Togean Islands-Manado-Bunaken, Indonesia
Anna’s entry:
ARRIVAL
We have spent quite a bit of time traveling in various parts of Indonesia over the last seven years, and developed a special relationship with this vast country of 17,000 islands. Our main reason coming here so many times is the marine life. However, Indonesia has always been an emotional roller-coaster to travel in. We love the local people and their contagious positive outgoing attitude, and at the same time, dealing with practical issues is often frustrating (non-stop smoking, non-existing schedules, pollution, horrible traffic, over-loaded ferries and buses, etc. etc). We have managed to stay off the tourist-trail and enjoyed truly awarding authentic experiences - so for me, Indonesia holds a special place in my heart.
You can say a lot about a place by observing local behaviour, customs, and quirky staff - such as signs in public restrooms, for example. I added a few photos below to illustrate my point. For example, there is a whole long list of items that are not allowed to be thrown in the toilet - obviously, a lot of unexpected objects do make their way here, thus the list designed by authorities. So, the airport would be a good place to start. Many rules that you would expect to take place in your home countries are completely ignored, modified, laughed at, or are just avoided. This attitude is pretty much carried over all over Indonesia. The range is vast - from purely entertaining anecdotal stories all the way to terrifying experiences. In that respect, Togean Islands seemed quite easy to travel around.
GORONTALO
We landed in a small airport of Gorontalo, and caught the last public bus for a long ride to the town center. After Malaysia, this part of Indonesia seemed quite a bit poorer. We stayed at a simple hotel surrounded by a garden. Our room and primitive bathroom were over-run by hundreds of hungry mosquitoes, a typical thing around here. Directly across from our hotel was a park that would turn into a local hang-out by night with blaring music and numerous food stalls, which came in handy. Our very first arrival night, we headed straight there and enjoyed freshly made nasi goreng and soto ayam cooked by a hospitable Muslim family.
We spent several days in Gorontalo - took a loooooooong walk to a fruit market (where we purchased a large amount of tasty local rambutans), explored a popular by locals shopping mall (where we bought a few practical travel supplies), and I even ended up getting a full body massage (about $7 for an hour) performed by an enthusiastic young lady who pushed and pulled my muscles in all possible directions.
We took an ojek - a small motorbike (modified to carry two additional passengers and large backpacks) to the port for our over-night ferry to Wakai - the entry to the Togean Islands. We chose a “business” class - the only area on the ferry where smoking was not permitted. It was basically a large room with blasting A/C, padded chairs, TV (for karaoke), and many mattresses on the floor - where the ferry crew was sleeping. We asked for permission to take the floor corner (next to a fire hydrant), where we laid out our two padded mattresses on the floor so we can stretch out for a12-hour ferry crossing.
We met the sunrise at a port of Wakai, from where another ride of four hours was needed to reach our island in the Togean archipelago.
TOGEAN ISLANDS
We arrived at Poya Lisa in a narrow wooden boat after 12 hours on a ferry and 4 hours in a motorized wooden boat. I chose this particular island for us for several reasons - excellent attitude of a family who ran this place, good home cooking, the best place to see the total solar eclipse , and free daily boat trips around the reefs. We spent two weeks on Poyla Lisa at a wooden bungalow located right on the beach. It was about $22 per night including four meals a day. A wide range of traditional Indonesian food with freshly caught and cooked fish.
Because we stayed two weeks on the island, all our snorkeling trips around the Togeans were free. Every day, our boat Captain Imet invited us to join him to explore the reefs. We would spent numerous hours in the water. On several occasions, we would land on an island, where our captain would prepare a BBQ lunch cooked on a pile of coconut shells. Captain Imet also took us to a village built on stilts inhabited by Baju people (sea gypsies) - the experience walking around the village and seeing the genuine local life and customs was straight from the NG.
As idyllic as our life on Poya Lisa sounds, there were a number of very serious issues around the Togeans. First, the reefs (with a few exceptions) had been seriously damaged (from the previous bombing and cyanide fishing). The problem has been exacerbated by presence of tourists (Togeans are relatively easy to access), their behaviour and treatment of corals was completely obnoxious - stomping on corals was perplexing. Our attempts trying to educate the Westerners of the proper marine etiquette had only a marginal success.
