Been There : Bunaken, Indonesia

My latest diving spot was in Bunaken located at the North of Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Mun Yee and I touched down in the Sam Ratulangi airport, Manado on March 13, 2009. It was a raining Friday afternoon after 4 hours of flight from Kuala Lumpur.

Sam Ratulangi Airport

The first thing that amazed me in Manado was the Chevrolet taxis waiting for customers at the airport. Bad taxi in KL, that is why this amazed me :D . But we did not take this taxi.

Celebrity taxi

We were driven in slow motion from the airport through Manado town to the Jetty by Mr Sannor (not sure if I spelt them right). I asked Mr Sannor why people drive slowly in Manado. He said 'why we need to drive fast when there is no reason to drive fast and we can take the time to enjoy the view'. Wise man, but his 1/2 hour driving giving me a headache - too slow.

Traffic in Manado 1

Traffic in Manado 2

The Jetty

Market next to the jetty

The mouth of the jetty with Lokon mountain at the back ground

From the jetty, we took another 1 hour travel by boat to the Bunaken Island. It was still raining and the strong wave hit us sideway that sometime I thought the boat going to roll upside down. Fortunately that did not happen and we arrived safely at Pantai Liang (Liang Beach) in the Island of Bunaken.

Jetty Pantai Liang

We stay with the Froggies Divers which provide a good services, clean and nice little bungalow and good food. The diving services are great too. Thanks Hence.

Froggies Divers under all the green with the ditched boat. Someone forgot to take the boat out during high tide.

We stay here

The only complain I have is the beach was litter with rubbish and sea grass. This is due to the storm, so said the people in the resort. They try to clean it up, but the sea kept on bringing more back to the beach.

Views around the island:

Cloudy moment

Manado from Bunaken with Lokon vocanic mountain at the back (the tall one)

The cloud ;)

The cave door

Pantai Liang from the other end

Mysterious looking Manado Tua
Manado Tua

Village at the foot of Manado Tua

Sunset

More sunset

Sunset - last one

The diving was nice and we saw some new things like the ghost pipe fish, the hairy (orang utan) crab, a lot of anemone crabs, a lot of fishes and a sea snake. I did not own an underwater camera, so no underwater wildlife pictures. Need to be rectified soon.

Here some above water wildlife instead:

Jetty's crab

Some kind of bug

Hermit crabs

Sand crab
fishes from the jetty

Not so wild dog

After 5 days of diving, reading and resting, it is time to leave. On the way back, the sea is calmer and we saw a lot of fisherman fishing on the sea.

Traditional fisherman

Modern fisherman with full face helmet

Mr Sannor picked us up from the jetty and drove us back to the airport. A little bit faster this time around. He told us the about Dr Sam Ratulangi and his famous saying - Sitou Timou Tumou Tumou Tou - which translated as 'Man lives to educate others', but I like Mr Sannor translation - Manusia Memanusiakan Manusia (Human Humanise Human).
Dr Sam Ratulangi famous saying in front of the airport

All in all it was a nice holiday, but could be nicer with a better weather.
I should not complain so much ;)
Wish you were there...