited an old lady who raised Kasuari bird (Casuarius casuarius). She got it when it was still an egg. Now it is a one-year-old Kasuari which is several times bigger than rabbits, other animals that the lady had. In the wild, Casuarius is one of the deadliest animals in the Papua New Guinea island. She feeds the bird with coconut, rice, sweet potatoes and anything that bird can eat.

It was 3 p.m. when we arrived at another island that was smaller than Mansinam. The corals here still looked good. I took some pictures of them using my digital still photo camera. I enjoyed snorkeling here very much although the weather was so hot.
For taking underwater pictures, I recommend Nikon Coolpix AW100/ AW100s. This type of waterproof digital camera can withstand water pressure of up to 10 meters below the sea surface. With its 5x optical zoom Nikkor lens, snorkelers will be able to shoot colorful ornamental fish and coral reef with crystal clear quality. Another digital camera that I recommend is Panasonic Lumix DMC-FT3 whose performance is not too different from the Coolpix AW100.
As a travel writer I provide a  guide service to tourists who want to see the beautiful scenery and interesting places in Manokwari of Papua. If you are interested in traveling around the islands in Manokwari of Papua, you can contact me via email peace4wp@gmail.com. I can arrange a tour and show you around the beautiful scenery of the islands, the colorful corals and the ornamental fish of the Dorey bay. David Scott looked satisfied with two days tour around Manokwari that I provided. He returned to the hotel when it was nearly dark. by Charles Roring
Also read: Snorkeling at the beach of Mansinam island