Those, some isolated reefs were quite vast and beautiful, due to the damaged status, there was nothing that spectacular to report (especially compared to other parts of Indonesia). Here is our partial list of marine encounters: in addition to the typical 40-50 varieties of SE Asia fish species, we also saw - eagle ray, turtle, 2 spotted baby sting-rays, sea snake, krait, lobsters, nudibranch, hump-head parrot fish, trevellies, snappers, banner fish, batfish, angel fish, butterfly fish, lion fish, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, trumpet fish, numerous anemone fish, etc.
We did encounter the major highlight of our trips to Togeans however - the spectacular TOTAL SUN ECLIPSE. We watched it straight from our beach bungalow terrace and saw it from the beginning to the very end. A very special event to witness. The morning of the eclipse, the sky got covered in clouds, but luckily, just a few minutes before the total eclipse, the clouds parted and we witnessed the total eclipse at its best. It seemed like the eclipse had its impact on the local nature as well. Before the eclipse, in early morning hours, apparently a family of mantas came to play right in our harbour, and then later, in the afternoon, several pods of dolphins came to the harbour and spent almost an hour playing in the water.
Two weeks later, we returned back to Gorontalo to continue our journey to the North of Sulawesi.
MANADO
Our drive from Gorontalo to Manado was straight from hell. We had a maniac-driver who either was on a suicide mission or drunk or insane, or combination of all of those things. Indonesian driving is already pretty bad, and even other cars we were passing (on the excruciating speed on the curvy roads) were honking at our driver to slow down. Needless to say how relived we were, when we finally reached Manado and stepped of the vehicle…
We settled at our hotel located above a busy port harbour. The port area was quite gritty, but very friendly. We located a great food joint cooking up satay ayam which we frequented several evenings in a row; fruit stalls were also plentiful to indulge in super delicious mangostine, salak, and rambutan; and finishing up the night with a creamy chocolate sundaes was pure decadence. But, my most favourite part of being back “in the city”, was our hotel’s buffet breakfast. Among various traditional Indonesian food (which I did not mind, but Rob had more than enough of), there were Western options as well, including the ingredients and equipment to make your own grill cheese sandwiches. I know that it doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, after rice-and-fish dishes for weeks, a hot-gooey-salty-melty-greasy grilled cheese sandwich tasted fantastic! And, for a junk treat, Rob and I would combine chocolate sprinkles (Dutch influence from prior colonization) with roasted peanuts - eating it with a spoon and sipping strong local fresh coffee gave me the entire positive outlook on the day and crazy streets outside. And, there were some crazy things happening in the area…
TOMOHON MARKET
*WARNING* - the context of the following entry contains some graphic descriptions and images. Some people may find them disturbing. The descriptions and photographs below are a recollection of the seen and observed facts and events, it reflects our experience on the day we were there.
One of the UK newspapers called it “the most gruesome market in the world”. When we entered the notorious Tomohon Maket, at first it seemed normal - regular trucks, baskets and trays loaded with local fruits and vegetables, and a few local guys sitting around surrounded by roosters and chickens. A few minutes later a lady on a motorbike passed us with a huge body of freshly slaughtered pig covered in blood attached to the back of the motorcycle, so we went in the direction she came from. A moment later we understood why the market had such a notorious reputation… Caged dogs were waiting to be slaughtered, afterwards butchered and grilled, and then sold by a kilogram. Dead pythons were hanging on cold metal bars or laying butchered in pieces on stained tiled counters. Large piles of grilled bats were for sale as well. Pigs’ heads were hanging next to sellers and buyers faces. Everywhere we looked, the tables and butchers’ blocks were covered in blood. Some market workers were carrying “the purchases” for their customers, and backs of their t-shirts were imprinted in blood. When I was photographing the market scenes, I tried not to slip on the wet floors; once I stopped on something very mushy and realized it was a piece of some animal flesh I was standing on… The sellers were looking at me with their usual friendly smiles and kept inviting me to check-out what their tables had on offer. The market patrons seemed also completely unaffected by the scenes - they were shopping for the meat of their choice. I also noticed that there was something different about the customers’ attires - I did not see a single Muslim dress. I asked a local person if the market was frequented by any particular group of population - I was told that it was very popular among the Christian families. I asked if Muslims were not allowed there - I was told the Muslims wanted nothing to do with that market.
