During the past day and night, National Geographic Orion sailed the Arafura Sea from Kokas to the town of Agats in the Asmat region of West Papua, Indonesia. Here we boarded our expedition Zodiacs and set out to visit the village of Per, where the ancient culture of the Asmat people still thrives, and time seems to stand still. We were greeted with a tremendous welcome. Dozens of war canoes filled with Asmat warriors in their traditional dress paddled towards us as we navigated the river in our Zodiacs. When we arrived at the village, we disembarked and were met by hundreds of villagers celebrating our arrival with ceremonious song and dance. After spending a couple hours with the people of the Asmat, we cruised back to our ship to ready ourselves for the second event of the day: an afternoon visit to the town of Agats, where we explored the local culture, met local people, and visited the wonderfully curated Asmat Museum of Culture and Progress. What a fantastic and unforgettable day!
5/17/2024
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National Geographic Orion
At Sea
After two spectacular days in the Asmat region of West Papua, it was time to head northwest to our next destination. With light winds and moody skies, it was a gorgeous day at sea. We started with a rainbow making an appearance off the bow for over an hour and ended with a dark and dramatic sky. In between, we not only had informative presentations and great meals, but excellent bow watching. Seabirds and flying fish were relatively abundant for this region. The certain highlight of the day was a big pod of spinner dolphins. This group of well over one hundred dolphins was energetic and at times, even spinning. They appeared to be chasing schools of flying fish, but towards the end of the encounter, some of them made their way to the bow and went for a ride. It was another great day onboard National Geographic Orion ! Photo caption and credit: Spinner dolphins. Photo by Mike Greenfelder