Expedition travels - Dampier Strait

Dampier Strait, in Raja Ampat, named for William  a British explorer who charted the area in the 17th century. He as the the inspiration for Gulliver in "Gulliver's Travels", possibly the inspiration for the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and one of his crew members (left behind for saying his boat was unsafe) was the the inspiration for "Robinson Crusoe". 

Forts like this were built to protect the
 region from "privateers" like Dampier

The guests will 

He was, at first simply an opportunist, but it turns out he was not afraid of a little piracy either. Having apprenticed under a privateer in the Caribbean, he went on "explorations" of the region, eventually setting out for the East Indies. 
From there he made his way to England. But he made notes and maps along the way. So he was given a ship to explore. And over the next years he circumnavigated the globe at least three times. The last time purely as a pirate and he died in London poor and in an unmarked grave. But much of the West coast of Australia, the Indonesian Archipelago and Panama was first mapped by him. He singled handedly introduced more than a  thousand words into english from his travels and played significant roles in history. 

(Please look up more on him - he is simply an amazing adventurer!!!) 

Today the Expedition enters the Dampier Strait in Raja Ampat. Here huge amounts of water are conveyed through this passage, which forces the currents to run parallel to the Equator instead of perpendicular, and the amount of plankton pushed through brings in some of our favourite plankton feeders, such as Manta Rays. Shallow reefs with bommies to shelter behind are ideal to hover and watch these spectacular animals cleaning, feeding, mating and playing. This combined with the Indonesian Throughflow are the major reasons for the incredibly biodiversity of this area called the Coral Triangle.