When we left Tomohon, our public bus route took us along a ridge with beautiful views of hills and valleys. Many stretches of roads were decorated in large crosses with signs preaching kindness and love. I was wondering when it had stopped meaning anything, or had it always been meant to be just that - a road decoration?
*WARNING* - the photographs below contain graphic images, and may be disturbing for some people. The photographed images below are a recollection of the seen and observed facts and events, it reflects our experience on the day we were there.
DANAU LINOW
After a visit to Tomohon Market, it was good to get away and visit Danau (Lake) Linow. It was a large volcanic lake with sulfur smell in the air. Steam from geysers were filling the lake landscape. We took a walk around the lake and found an access to one of its shores. There was a simple bench constructed from bamboo trunks. We stayed there for a bit and had a fruit snack consisting of delicious rambutans and salaks. It was a gritty rest area, but still refreshing after the Tomohon images.
On the way back, at a bus station, we located a tiny barber shop - Rob needed a haircut. The shop owner couldn’t suppress his joy and enthusiasm having a Westerner as his customer, and the haircut event attracted a lot of curious local villagers. We laughed and joked using gestures and limited Bahasa vocabulary. Simple genuine interactions like that make travel so special.
BUNAKEN ISLAND and MARINE PARK
We boarded a rickety wooden ferry from a gritty Manado dock. The ferry was loaded with boxes, baskets, trays and mostly locals and a few Western passengers - all trying to get to the Bunaken Island. It was about 50 meters away from the dock, when our ferry suddenly stopped… We hit the bottom - due to a low tide and a greedy captain who overloaded the boat beyond its capacity. We were stuck for about 2 hours waiting for the ocean tide to rise. The time waste was not completely in vain. While waiting, I started chatting with a local lady who happened to be one of the island’s resort owners. We had an excellent rapport, her sense of humor and progressive attitude was very refreshing. And, we decided to give her place a try - which turned out to be an excellent choice. The lady owner offered us her best bungalow at an excellent discounted price, and we ended up staying almost a week there enjoying excellent home-cooked meals and an easy access to the marine national park straight from our beach.
The Bunaken Marine National Park is considered one of top diving destinations in the world, and some consider the Bunaken’s reefs and marine bio-diversity vastly exceeding Australian barrier reef. I think it all depends on a person’s prior marine experience and expectations. Our Bunaken snorkeling experience was good, but I would not call it the most memorable (we did not see anything new for us) - though, admittedly, we are quite spoiled when it comes to unusual and fascinating marine encounters.
Here is our Bunaken’s partial marine life list:
DAY 1
13 turtles (including 2 large ones with about 2.5 feet radius shell), 1 Napoleon wrasse, huge colony (about 14x16 feet area) of anemone with 5 different kinds of clown fish, giant unicorns, several colonies of razor fish, giant crocodile-needle fish, large batfish, numerous porcupine fish, plus the usual 50+ varieties of SE Asia varieties of fish (except in Bunaken they were quite a but larger size), various atypical coral structures.
DAY2
8 turtles (some quite large; we spent about 15 minutes swimming with two of them at once), 2 Napoleon wrasse, large black-and-white lion fish, giant unicorns (family of 8 at once), super large anemone fish; families (hundreds at once) fish of various types; 100+ usual tropical varieties. We also did a submerged mangrove snorkel - saw 2 blue-spotted sting-rays and 1 banded sea snake.
DAY3
1 large eagle ray (good close-up viewing), 2 sting-rays, moray eel, banded sea-snake (large size), 2 lion fish, humphead parrot fish, 3 Napoleon wrasse, large parrot fish, 4 turtles, several box fish (making love), yellowtail coris.
