To Biak?
The guidebook had said that Biak didn't hold much of interest unless you dived or were a World War II buff. That was about all I needed to book my ticket.
I should have got a hint that this was a bit off the beaten track when the air hostess in the Garuda flight I was chatting with repeated thrice over "your going to Biak for a holiday??". Not many people do that apparently.Biak the slightly larger island at the top of the bay across from Manokwari on the map. Its technically part of Indonesian Central Papua, but the more I think about it, it has elements (and atolls) that probably give it stuff in common with Micronesia.
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Got off the flight at 4.40 am and stumbled into what was pointed out as a taxi to the Hotel I had booked. Was a bit perturbed when the receptionist cum bell boy walked purposefully down the corridor towards the room armed with a can of room freshener and insecticide in each hand. But the room turned out to be OK. As it turned out the previously bemused Garuda air hostess was billeted in the next room. Stuff of teenage dreams. If the Diving wasn't as spectacular as it turned out, that may have been the highlight of the trip.
For most of my holiday I may have been the only tourist on the island. It at least felt that way. Apart from the Garuda crews, the hotel had Papuan families passing through on their way home for Christmas (Biak is a bit of a travel hub, a look at the departure screen at the airport was wonderful, i jotted down al the airport codes scheduled - CGK, TIM, MKW, DJJ, ZRI, NBX) and one Ships Master from New Guinea who was delivering a ferry from Okinawa to Port Moresby, but had run of fuel and money and was waiting for a wire between bank holidays). On the last day I ran into a Dutch couple arriving. Even they were actually on a bit of a mission, tracing the lives of parents who were married in Biak during the colonial era.It was certainly a bit disconcerting. The first afternoon in taking a short walk to get my Bearings I by and large had done 3 laps around Kota Biak (Biak City). There wasnt another tourist in sight. Not a single backpacker, not even an obligatory ramshackle banana pancake, gnutella toast serving cafe piping in Bob Marley music. I had assumed there is one evereywhere that merits a mention in the Lonely Planet. Couple of guys in town looked a bit like Bob Marley though. And there was a rainbow.
Uncharted waters
A good part of the reason to head out east was to get a few days of diving in. There isnt a dive shop or formal dive operation in Biak. I had tracked down a couple of divemasters previously and made a few calls, one of them Erickson Farwas came over and met me. As we chatted, it seemed clear that he knew what he was doing, and was hired.
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| The good vessel " Dollar" |
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| After the first day the crew put a little top on the boat, which came in very handy given how sunny it was |
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| The Crew - John & Jerry the first mate |
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| Planning our next 3 days |
Bucket List Diving
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| Nice coincidence - Catalina was inscribed on our tanks |
When I first sought out a diving licence years back, my ultimate mental image of diving was always the aspirational thought of a second wold war fighter plane submerged off some exotic South Sea island. The Catalina was a 2nd world war (Dutch) fighter plane which crashed off Biak. BINGO!!! I tripped on it so much I ended up diving it twice.
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The Cockpit Seats |
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| You can still see the machine gun barrels in place |
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| There was this line of holes across the fuselage - either where a line of rivets had lost the battle with corrosion or perhaps (more evocatively) where the plane had been strafed before it went down? |
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| The Monarch of all I survey? |
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| The ground was full of shells that had been adopted by hermit crabs. weird. |
One dive at Padaido may have been my best yet, and the next one - Goa wundi had a most spectacular entry - you go into a 10 meter diameter hole in the coral top which opens up into a channel with sun lit archways greeted by Tuna and opens up into a massive wall of coral. If you have ever played "Endless Ocean" on the Wii? - this was exactly it.
Meanwhile on the land
After a day on Kota Biak, I decided to move base for a couple of days to a little village called Bosnik on the East coast of Biak. Bosnik is now a little laid back fishing village, a couple of 100 meters down the road and I found i had walked into the next village. Theres more about WWII ahead, but at the time - Bosnik was where the allies made their landing on the island of Biak.
I took a walk in the evening hoping to catch a sunset on camera. The sun went down behind clouds, but the kids on the beach had these 400 watt smiles that really lit up in the twilight.
The War
It is a bit difficult to viasualise it now, Biak being relegated to a minor footnote of obscure places, and barely even on the backpacker trail.
But It was one of the more important battle grounds in the Pacific theatre of the second world war. An erstwhile colleague of mine had once pointed out a building in Tokyo where General MacArthur was officed. I'm sure his quarters in Biak were a lot less fancy.
It was quite easy however to see how Biak could have been of immense strategic importance. It lies at the mouth of the sheltered cendrawasih Bay with a long natural harbour, with the vast Pacific Ocean on the otherside.
The main airstrip (now the airport) is several kilometers long (747's used Biak as a refueling stop between LAX-Jakarta pre Asian crisis) and along side the shore (allowing fuel ships direct access) and on the southern side of the island (and therefore sheltered from direct overhead access without warning).
I believe more than 6000 soldiers from both sides died trying to defend Biak from each other.
Three thousand of those were Japanese infantry killed in what are now called the "Japanese caves". The Japanese had established their stronghold, and were picking off allied planes without the allies figuring where the attacks were coming from. I read that they were finally discovered by tracing the source of the firing, but a local gave me an alternate version that said that American soldiers shot and wounded a Japanese soldier and later followed him back through the woods and found the caves.
They finally overcame the defenders by bombing the caves with gasoline tanks, which they then shot bullets at from fighter planes. The fire apparently raged for weeks, with heart rending screams that eventually ended with 3,000 Japanese dying.
Later that day, I went looking for the museum. It was locked, but I found this guy sitting atop an old battle tank chewing betel, is if it was the most natural place for him.
