Water Taxi in Manokwari

City dwellers and foreign tourists who want to go Mansinam and Lemon islands will usually go by water taxi. This is the only public transportation that is available in the Dorey bay. If you have just arrived in this city and want to travel around the islands that I just mentioned above, you can ask ojek (motorcycle taxi) to take you to Ketapang Boat Station. It is located in Kwawi area next to the residence of a prominent Papuan artist Mr. Tonci Krey. 

Usually some outrigger motorized wooden boats wait for passengers in the morning at 8 a.m. The rate for going to Mansinam or Lemon is 3,000 rupiahs/ person. Actually, the boats are not worthy to be called taxi because they are not the same as sedan which you see in big cities. But here we like to call such boats as Taksi Air or Water Taxi. Because Manokwari city is located in  Papua which is a tropical island, the temperature during the day is high and hot. Make sure that you have applied sun screen lotion and wear a hat before embarking on the water taxi whose hull is not covered with any superstructure on it. The water taxi is a very basic boat that is also used by the local Papuan to catch fish.

When the passengers are full, the freeboard of the boat is very small. A large ripple from the sea can bring significant amount of sea water which will splash and wet your body. If you bring digital video or photo camera, put it inside its casing and then inside your travel bag so that it won't get wet and damaged in case sea waves splash into the boat and on your body.

Sometimes you need to ask the boat driver to reduce the speed or change the angle of the stem when you see big waves can make you wet and damage your electronic equipment or even make the boat capsized But don't worry, the water taxi drivers in this bay are experienced enough in handling their boats during such dangerous condition.

Sometimes special tent can be installed in the boat for tourists who want to travel around the islands in the Dorey bay but the travel guide has to contact the boat owner and arrange for such trip. by Charles Roring

A favorite snorkeling place in Manokwari of Papua

Snorkeling is an easiest way to admire the underwater beauty of coral reef and ornamental fish. Tourists do not need expensive diving gear if they only want to see colorful corals in shallow waters. What they need are mask with an embedded pipe for breathing through mouth, and fins. Sometimes a small underwater digital camera is useful for taking underwater pictures of the corals in Manokwari of West Papua.

 Often tourists who meet me ask where they can snorkle in Manokwari. There are a number of interesting places inside the Dorey bay of Manokwari. Most tourists will snorkel between Mansinam island and Lemon island. There is also a snorkeling site at the western tip of Pasir Putih beach where fresh water comes out of the rock that ends at the beach. 

As a tourist guide, I know many other places which I can show around to tourists who come to Manokwari to enjoy the natural beauty of the coral reef. Manokwari is also famous for its shipwrecks that are scattered around the Dorey bay. Bring your own scuba diving gear if you want to explore them. There are not any diving centers yet. If you are interested in opening a diving center in Manokwari, I will be happy to help you, contacting you with local businessmen or hotel owners so that you will only concentrate in running your diving center whereas the accommodation will be handled by the hotel owners.

Personally, I have been writing a lot of articles in this blog (my personal blog) and my other Manokwari Papua blog aiming at promoting ecotourism as an alternative to commercial water sport tourism which you often see being promoted by big players in tourism industries around the world. 

I provide a-3-day hiking and snorkeling guided tour to anybody who is interested in having a holiday in Manokwari, the capital of West Papua province that is located in the tropical region of Indonesia. I can also arrange a special trip for you into the interior mountainous region of  Papua island where you can see birds of paradise, watch deer grazing in the Kebar valley and various other activities that interest you. For more information about tourism in Manokwari, you can contact me at lroring@yahoo.com or via my cell phone: +6281332245180.

Also read:

Snorkeling in Manokwari Papua

Traveling to Islands in the Dorey Bay of Manokwari 

Beautiful Beaches in Manokwari

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. 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 or cell phone: +6281332245180. 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