MISCALENEOUS daily encounters: triggerfish (many varieties, including clown triggerfish), snappers, wrasse, surgeonfish, batfish, trevellies, spadefish, Achilles tang, unicorns, Moorish idol, rabbit fish, anemone fish, damsel, jacks, tuna, crocodile needle fish, groupers, sweet lips, parrot fish, porcine fish, boxfish, razor fish, lizard fish, lion fish, cleaner wrasse, filefish, puffers,
To get back to Manado, we had to first take a ride (or a long walk) to Bunaken dock - which was basically a sandy village beach with a simple dock and tied up boats. Our resort insisted we would take a complementary ojek - a motorbike operated by a jolly elderly local. You could feel every bump and pothole on the sandy road, with our large backpacks moving up and down behind our backs. We boarded another wooden ferry heading back to Manado. This time the boat was almost empty, just a few local ladies playing cards inside and a few local men laying around on the boat deck. We did not have any issues with getting stuck in low tide. Colorful boats and volcano peak covered in lush clouds were a beautiful sight to see as the wooden ferry was making its way back to the busy city of Manado…
DEPARTURE FINALE
Our last day on this particular trip to Indonesia was quite reflective of our travels here. We took a ride to the Manado International Airport on a blue angkot (mini-van converted into a passenger bus) with a blaring disco music and a smiling young driver (we stopped questioning validity of driving license many years ago). Both we and our luggage were way too oversized for the vehicle. To see anything in a window, Rob had to scooch over, which ripped his (already damaged from rough travels) pants apart close to the “private area”. Rob looked at me and said “Now you officially run me ragged”.
We entered the airport without being too vigorously screened - basically, Indonesian guards just waved us over. The airport field was pretty - mountains were surrounding us, and all we had to do was just walk across the landing field. Usually, by the end of our travels in Indonesia, Rob feels exhausted, so he basically fell asleep in a cushioned chair being blasted by AC - the luxury we did not have for weeks traveling in this part of the world. I went to explore the airport waiting area, and as always, enjoyed reading posted signs on public washrooms’ doors - a long list of items not be thrown in toilets, requests not to climb the toilet seats, and a detailed chart with instructions to examine your urine colour to know the level of dehydration. How could you not love Indonesia for all these quirky things!
Picturesque islands and vast marine life, exotic landscapes and stunning scenery, traditional food and outgoing locals, rickety wooden boats and over-night ferries, over-whelming traffic and intense pollution, genuine bliss and pure frustration, Indonesia has it all. You can love it or you can hate it, but you can never forget it. Indonesia can be very straightforward and can be very challenging, however, personally for me, traveling in Indonesia has been one of the most colourful and rewarding experiences.
ARRIVAL
We have spent quite a bit of time traveling in various parts of Indonesia over the last seven years, and developed a special relationship with this vast country of 17,000 islands. Our main reason coming here so many times is the marine life. However, Indonesia has always been an emotional roller-coaster to travel in. We love the local people and their contagious positive outgoing attitude, and at the same time, dealing with practical issues is often frustrating (non-stop smoking, non-existing schedules, pollution, horrible traffic, over-loaded ferries and buses, etc. etc). We have managed to stay off the tourist-trail and enjoyed truly awarding authentic experiences - so for me, Indonesia holds a special place in my heart.
You can say a lot about a place by observing local behaviour, customs, and quirky staff - such as signs in public restrooms, for example. I added a few photos below to illustrate my point. For example, there is a whole long list of items that are not allowed to be thrown in the toilet - obviously, a lot of unexpected objects do make their way here, thus the list designed by authorities. So, the airport would be a good place to start. Many rules that you would expect to take place in your home countries are completely ignored, modified, laughed at, or are just avoided. This attitude is pretty much carried over all over Indonesia. The range is vast - from purely entertaining anecdotal stories all the way to terrifying experiences. In that respect, Togean Islands seemed quite easy to travel around.
GORONTALO
We landed in a small airport of Gorontalo, and caught the last public bus for a long ride to the town center. After Malaysia, this part of Indonesia seemed quite a bit poorer. We stayed at a simple hotel surrounded by a garden. Our room and primitive bathroom were over-run by hundreds of hungry mosquitoes, a typical thing around here. Directly across from our hotel was a park that would turn into a local hang-out by night with blaring music and numerous food stalls, which came in handy. Our very first arrival night, we headed straight there and enjoyed freshly made nasi goreng and soto ayam cooked by a hospitable Muslim family.
We spent several days in Gorontalo - took a loooooooong walk to a fruit market (where we purchased a large amount of tasty local rambutans), explored a popular by locals shopping mall (where we bought a few practical travel supplies), and I even ended up getting a full body massage (about $7 for an hour) performed by an enthusiastic young lady who pushed and pulled my muscles in all possible directions.