Fish
The fish life in Biak/Padaido was truly amazing. In a single dive we saw Dog tooth Tuna, sharks, sting rays, Spanish Mackerel, Crocodile fish and didn't even bother keeping track of the reef fish. Given the amount of Tuna I saw in Biak. If I had enough money to own a refrigerated aeroplane with range enough to reach Haneda from Biak, I think would be rich.
One afternoon, while we were underwater diving, the crew were idling away their time waiting for us to surface, and in keeping themselves occupied caught 2 Tuna on a line. Easy Peasy.
Above water was no less interesting. I remembered reading a while back that a marine biologist team studying fish in Kalimantan just went every day to the local fish market, and over the course of the 6 month study this technique resulted in them identifying several new species to science. On my last evening I took a walk through the local fishmarket to see what else was around.
Apart from Tuna, yellow tail and other fish scattered around, what really caught the eye were the Marlin being filleted. Each of those were as big as the biggest steak I have seen.
A Little further on, I reached the Jetty where they were unloading one freshly caught. Far from exaggerating, I think I may be understating things a bit when I estimate its length at over 6 feet. It was clearly longer than a man is tall.
On the way back though I chanced upon something even more extraordinary. I stopped to examine a stall of what looked like Octopus. Leaning forward for a closer look, my first reflex was to think I was having a flashback of some sort. The lady there, obviously seeing my flabbergasted expression volunteered that they were still alive. Basically, there were these constantly changing patterns of ink under the skin of the creatures. Most peculiar and I have never seen anything like it in my life. I tried to capture it on video, which hopefully give a bit of an idea. Weirdness.
That's that
One last sunset and Back to Jakarta. Thanks for sticking with me and reaching this far
Happy New Year and warm regards and all that
A
1.1.11 (What a date!!)
After a day on Kota Biak, I decided to move base for a couple of days to a little village called Bosnik on the East coast of Biak. Bosnik is now a little laid back fishing village, a couple of 100 meters down the road and I found i had walked into the next village. Theres more about WWII ahead, but at the time - Bosnik was where the allies made their landing on the island of Biak.
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| The Normandy of the Pacific Theatre |
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| Christmas Tree - Papuan Style |
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| The Local Trading Post/Supermarket/Beer Store |
I took a walk in the evening hoping to catch a sunset on camera. The sun went down behind clouds, but the kids on the beach had these 400 watt smiles that really lit up in the twilight.The War
It is a bit difficult to viasualise it now, Biak being relegated to a minor footnote of obscure places, and barely even on the backpacker trail.
But It was one of the more important battle grounds in the Pacific theatre of the second world war. An erstwhile colleague of mine had once pointed out a building in Tokyo where General MacArthur was officed. I'm sure his quarters in Biak were a lot less fancy. |
| I like that cap!! |
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| ships can come up right to the airstrip |
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| from the fox hole looking over the long runway |
A small promontory overlooks the airtrip - where even today the shell of an anti-aircraft foxhole stands lonely sentinel. The relics of the war are around town, and it was curious to see how the shaded area around the foxhole was now a quiet place for the locals to park their bikes and nonchalantly enjoy an afternoon brewski.
I believe more than 6000 soldiers from both sides died trying to defend Biak from each other.
Three thousand of those were Japanese infantry killed in what are now called the "Japanese caves". The Japanese had established their stronghold, and were picking off allied planes without the allies figuring where the attacks were coming from. I read that they were finally discovered by tracing the source of the firing, but a local gave me an alternate version that said that American soldiers shot and wounded a Japanese soldier and later followed him back through the woods and found the caves.
They finally overcame the defenders by bombing the caves with gasoline tanks, which they then shot bullets at from fighter planes. The fire apparently raged for weeks, with heart rending screams that eventually ended with 3,000 Japanese dying.
Later that day, I went looking for the museum. It was locked, but I found this guy sitting atop an old battle tank chewing betel, is if it was the most natural place for him.Fish
The fish life in Biak/Padaido was truly amazing. In a single dive we saw Dog tooth Tuna, sharks, sting rays, Spanish Mackerel, Crocodile fish and didn't even bother keeping track of the reef fish. Given the amount of Tuna I saw in Biak. If I had enough money to own a refrigerated aeroplane with range enough to reach Haneda from Biak, I think would be rich.One afternoon, while we were underwater diving, the crew were idling away their time waiting for us to surface, and in keeping themselves occupied caught 2 Tuna on a line. Easy Peasy.
Above water was no less interesting. I remembered reading a while back that a marine biologist team studying fish in Kalimantan just went every day to the local fish market, and over the course of the 6 month study this technique resulted in them identifying several new species to science. On my last evening I took a walk through the local fishmarket to see what else was around.
Apart from Tuna, yellow tail and other fish scattered around, what really caught the eye were the Marlin being filleted. Each of those were as big as the biggest steak I have seen.
A Little further on, I reached the Jetty where they were unloading one freshly caught. Far from exaggerating, I think I may be understating things a bit when I estimate its length at over 6 feet. It was clearly longer than a man is tall.
On the way back though I chanced upon something even more extraordinary. I stopped to examine a stall of what looked like Octopus. Leaning forward for a closer look, my first reflex was to think I was having a flashback of some sort. The lady there, obviously seeing my flabbergasted expression volunteered that they were still alive. Basically, there were these constantly changing patterns of ink under the skin of the creatures. Most peculiar and I have never seen anything like it in my life. I tried to capture it on video, which hopefully give a bit of an idea. Weirdness.
That's that
One last sunset and Back to Jakarta. Thanks for sticking with me and reaching this far
Happy New Year and warm regards and all that
A
1.1.11 (What a date!!)
