Sulawesi part 1 - Bunaken

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Finally - after yearning for years to go to Bunaken and Lembeh - I got there!!!!!!
After a delayed flight from Bali to Manado that was already scheduled late I had a very late night and not much sleep before I got picked up by two fish divers at 6.45 the next morning for my own private boat transfer to Bunaken Island.
Lots of lovely lush islands around and volcanoes here and there on the way across. I arrived and checked in to my budget room..it is quite budget but at least my own!
Got my dive briefing and had a nap before my first dive.

It is just so nice to stay somewhere peaceful and beautiful as well as literally on the beach. The village is not at all as developed as I thought so it was nice to see very few tourists and lots of indonesians. Food was of course great and the resort had lots of nice spaces to hang out and read a book or just chill out.
A plus was also the lack of Malaria!!

(Sorry - you must get bored of the diving stories by now..) Then I went diving and it really was just as beautiful as it was supposed to be!!! Bunaken island as well as the surrounding ones. Breath taking walls, beautiful formations, the gorgeous big blue and lots of coral and fish, just lovely! Did a night dive and also a mandarin dive where I saw the mandarins mate, very cool!!
My dive buddy was a swedish 'skaning' and he was a great photography tutor so I had a great time and as usual picked up a few things, also from a lovely dutch man that was keen to share photo knowledge.

I had a few scares, a leaf posing as a big nasty spider, a huge cockroach/bug scaring the shit out of me in the shower, jellies stinging me in the bloody shortie and lots of mosquito bites, but it was a small price to pay for the loveliness under water!

On my last day I took part in the PADI Project Aware International Clean Up Day. We cleaved the pier in Bunaken, diving and snorkeling. Around 20 people in the water and 10 on the boat and land - we got over 600kg in just over an hour!?! Crazy hey? I picked up everything from shoes, bras, toys to a freaky plastic bag full of bones...sort yourself out Asians!!

Then I transfered to Lembeh Straits, muck diving capital of the world it is said..

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Photos

a leg!
some kind of big bird of prey leg...and a trigger fish eating it - gross!!