We took an ojek - a small motorbike (modified to carry two additional passengers and large backpacks) to the port for our over-night ferry to Wakai - the entry to the Togean Islands. We chose a “business” class - the only area on the ferry where smoking was not permitted. It was basically a large room with blasting A/C, padded chairs, TV (for karaoke), and many mattresses on the floor - where the ferry crew was sleeping. We asked for permission to take the floor corner (next to a fire hydrant), where we laid out our two padded mattresses on the floor so we can stretch out for a12-hour ferry crossing.
We met the sunrise at a port of Wakai, from where another ride of four hours was needed to reach our island in the Togean archipelago.
TOGEAN ISLANDS
We arrived at Poya Lisa in a narrow wooden boat after 12 hours on a ferry and 4 hours in a motorized wooden boat. I chose this particular island for us for several reasons - excellent attitude of a family who ran this place, good home cooking, the best place to see the total solar eclipse , and free daily boat trips around the reefs. We spent two weeks on Poyla Lisa at a wooden bungalow located right on the beach. It was about $22 per night including four meals a day. A wide range of traditional Indonesian food with freshly caught and cooked fish.
Because we stayed two weeks on the island, all our snorkeling trips around the Togeans were free. Every day, our boat Captain Imet invited us to join him to explore the reefs. We would spent numerous hours in the water. On several occasions, we would land on an island, where our captain would prepare a BBQ lunch cooked on a pile of coconut shells. Captain Imet also took us to a village built on stilts inhabited by Baju people (sea gypsies) - the experience walking around the village and seeing the genuine local life and customs was straight from the NG.
As idyllic as our life on Poya Lisa sounds, there were a number of very serious issues around the Togeans. First, the reefs (with a few exceptions) had been seriously damaged (from the previous bombing and cyanide fishing). The problem has been exacerbated by presence of tourists (Togeans are relatively easy to access), their behaviour and treatment of corals was completely obnoxious - stomping on corals was perplexing. Our attempts trying to educate the Westerners of the proper marine etiquette had only a marginal success.
Those, some isolated reefs were quite vast and beautiful, due to the damaged status, there was nothing that spectacular to report (especially compared to other parts of Indonesia). Here is our partial list of marine encounters: in addition to the typical 40-50 varieties of SE Asia fish species, we also saw - eagle ray, turtle, 2 spotted baby sting-rays, sea snake, krait, lobsters, nudibranch, hump-head parrot fish, trevellies, snappers, banner fish, batfish, angel fish, butterfly fish, lion fish, scorpion fish, crocodile fish, trumpet fish, numerous anemone fish, etc.
We did encounter the major highlight of our trips to Togeans however - the spectacular TOTAL SUN ECLIPSE. We watched it straight from our beach bungalow terrace and saw it from the beginning to the very end. A very special event to witness. The morning of the eclipse, the sky got covered in clouds, but luckily, just a few minutes before the total eclipse, the clouds parted and we witnessed the total eclipse at its best. It seemed like the eclipse had its impact on the local nature as well. Before the eclipse, in early morning hours, apparently a family of mantas came to play right in our harbour, and then later, in the afternoon, several pods of dolphins came to the harbour and spent almost an hour playing in the water.
Two weeks later, we returned back to Gorontalo to continue our journey to the North of Sulawesi.
MANADO
Our drive from Gorontalo to Manado was straight from hell. We had a maniac-driver who either was on a suicide mission or drunk or insane, or combination of all of those things. Indonesian driving is already pretty bad, and even other cars we were passing (on the excruciating speed on the curvy roads) were honking at our driver to slow down. Needless to say how relived we were, when we finally reached Manado and stepped of the vehicle…
We settled at our hotel located above a busy port harbour. The port area was quite gritty, but very friendly. We located a great food joint cooking up satay ayam which we frequented several evenings in a row; fruit stalls were also plentiful to indulge in super delicious mangostine, salak, and rambutan; and finishing up the night with a creamy chocolate sundaes was pure decadence. But, my most favourite part of being back “in the city”, was our hotel’s buffet breakfast. Among various traditional Indonesian food (which I did not mind, but Rob had more than enough of), there were Western options as well, including the ingredients and equipment to make your own grill cheese sandwiches. I know that it doesn’t sound like much, but believe me, after rice-and-fish dishes for weeks, a hot-gooey-salty-melty-greasy grilled cheese sandwich tasted fantastic! And, for a junk treat, Rob and I would combine chocolate sprinkles (Dutch influence from prior colonization) with roasted peanuts - eating it with a spoon and sipping strong local fresh coffee gave me the entire positive outlook on the day and crazy streets outside. And, there were some crazy things happening in the area…
TOMOHON MARKET
*WARNING* - the context of the following entry contains some graphic descriptions and images. Some people may find them disturbing. The descriptions and photographs below are a recollection of the seen and observed facts and events, it reflects our experience on the day we were there.
