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WINTER 2016
A
misty fog shrouds the Arfak
mountain range. Silhouetted
against an indigo sea, these
mountains evoke the feeling of
a place where time has stood
still. An undulating landscape
of waving palms, white sandy
beaches, mangrove swamps and massive coral
limestone cliffs embraces a peculiar wedge-shaped
bay. Located in the eastern fringe of the Indonesian
Archipelago, remote Cenderawasih Bay harbors secrets
of the region’s geological past and tectonic evolution.
The bay is easily recognizable on the map: It
occupies the northeastern coastal area of West Papua
and somewhat resembles the neck of a bird. Its huge
assortment of marine life populates the various types of
coral reefs found here: fringing reefs, barrier reefs, atolls,
patch reefs and shallow-water reef mounds. The fringing
reefs are the most abundant and have been scientifically
documented as the last of the remaining pristine reefs in
the world. Recognizing the bay’s significance, in 2002 the
provincial government and Conservation International
established Taman Nasional Teluk Cenderawasih
(Cenderawasih Bay National Park) as a marine protected
area, the biggest in Indonesia.
The management plan for the park established 14
tourism zones. To date, human impact is minimal, as
there are only few tourists per year and around 20,000
inhabitants. It’s possible to travel the entire length and
breadth of the park and see only a few locals. Modern
developments are almost nonexistent; there is no
water sports center, Four Seasons or Hilton. But on the
geological time scale, massive changes have occurred
over the millennia.
Between 3 million and 14 million years ago, slivers
of land moved by unstable tectonic plates sealed the
mouth of Cenderawasih Bay. These obstructions
prevented the spread of oceanic larvae into and out
of the bay. Thus the marine life in the bay evolved
in isolation. Although the barriers eventually broke
open, the shallow sill and sheer size of the bay limit
oceanographic circulation, preventing planktonic
larvae from reaching many reefs in the bay.
Through the ages the inhabitants of Cenderawasih
Bay swam in varying sea levels; fishes and coral species
vanished and reappeared again. During the Pleistocene
epoch, sea level plunged to 400 feet below where it is
today. Inhabitants of the shallow reefs perished, and
animals of the deep found themselves near the surface of
the bay. As sea levels rose again, flooding the dried reef
zone, these deepwater animals followed the rising sea to
depths in the 6- to 65-foot range. Here these inhabitants
enjoyed little competition due to the bay’s unique
oceanographic properties, and deepwater species such
as Burgess’ butterflyfish (
Chaetodon burgessi
), which are
normally associated with depths of 200 to 260 feet, are
commonly found here as shallow as 33 feet.
Marine scientists have established that until recent
times the bay was geologically isolated from the flow of
the Pacific tides. This isolation consecrated Cenderawasih
as an ancient sea with a high percentage of endemic
fish and coral species found nowhere else on the planet.
Ichthyologist Gerald Allen, Ph.D., a consultant for
Conservation International, proclaimed the bay “the
Galápagos of the East” based on documented findings
of an “evolutionary cauldron” of new and unique corals,
shrimps and fishes. Extensive surveys documented 995
species of fish and more than 500 species of corals —
approximately 10 times as many as the entire Caribbean.
Lured by the prospect of new discoveries, I made seven
sojourns to this primordial sea in the last six years.
There is something decidedly adventurous and
exciting about flying through five airports in three days,
hopping from a ginormous Singapore Airlines double
decker Airbus A380 to an Xpress Air 18-seat turboprop,
arriving in Nabire and being promptly whisked away to
a quaint harbor beside a raucous fish market. My first
expedition was arranged by a local fixer and used police
boats and Navy dive gear. In subsequent expeditions I
traveled on a modern liveaboard.
Although my primary agenda was exploring sites
that had not been seen before and capturing pictures
T H E G A L Á P A G O S O F T H E E A S T
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T E X T A N D P H O T O S B Y M I C H A E L A W