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Published: August 7th 2007
Manado Tua
The Volcano in the background Manado Tua, still active, on a neighboring island to Bunaken. And Bunaken Village in the foreground.Well It's seems I've neglected my loyal readers for a long time now. But the truth is I wasn't really in a writting mood. But Since the weeks are piling up since the last entry I figured I better get off my ass and write something before I start to forget all the details of my life since the the last blog. I actually uploaded the pictures for this blog about a month ago now, but just didn't know what to say.
On May 25th I boarded a plane from Denpessar, Bali and headed to Manado, Sulawesi. The intention being to get off the beaten path a bit and see a part of Indonesia most people don't visit. I arrived in the early hours, went to sleep in a box of a hotel room, no window, just a bed and a fan. Funny thing about the room is I paid 50,000 Rp for it and I was lying in bed, starring at the ceiling, sweating my ass off and the only thing that kept running through my mind was 'why had I left that big, comfortable house in Ubud behind?' Which less then twenty four hours earlier I had been
Sunset At Lorenso's
I was walking to my Bungalow on evening and noticed how beautiful the color of the sky was... sound asleep in, having sweet dreams in my huge cushy bed and only paying 100,000 Rp a night. Pretty funny if you ask me. As it turned out leaving Ubud behind was a great decision. I've spent the last six weeks basically on a small island off the Northern Sulawesi coast called Bunaken. A world renowned dive spot, surrounded by lush mangroves and filled with very friendly locals.
So I get my ass out of bed the next morning in Manado and head to the port to meet Vasco, guy from the guesthouse I called to catch the boat over to Bunaken. At the harbor I met local legend Lorenso, a guy the Lonely Planet calls... 'Life long islander...' the phrase is a perfect description of Lorenso. Stepping off the boat after the forty five minute ride I found myself meeting Cornelius, Joseph, Fanny, Frankie and the rest of the staff at Lorenso's. At the time it never crossed my mind that I might spend six weeks here and these people would become something between friends and family to me. Lorenso's occupies a strip of land about 200 meters long, sitting directly on the beach although much of the
ocean view is obscured by the mangroves, which are dense and healthy. The bungalows are of the bamboo variety with a few larger, more expensive places. The laid back feeling at the place was just my speed, spent the first afternoon snorkeling which is when I think I was officially hooked on Bunaken. The entire island is surrounded by reef, mostly the reef is a steep vertical wall that starts about 100 meters from shore. I spent hours of my first two days on the island snorkeling. Almost in a trance the entire time I was in the water. The reefs here are the most beautiful, rich, diverse, healthy, colorful reefs I've ever seen in my life. The water is warm, 29-30 C, by the way I've lost my sense of Farenheit so you'll have to do the conversions yourself. But just for a reference 37 C is body temperature, so you can see the water is perfect. I finally got around to heading over to the dive shop next door, Living Colours, and I arranged to go diving the next day. That was the beginning of a beautiful friendship, be it with the reefs surrounding Bunaken and the neighboring
islands and dive sites of Siladen, Manado Tua, Montehage or Manado Bay, or the with the dive shop and the people of Living Colours. All told I've done forty-three dives here, my deepest dive being down to 39 meters, my next dive will be my 79th dive, and everyone of them has been great. Some were filled with sightings of big stuff, from Black and White Tip Reef Sharks, schools of Barracuda, Trevely, Jack Fish, Tuna, Wahoo. Eagle Rays, Green Turtles to small macro sea life including Nudi Banches (Sea Slugs), Orang Utan Crabs, Shrimps, Squat Lobsters, Pygmy Sea Horse and much, much more. Some of the dives were filled with less sightings and were more a type of meditation for me. I was able to clear my head of all thoughts and just float along in the current watching the reef and all the life that it encompass happen right before my very eyes. During my time here I spotted a Dugong (Manatee or Sea Cow), seen two types of Dolphins from the dive boat during surface intervals both in huge numbers of between 50 to 100 at a time, jumping and surfing in front of the boat. Plus
Crazy Guy
This guy really wanted to have his picture taken with the huge Python he was selling as food. I got a chance to both watch a pod of 30 Pilot Whales resting of the surface and we even slipped into the water with fins, mask and snorkel to try and swim with them. As you can probably tell I have completely fallen in love with diving. It is a sport that I will continue for the rest of my life. Underwater you realise that diving is the closest you will ever come to flying, the feeling of weightlessness is amazing, the lack of most sounds is comforting and the realization that most of the planets life lives underwater is an immense realization. Who says you need to go on safari in Africa to see wildlife. It's much easier to spot new creatures underwater.