One of the UK newspapers called it “the most gruesome market in the world”. When we entered the notorious Tomohon Maket, at first it seemed normal - regular trucks, baskets and trays loaded with local fruits and vegetables, and a few local guys sitting around surrounded by roosters and chickens. A few minutes later a lady on a motorbike passed us with a huge body of freshly slaughtered pig covered in blood attached to the back of the motorcycle, so we went in the direction she came from. A moment later we understood why the market had such a notorious reputation… Caged dogs were waiting to be slaughtered, afterwards butchered and grilled, and then sold by a kilogram. Dead pythons were hanging on cold metal bars or laying butchered in pieces on stained tiled counters. Large piles of grilled bats were for sale as well. Pigs’ heads were hanging next to sellers and buyers faces. Everywhere we looked, the tables and butchers’ blocks were covered in blood. Some market workers were carrying “the purchases” for their customers, and backs of their t-shirts were imprinted in blood. When I was photographing the market scenes, I tried not to slip on the wet floors; once I stopped on something very mushy and realized it was a piece of some animal flesh I was standing on… The sellers were looking at me with their usual friendly smiles and kept inviting me to check-out what their tables had on offer. The market patrons seemed also completely unaffected by the scenes - they were shopping for the meat of their choice. I also noticed that there was something different about the customers’ attires - I did not see a single Muslim dress. I asked a local person if the market was frequented by any particular group of population - I was told that it was very popular among the Christian families. I asked if Muslims were not allowed there - I was told the Muslims wanted nothing to do with that market.
When we left Tomohon, our public bus route took us along a ridge with beautiful views of hills and valleys. Many stretches of roads were decorated in large crosses with signs preaching kindness and love. I was wondering when it had stopped meaning anything, or had it always been meant to be just that - a road decoration?
*WARNING* - the photographs below contain graphic images, and may be disturbing for some people. The photographed images below are a recollection of the seen and observed facts and events, it reflects our experience on the day we were there.
DANAU LINOW
After a visit to Tomohon Market, it was good to get away and visit Danau (Lake) Linow. It was a large volcanic lake with sulfur smell in the air. Steam from geysers were filling the lake landscape. We took a walk around the lake and found an access to one of its shores. There was a simple bench constructed from bamboo trunks. We stayed there for a bit and had a fruit snack consisting of delicious rambutans and salaks. It was a gritty rest area, but still refreshing after the Tomohon images.
On the way back, at a bus station, we located a tiny barber shop - Rob needed a haircut. The shop owner couldn’t suppress his joy and enthusiasm having a Westerner as his customer, and the haircut event attracted a lot of curious local villagers. We laughed and joked using gestures and limited Bahasa vocabulary. Simple genuine interactions like that make travel so special.
BUNAKEN ISLAND and MARINE PARK
We boarded a rickety wooden ferry from a gritty Manado dock. The ferry was loaded with boxes, baskets, trays and mostly locals and a few Western passengers - all trying to get to the Bunaken Island. It was about 50 meters away from the dock, when our ferry suddenly stopped… We hit the bottom - due to a low tide and a greedy captain who overloaded the boat beyond its capacity. We were stuck for about 2 hours waiting for the ocean tide to rise. The time waste was not completely in vain. While waiting, I started chatting with a local lady who happened to be one of the island’s resort owners. We had an excellent rapport, her sense of humor and progressive attitude was very refreshing. And, we decided to give her place a try - which turned out to be an excellent choice. The lady owner offered us her best bungalow at an excellent discounted price, and we ended up staying almost a week there enjoying excellent home-cooked meals and an easy access to the marine national park straight from our beach.
