Training days at Ahe dive resort

May 2, 2010 Leave a comment

Thanks to the training of Rutger, Annet & Maurice our staff learned a lot the last weeks.

Rutger Annet & Maurice  kicked of with an open water training to staff that did not yet have their certificate.

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Congratulations to Stephen Raraawi, Jeksi Manuaron, Polyo Sawaki, Risal Manuaron and Rido Manuaron. All staff on Ahe now have a diving certificate. Even when our staff is not part of the dive team, we still encourage them to dive for their hobby and get to know their unique environment.

Next all staff received a training on dangerous marine life and the first emergency respons if problems occur! Everybody loved this / very interesting!!

Robert Sawaki, Enos Sawaki & Lupiaga Rouw received their advanced training. They will follow further training on rescue and divemaster and will be prepared to strenghten our current dive team.

Then there was a unique training given by Rutger to the dive team, our captians and head of diving materials Yulian. Rutger learned them everything about servicing and repairing their dive gear and that of the visiting tourists if need be. Big big thanks go out to Eddy van Vliet of Scuba Support in Loosdrecht, Rob Dekker of Dive Post in Zoetermeer and Richard Wagenaar! They donated a huge amount of special tools that we need to do the service and repairs.. stuff like that is like gold for us in Papua (not available!!) thanks ever so much!

Our staff loves to learn and will never forget the truly unique experience Rutger, Annet and Maurice gave them!

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Ahe whale sharks sucking on fish nets

April 23, 2010 3 Comments

When diving with the whale sharks at Ahe, you don’t just see one swimming by but they stay at the same location for hours. Sometimes we encounter a few (2-3) but if you are lucky it is teaming with whale sharks.. record stands at 10 individuals during one dive. The reason for them staying at one spot is because they like to suck on the nets of the soft net fishing boats. These boats go out fishing at night using bright lights to attract the bigger fish. They use smaller fish to attract even more. The smaller fish are kept in a big net under the boat and the whale sharks swim up to these nets and start sucking on them. We don’t yet know why. .is it because they can suck the small fish through the maze, is it because the plankton concentration is higher? We have yet got to find out. Here are some pictures of the whale sharks in action…. Ps.. we have found out that the two days after full moon we don’t encounter whale sharks / reason is very simple, because then there is another big ‘light’ in the sky and the boats don’t go out fishing using their lamps. The days after full moon also the visibility gets worse (see the difference in water color in the pictures). Normally we do get up to 50 meters!! We have now set up a partnership with various organisations to find out more about the behaviour of these magnificent animals. Mike and I will stay on one of these fishing boats for a couple of days to see if we can find out more and the dive team will start a whale shark identifying project to see if we can understand how large the whale shark population is and if some of them have been seen in other parts of the world before. More will follow in the course of June. What is also very interesting to see is their behaviour when we are diving with them. It is a policy around the world that snorkling with whale sharks is prefered above diving because the whale sharks are afraid of the bubbles. We see that around here it is completely different. They swim into the bubbles on purpose because they somehow like the feeling, they will even try to ‘gulp’ the bubbles with their mouths. The whale sharks come up to you very close as long as you stay very calm and relaxed and don’t chase them as some torpedo. We see that when we don’t interfere with their behaviour and keep our cool they come up to us. They check us out to around one meter in front of us and then gently choose direction.

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New bungalows on Ahe almost ready

April 13, 2010 4 Comments

some first picks! We used only natural materials and included a private kamar mandi (bathroom) in these spacious bungalows all with view of the beautiful sea.

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Island in the sun

March 9, 2010 Leave a comment

Just a nice picture of Ahe to dream away for a minute, taken by Richard Pelupessy on his dive trip to Ahe Eco Dive Resort Papua.

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Michael, the human stingray magnet, stung for the 5th time by a stingray… a record?

March 5, 2010 Leave a comment

One of the local Dive guides on Ahe Michael Wabes was unfortunate enough to step on a stingray. Not for the first time…. for the 5th time. There are a lot of stingrays of varying sorts around Ahe, but none of us or the other divers ever got stung. Michael appears to be a magnet to these animals. The pain inflicted is of the category … ‘ really ouch ”’  in the first hour to hour and a half after the sting / it went straight through the shoe of his fin by the way. Fortunate enough the medical post at Mambor (15 minutes by boat) offered quick assistence so Michael was back on his feet and diving again within a day. Want to know how to best treat a stingray sting? visit this link.

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Meet our neighbours!

February 18, 2010 Leave a comment

One of the big attractions in the Ahe Dive resort are the residential whale sharks. They are always there / 365 days a year. So if you want a private session with our big neighbours, please let us know and we will welcome you on our island! On the picture you can see one of the bigger Whale Sharks we call Wim together with Diveguide Michael. We named him Wim after Mr. Drs Wim CH Rumbino (minister of tourism & culture Papua Province). His continuos help means a lot to the development of Ahe!