So after being on Bunaken for about two weeks and already doing thirteen dives I was presented with the chance to go explore part of mainland Northern Sulawesi with my friend Cedric. We headed to Tomohom with Cliff, a local whose family is from a small village outside of Tomohon. He served as our tour guide for two days, plus let us stay in his room at his aunts house. It was great getting
Lorenso, Girado and Freddie
On one of my excursions to Manado to stop in at the supermarket, catch a movie or eat some fastfood. to stay with a local family and see how the people here live. During our two days in Tomohon we visited the market, ate dog (that's right, I ate lassies cousin!), climbed Gunung Mahawu an active volcano with crater lakes and stunning views of the surrounding area, visited Lake Tondano, walked around some other small local villages, showered at the hot springs with the locals and more. Then we headed north to Tongkoko National Park, home of the worlds smallest monkeys, Tarsiers. We got to the small fishing village adjacent to Tongkoko after taking two mikrolets, one local bus, another mikrolet and then sat on the back of motorbikes. We walked around the the village, headed to the beach which as it turned out was a stunning black sand beach (first of my life!) that wrapped around a wide bay. We headed out on the night hike through the jungles of Tongkoko in search of the Tarsiers and were greeted first by Kingfischers, Green and Black Pigieons, a huge family of Black Macaques (close to sixty of them) sitting right on the trail, then we found the little monkeys. Not that it was hard, sad to say the tree had
More Graphic Shots
So the people don't stop at Dog or Snake...They love bats as well! a bit of a Disney feel to it, surrounded by at least fifteen camera happy tourists and their tour guides taking hundreds of photos, flashlights shinning up the trunk of the tree where the little guys lived. The people were not even waiting for these nocturnal little monkeys to come out for the evening. The whole experience left a sour taste in my mouth and I was almost embarrassed to be carrying my digital SLR with me. It somehow made me feel like I was part of this group of typical tourists. Cedric and I kept exchanging glances of disgust with each other. Can't say that I didn't take any pictures of the Tarsiers but I waited patiently until the sun went down and they left their nest. After one night in Tongkoko we headed to Bitung Harbor to catch a boat across Lembeh Strait to the island of Lembeh for a chance to sample whats called the worlds best muck diving spot. Muck diving is basically diving at sites that feature mostly flat sandy bottoms, not too much coral, if any and some of the worlds weirdest looking creatures. All the underwater pictures in this blog are taken byCedric
on our two dives in Lembeh. It's hard for me to fathom how some of these animals evolved. Some of them are just flat out odd looking. Along with the shear number and variety present in Lembeh Straits leads to why the place gets its status as the world's best place for muck diving. After two dives we headed back to Manado for a night and then caught the boat the following day back to Bunaken. It was an action packed four days, fun filled and amazing.
Upon returning to Bunaken I spoke with Jaakko, husband in the husband and wife couple who own Living Colours, and asked him if he needed any help around the dive shop. He turned me down, saying they were not that busy. So I made plans to head south to Makassar intent on catching the ferry to Flores. But before I could leave, Jaakko came back from a visa run to Singapore changed his mind and took me up on my offer. In exchange for free diving I was representing the dive shop at Lorenso's and steering potential customers to Living Colours. The situation has been great for both of us, I've done
Sneaky Little Monkeys
Cedric got this candid by sticking a flash light and his camera inside the trunk of the tree aimed upwards and just praying. Best shot either of us got. thirty dives since that time and steered a few people their way. Unfortunately I had to leave Bunaken a few days ago and head back to Bali to extend my visa. So at the moment I'm sitting in the same Internet cafe I posted the last blog from, staying in my gorgeous house in Ubud you are all familiar with from the last entry and spending a few weeks in Bali. My plans aren't set in stone at the moment, most likely will stay here a few more days before heading to East Bali or Nusa Lembongan for some diving and then back to Bunaken for what it turns out will be the last few weeks of this epic journey. That's right I bought my ticket home! Indonesia will be the last stop on the tour and I will see you all in August.
Links to my new friends...
Living Colours Lorenso's Beach Garden Resort
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aunt ellen
non-member comment
enjoy the last of your epic journey.. it has been some adventure.. especially those snorkeling trips..be safe, take care and see you in august..