Welcome to the Wallace Passage.
Raja Ampat has the scientifically-proven highest marine biodiversity in the world. More species of coral and fish can be found here than anywhere else. Lesser-known is the fact that Sir Alfred Russel Wallace spent some time in this area, and it undoubtedly influenced his research, thinking, discoveries and writings as well.
Wallace was the co-discoverer (with the more famous Charles Darwin) of the theory of evolution by natural selection, independently coming up with the idea during his many years of travel abroad. He traveled extensively through South-east Asia, covering 14,000 miles of the Malay Archipelago during 8 years: 1854 - 1862. He spent many weeks at a nearby village on Gam Island collecting birds of paradise, butterflies and beetles, and is thought to have contracted malaria there. There are excerpts from this time found in his most famous publication, "The Malay Archipelago" (1869).
If you travel from WP Passage W to WP Passage E, you will be retracing Wallace's steps, with Gam Island on the South and Waigeo on the North. I think you will appreciate the following quote:
“We emerged into what seemed a lake, but which was in fact a deep gulf having a narrow entrance on the south coast. This gulf was studded along its shores with numbers of rocky islets, mostly mushroom shaped, from the water having worn away the lower part of the soluble coralline limestone, leaving them overhanging from ten to twenty feet. Every islet was covered with strange-looking shrubs and trees, and was generally crowned by lofty and elegant palms, which also studded the ridges of the mountainous shores, forming one of the most singular and picturesque landscapes I have ever seen.” The Malay Archipelago (Wallace, 1869)
In order to log this cache you must complete the following task:
1. Visit waypoint 'Mushroom' and take a photo of the rock and add it to your log (you can be in it if you like).
Additional voluntary challenges:
1. Travel through the Wallace passage (in either direction) and report which direction you followed in your log as well as the direction of flow of the current at the time of your visit.
2. Explain what is happening to the mushroom rock and what is causing it?
3. Wallace Passage is not to be confused with the Wallace Line. Please explain the difference between the two.
4. What year would Wallace have been here and what, if anything, do you think would have been different about the surrounding environment at that time?
The terrain rating is for the necessity of a boat and very remote location; the difficulty is not 1 (as it would be for just the photo logging requirement), but increased slightly due to the fact that gps signal in this area is sometimes inaccurate and thus it may be difficult to find the specific mushroom in the maze.
If you are on a boat trip in this area already, then continue to explore Kabui Bay - the north coast of the bay is a maze of honeycombs and stunning scenery :)
This is an aMAZEing site - Happy caching!
Virtual Reward - 2017/2018
This Virtual Cache is part of a limited release of Virtuals created between August 24, 2017 and August 24, 2018. Only 4,000 cache owners were given the opportunity to hide a Virtual Cache. Learn more about Virtual Rewards on the Geocaching Blog.
UPDATE: Congratulations to kinderarzt for the FTF July 2019 (over 8 months after publication!!!)
:)