Blogs from Bunaken National Park, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Asia

For many years, we had an aquarium in our home. I recall spending whatever free time I had at the end of the work day with my face glued to the glass, mesmerized by the aquatic ecosystem I was watching. However basic, it was always calming to loose myself in that water world. So when I find myself now, twenty metres below the ocean surface, buoyantly floating amidst schools of thousands of fish; hovering over an enormous sleeping turtle; captivated by a gigantic manta ray or an angelic spotted eagle ray passing by - at all times awestruck by the brilliant colour and extensive diversity of the coral reef, and the equally vast array of marine life sustained within the reef ecosystem - I again experience a deep sense of calm, along with a profound sense ... read more

Dnes velmi dobry spanok. Ranajky prekvapili, bufetovy styl a kopa ludi. Na vyber ryza, ryba, nugetky, prazenica, melon, corn flakes, toasty, dzuse, kava, caj. Som sa otocil 2x a riadne napraskany smer izba a netovanie. V tomohone dam min jednu turu. Seredani nepotesili, nekupili mi klobuk, no ale aspon nalepky maju pre mna. Spartak potesil ked zdolal anderlecht, no nepotesila rba ked isla napadnut brusel a ti ich doslova rozmetali resp ani nerozmetali bo nasi sa dali po ich spatreny hned na utek. Veru v bruseli to bude zaujimave, o zahrebe radsej ani nepisem. Som zvedavy kolko razi dostanem na budku :) Vybehnutie na obed, bakso verzia. Tetula mi este ukazovalo na naberacke ci to ozaj chcem. Vyzeralo to ako maso. No po prineseny zas mix criev. V restike dorazenie korei. Zas mi volade zmizlo podla ... read more

My last stop in Indonesia was on Bunaken Island, off the northeast coast of Sulawesi. It's a tiny little island, surrounded by a huge wall/drop off and lots and lots of sea life. It's often pretty far up there on the list of top scuba dive spots in the world, and I was pleasantly surprised how mellow it is given this - there are no cars, most of the island is jungle, and "visitor life" is basically the hard decision of whether you want to 1) snorkel in front of the resort, 2) snorkel someplace else from a boat, 3) walk somewhere on the island, or 4) sleep. In addition to this, the place I stayed looked straight out at a neighboring volcano, facing west with fantastic sunsets every night. I loved it.... read more

Wow. This Christmas will go down in the memory banks as one of the most surreal holidays in my life. I had made it to Pulau Bunaken with expectations and visions of warm weather, clear waters, marine life to spare, and massive coral reef walls - of which I would dive during my stay at the far northern tip of Sulawesi to close out my two months in Indonesia. Normally I try not to have expectations of any place as expectations tend to always lead to disappointment due to the fact that nothing is ever as it is in your mind. Here on Bunaken everything and more I expected came to be after I stumbled into a sweet little dive resort ran by a friendly Italian by the name of Roberto. Raja Laut was to be ... read more

http://youtu.be/M7XTmPcCkM0... read more