Andrew Martinez is a world traveler, accomplished photographer/photojournalist, guide and a long time friend.  He recently returned from his second trip to Raja Ampat and he says, “It won’t be my last”!  Andy lives in New England where he dives year round. He’s been documenting that area’s seasonal changes for the last 40 years but his travels have taken him to many Pacific Ocean destinations, including Galapagos, Fiji, Philippines, and of course, Indonesia.  You can learn more about him and his wanderings at https://andrewjmartinez.com/.

*** I know you will be encouraged when reading his comments about the current bleaching event in Raja.  

I’d like to thank Andy for sharing his work with us and I know you will too.  I’ll let Andy take it from here…

I have just returned from a 12 day trip aboard the fabulous liveaboard, Gaia Love. The diving was wonderful.

We didn’t have the best weather. It was overcast and rained often, but that is a matter of luck.  Raja, however, never seems to disappoint no matter the conditions!

After hearing about the increase of coral bleaching, I was pleasantly surprised to not find much. We began our trip diving the southern sites and loved all the rich soft coral and schools of fish.

After a few days, strong winds made us move northward to the Dampier Strait. In this region we saw vast areas of healthy hard coral and again, huge schools of fish. It was magical. There was some bleaching but it seemed to be a coral head here and there not large areas. There were many turtles, sharks, and mantas.  The divers were always thrilled.

It was my second trip to Raja Ampat and it did not disappoint. I’ll be saving my “pennies” for another trip!

You can find more of Andrew’s images on his website and on Instagram (ajmart999).  Thanks Andy.