The Bunaken Marine National Park is considered one of top diving destinations in the world, and some consider the Bunaken’s reefs and marine bio-diversity vastly exceeding Australian barrier reef. I think it all depends on a person’s prior marine experience and expectations. Our Bunaken snorkeling experience was good, but I would not call it the most memorable (we did not see anything new for us) - though, admittedly, we are quite spoiled when it comes to unusual and fascinating marine encounters.
Here is our Bunaken’s partial marine life list:
DAY 1
13 turtles (including 2 large ones with about 2.5 feet radius shell), 1 Napoleon wrasse, huge colony (about 14x16 feet area) of anemone with 5 different kinds of clown fish, giant unicorns, several colonies of razor fish, giant crocodile-needle fish, large batfish, numerous porcupine fish, plus the usual 50+ varieties of SE Asia varieties of fish (except in Bunaken they were quite a but larger size), various atypical coral structures.
DAY2
8 turtles (some quite large; we spent about 15 minutes swimming with two of them at once), 2 Napoleon wrasse, large black-and-white lion fish, giant unicorns (family of 8 at once), super large anemone fish; families (hundreds at once) fish of various types; 100+ usual tropical varieties. We also did a submerged mangrove snorkel - saw 2 blue-spotted sting-rays and 1 banded sea snake.
DAY3
1 large eagle ray (good close-up viewing), 2 sting-rays, moray eel, banded sea-snake (large size), 2 lion fish, humphead parrot fish, 3 Napoleon wrasse, large parrot fish, 4 turtles, several box fish (making love), yellowtail coris.
MISCALENEOUS daily encounters: triggerfish (many varieties, including clown triggerfish), snappers, wrasse, surgeonfish, batfish, trevellies, spadefish, Achilles tang, unicorns, Moorish idol, rabbit fish, anemone fish, damsel, jacks, tuna, crocodile needle fish, groupers, sweet lips, parrot fish, porcine fish, boxfish, razor fish, lizard fish, lion fish, cleaner wrasse, filefish, puffers,
To get back to Manado, we had to first take a ride (or a long walk) to Bunaken dock - which was basically a sandy village beach with a simple dock and tied up boats. Our resort insisted we would take a complementary ojek - a motorbike operated by a jolly elderly local. You could feel every bump and pothole on the sandy road, with our large backpacks moving up and down behind our backs. We boarded another wooden ferry heading back to Manado. This time the boat was almost empty, just a few local ladies playing cards inside and a few local men laying around on the boat deck. We did not have any issues with getting stuck in low tide. Colorful boats and volcano peak covered in lush clouds were a beautiful sight to see as the wooden ferry was making its way back to the busy city of Manado…
DEPARTURE FINALE
Our last day on this particular trip to Indonesia was quite reflective of our travels here. We took a ride to the Manado International Airport on a blue angkot (mini-van converted into a passenger bus) with a blaring disco music and a smiling young driver (we stopped questioning validity of driving license many years ago). Both we and our luggage were way too oversized for the vehicle. To see anything in a window, Rob had to scooch over, which ripped his (already damaged from rough travels) pants apart close to the “private area”. Rob looked at me and said “Now you officially run me ragged”.
We entered the airport without being too vigorously screened - basically, Indonesian guards just waved us over. The airport field was pretty - mountains were surrounding us, and all we had to do was just walk across the landing field. Usually, by the end of our travels in Indonesia, Rob feels exhausted, so he basically fell asleep in a cushioned chair being blasted by AC - the luxury we did not have for weeks traveling in this part of the world. I went to explore the airport waiting area, and as always, enjoyed reading posted signs on public washrooms’ doors - a long list of items not be thrown in toilets, requests not to climb the toilet seats, and a detailed chart with instructions to examine your urine colour to know the level of dehydration. How could you not love Indonesia for all these quirky things!
Picturesque islands and vast marine life, exotic landscapes and stunning scenery, traditional food and outgoing locals, rickety wooden boats and over-night ferries, over-whelming traffic and intense pollution, genuine bliss and pure frustration, Indonesia has it all. You can love it or you can hate it, but you can never forget it. Indonesia can be very straightforward and can be very challenging, however, personally for me, traveling in Indonesia has been one of the most colourful and rewarding experiences.
posted by Rob and Anna @ 9:19 AM
1 Comments:
Thank you for sharing such a informative information with us. Keep on sharing the blog like this.
Togean island
Dive indonesia
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