December 5, 2016 - December 16, 2016

With plans for our international travel to come to a close soon, we both decided we had to do another trip on theSamambaia. This time we decided to try for a trip thru the Banda Sea. This post has a ton of photos, so we've separated them into different categories below.

days one hundred and seventy thru one hundred and eighty-one: march 7, 2016 thru march 18, 2016

Oh yes, we're back. It didn't take much convincing for us or even Jonathan's parents, to dive Raja Ampat. Hey, we know what we like, right? Similar to our first cruise, we spent 11 days on the Samambaia exploring the Raja Ampat area with the same crew we've grown to love. We got spoiled again and pretty much had the boat to ourselves - it was us, Jonathan's parents, and our cruise director's parents. Not bad, eh?

days one hundred and seventy thru one hundred and eighty-one: march 7, 2016 thru march 18, 2016

We can't do a post about Raja Ampat without some video of the incredible world beneath the surface. Enjoy the videos! Photos provided by Gian Paolo, the owner of the Samambaia.

days seventy-six thru eighty-seven: december 14 thru 25:

On our first day, we set course thru the Dampier Strait. Johannes spent several years on the boat Pindito (the original live aboard that discovered Raja Ampat for diving), which had a well-known marine biologist on board. He learned how to spot and approach large marine animals. He proved his skills on our first day, allowing us to spend time with a pod of 100+ spotted dolphins surfing our bow wake, several bryde's whales, and a second pod of 100+ spinner dolphins. Definitely a great sign that this was going to be a great trip. 

days seventy-six thru eighty-seven: december 14 thru 25:

We decided to break up our 11 day trip into three separate posts. The first is about the boat and the crew, the second highlighting our land excursions and the third specifically diving. Enjoy!

After barely making our flight to Sorong, we were greeted by Gian Paolo, the Italian owner of the Samambaia, the liveaboard we would spend the next 11 days on. Samambaia is a brand new Phinisi, which is a traditional Indonesian wooden sailing vessel.  

day seventy-three: december 11, 2015:

After a casual wake up, we had another excellent breakfast at the Temple Lodge and headed to Ubud, where we stayed at an awesome Airbnb. Our host, Heather was from Australia and had built a large modern Javanese joglo overlooking some rice terraces just north of the center of Ubud. It was simply great. It was close enough to the center of Ubud to explore town, but also far enough away to enjoy the peace and quiet of the countryside. 

day seventy-one: december 9, 2015:

Traveling from Gili Meno to Bingin was one of the longest transit days we've had. Not just time-wise, but the combination of traveling by boat and by car. First, we caught the 8:50 AM public boat from Gili Meno to Gili Trawangan. There we waited for the 11:30 AM fast boat to Padang Bai. We arrived at Padang Bai around 1:45 PM and boarded a small shuttle for the 1.5-2 hour drive toward Bingin. We somehow ended up in a small van fit for eight passengers, but the driver squeezed ten people in. While in transit, the driver stopped two times and swapped passengers with other vans. Needless to say...it was a cluster.

day sixty-eight: december 6, 2015:

We spent the morning in transit driving to Bangsal to take the boat to Gili Meno. We had found a deal on Agoda for a steeply discounted room at Seri Resort on the northeast side of Gili Meno. I wasn't quite sure what to expect as we took the horse cart from the port to the hotel, but turning the last corner into the hotel, I was pleasantly surprised. Seri Resort is a beautiful resort right on the beach with a pool, the hotel reception and restaurant just behind. After the half day of transit, we spent the rest of the afternoon by the pool.

day sixty-six: december 4, 2015:

Today we rented a scooter from our hotel and explored around Kuta Lombok. We've heard from a lot of people that Lombok is what Bali was 30 years ago. First we stopped in town, which is just a small main intersection with small, simple shops and restaurants leading away from the center. Our friends, Zak and Gena, recommended a small place called The Corner, where we had some great smoothies and sandwiches. After, we headed west and explored three nearby beaches - Mawun, Mawi, and Selong Balanak. The road to Mawun was a small dirt road leading off the main road. We weren't too sure what to expect, but once we arrived, it opened up into an open cove with an incredible beach. There were only maybe five other visitors there and only a few kids trying to sell us pineapples.