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Published: June 25th 2017
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As I reported in my last post, getting to this remote destination on the planet was not easy, and I suppose if it were, the atmosphere might not be the same. We enjoyed the quiet, the calmness, and the island mentality still predominant even though there are a few dive resorts on the island. Really there is nothing else to do here. People come here to dive. Period.
But what a stunning experience it is to dive the Bunaken Marine Park - and we barely scratched the surface, as there are about fifty dive sights spread around three islands, and we only dived nine of them. We have dived several locations in Indonesia, including the outstanding Komodo Marine Park near Flores where we swam last year with the oceanic giant manta rays, but never before have I seen such beautiful, brilliantly coloured coral. I almost lost interest in looking for fish on one of the dives as I was mesmerized by the massive quiltwork tapestry of colours and textures woven against an extensive wall of cliffs and caves, all of which was pulsating with life. It simply took my breath away. And just when I thought it couldn't get any
better than this, I discovered I was in the company of a rather large trumpet fish - about a meter long - who had purposely come over to visit myself and my dive guide. It was uncanny. Fearless, friendly, and curious, the trumpet fish was simply there one minute, right with us, checking us out from all directions, and stayed swimming between us and around us for at least five minutes. We got caught up in chasing a white tailed shark and lost it, but then it found us again and hung around for another few minutes. My excellent guide and dive master said he has never experienced anything like it in his sixteen years of diving, so I have decided that I must have magical powers. In any case, the experience was truly magical. To that already stellar experience, add seeing a large red reef octupus (which I actually spotted first), a colony of lion fish, a very deadly rock fish, a lobster, several sea cucumbers and large scalloped clams, the above mentioned white tailed shark, at least twenty large and beautiful turtles both sleeping and swimming, often close enough to touch, one aggressive trigger fish, a beautiful albeit
Our Trumpet Fish Friend Arrives
And poof! There it was. Just decided to come hang out with us. So cool. quite poisonous banded sea snake, and millions - not thousands, millions - of fish of all sizes, colours, and varieties swimming around the reef wall near us, and you have perhaps a slight understanding of what I mean when I say magical. The ocean wall we explored around Bunaken Island is over 200 metres deep - if my jaw were not attached to my face it would certainly have dropped to the ocean depths numerous times. It was all that breathtakingly mesmerizing.
We spent six days at a very quiet home stay type resort, with only three other guests over the entire week. The days consisted of diving in the mornings, and hanging in the two large hammocks in the afternoons, overlooking the ocean and - at night - the sparkling city lights of Manado across the bay. Not too difficult. All meals were included with the lodging, which is the case for all the resorts on the island, as there is no other tourist industry or infrastructure here offering restaurants, or any form of night life. It has been a new experience - our first homestay - but it has been very good. We have come to know
the lovely owners, and the local people who work here, and have enjoyed exchanging stories with the other guests we met. I even jammed for three hours one evening sharing music and learning a popular Indonesian song to add to my repertoire! We left feeling as if we have made some new friends, and definitely plan to come back here again.
But now we are making our way back to more familiar territory, heading to the Gillie Islands in Lombok, Indonesia, where we plan to rent bicycles, catch a lot of sunsets, swim with more turtles, meet some old friends from the island, and keep on sharing music, stories, and smiles.
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Susan
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Oh wow it makes me want to learn to dive!Always knew you were a fishy witch!