Click on the picture to see a full size view:

Whale shark, Ahe divers, Harlem Islands, Papua

Diveguide Michael and his big friend Wim

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For divers that thought they had seen it all… Ahe Papua Dive Adventure Island opens April 2010

February 12, 2010 1 Comment

Ahe is fully owned by the local community and is developed with the help of the government and kind donations from people & organizations that want to preserve the beauty of these waters for sunset from Ahe papua resortfuture generations. The people of the Harlem Islands (of which Ahe is part) are committed to make this work and believe that eco dive tourism will generate a more sustainable income from their ‘living treasure’ than practices such as shark finning and dynamite fishing. Everyone visiting Ahe as a dive tourist will prove them right.

Your visit to the island is a big support and we can assure you we will do everything possible to give you an unforgettable holiday. Don’t expect any luxury. TV’s, airco’s, swimming pools and that kind of stuff isn’t available on Ahe (nor will be). If however warm and friendly people, pristine diving, encounters with whale sharks, dolphins, sharks, rays, turtles and living Robinson style is your cup of tea and you are an experienced diver… then don’t hesitate.

The accomodation (private wooden bungalows) is basic and in traditional Papuan style. They are clean and (speaking from experience) sleep very well.  The food is good and all diving facilities are in excellent condition. Staff is still being trained on the several tasks of running a dive resort. At this stage we welcome experienced divers that are also keen on helping them in their efforts to learn more about what is required to service tourists. Skills and knowledge on resort management, eco system, diving, dive gear etc.. are all much appreciated!

So how do you get there?
You will need to find your way to the city of Nabire. Nabire can be reached with a short flight from Biak. Biak can be reached from Makassar. Garuda Indonesia services flights straight from Jakarta with a short stop in Makassar to Biak, so does Merpati. From Nabire it is 45 minutes in a traditional boat to Ahe Island. The flight from Biak to Nabire can not be booked via the internet or regular travel agents / we are more than happy to arrange this locally for you.
Costs… Jakarta – Biak (roundtrip around 400 euro) Biak-Nabire (roundtrip around 150 euro)

Michael from scubasignsSo what are you waiting for??
Explore the surrounding waters together with the dive team, drink fresh coconut during your surface interval, enjoy the beautiful surroundings, and watch the sun go down as hundreds of frigate birds return to the island.  Unwinding adventure! Want to come? Please send me an e-mail at dave@scubasigns.com I will answer all your questions and have your trip fully arranged.

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Dive stories from Ahe

January 25, 2010 2 Comments

It has been a while since our last post… even in paradise a lot of work has to be done :-)   The dive team has found many new unique dive locations with beautiful corals and reef fish and are encountering sharks, rays, tuna, dolphins, barracuda turtles etc. on a daily basis. We can also confirm that the spot for whale sharks is definitely something special. They are always there! On average there are three and sometimes more. So if you have dreams of some private time with whale sharks and don’t want to be surrounded by 20 other divers…. this is the place to be.

whale shark ahe papua

One of the curious Whale sharks

We will work closely together with the village close to the whale shark site. Some of the whale sharks are very used to people and they will bump against the local fishing boats and sometimes ruin their nets.. the villagers are fed up with this and have tried to catch two of them last week. Luckily unsuccessfully, but the whale sharks did suffer some injuries. The village will be asked to join in on our project and we will start a program to protect the local whale shark population (there is no sign of migration, they like it there!). Next week Dave will visit the village to talk with the kapale desa and try to accomplish a situation that is good news for both fisherman and whale sharks.

The local government is being very co-operative with our efforts on Ahe. In the course of this month we will receive two new boats to replace the current traditional boat (prauw). This way we can offer our guests more comfort.. and most importantly… save on fuel!. The boats will be used as well to support in regional marine protection activities

All staff on the island is working very hard to get things ready for the first group of divers that will visit Ahe at the end of March. Among the 10 divers that will have the joy of seeing the island and surrounding pristine dive waters are Rene Lipmann (editor in Chief of Duiken Magazine – Holland’s top dive magazine) and Arjan Gunnink (director of eigen wijze duikreizen – the leading dive holiday organization in the Netherlands). Everyone on the Island is thrilled by the interest in our project and very motivated to give visitors coming to Ahe a once in a lifetime experience. As part of the adventure package that we want to offer our guest, we will also visit a traditional tribe in the mountains that would like to welcome some of the first tourists visiting there. Are you also interested to come and visit us!? Please send me an e-mail at dave@scubasigns.com

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