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Published: December 12th 2016
Getting to and from the Togean Islands in Indonesia requires a serious amount of effort and a serious amount of time. The reward at the end of the journey are stunning and isolated tropical islands surrounded by massive coral reefs amid crystal clear turquoise waters and golden sun kissed beaches. This place is awesome. From Toraja I took a 16 hour bus ride from hell complete with farm animals on my lap and all manner of crops under my feet to the lakeside town of Tentena for a day of recovery amid some nice scenery and some fresh water swimming. From Tentena it was another 8 hours to the port town of Ampana in North Sulawesi. From here it was a three hour ferry ride to The Togeans. I had arrived at Poya Lisa Island and had a little beachside bungalow with three meals included for $IDR150,000.
My plan was to stay here in the islands over Christmas scuba diving, relaxing, and hanging with the great group of people that were also here at Poya Lisa. Unfortunately the ferry north that I needed to catch in order to make my flight out of the country only comes here twice a
week and I needed to leave on the 26th. The ferry leaves on the 27th. Taking the 27th option would mean I miss my flight and I would be in Indonesia illegally as my Visa is up on the 28th. So I had to be flexible and leave the Togeans after only 4 days. Pity really.
The time I did spend here was splendid. I was able to take day trips with the resort's boat to different reef systems and snorkel the day away. The colors of the coral and the amount of fish in these waters is absolutely incredible. Sea Turtles were a plenty as were the friendly rays gliding their days away in the warm tropical waters of the Gulf of Tomini. Lunchtime was also a treat with freshly caught grilled barracuda right on the beach. Poya Lisa is a great little spot and the whole outfit is run extremely well and the nights here provided a lively social scene with the guests as well as the family who runs the resort.
Other than that their isn't a whole lot to write about my lack of enough lazy days on the islands. I didn't get to
dive or visit some of the other resorts I planned on due to this visa issue. But with travel it is necessary to be adaptable and just accept that things change on a constant basis. One door closes another one opens. I left on the night ferry to Gorontalo which took 12 hours. Upon arrival at 4am I planned to take a 10 hour public bus north to Manado which I was not looking forward to. But man did I catch a break. A little Indonesian business man from Manado on his way home offered to take me in his private car for $IDR100,000 which was less than the public bus cost and would only take 8 hours instead of 10. Not to mention the comfort level of a car over a bus with a crate of chickens on my lap! Currently I am in Manado waiting for the public ferry to take me the one hour to Pulau Bunaken which has world class dive sites and marine life. Here on Pulau Bunaken I will spend the next five days over Christmas before my flight out of Indonesia from Manado on the 28th. I traded in one tropical island for
roomview
The view from my roomanother. Tough life.
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