Sulawesi, Indonesia, July 2005

Looking for critters specialized in remaining strangely invisible.

travel blog

Indonesia - info sheet

Visum	A visum is required for Belgian citizens! And there's a departure tax of 75000 Rp. In Copenhagen, a one month visum can be obtained from the Indonesian embassy within 2 weeks. Besides your passport you must bring two pictures, a copy of your travel documents, fill in an application, and pay 350 DKK.
Transport	• Flight from Copenhagen to Frankfurt: 80' • Flight from Frankfurt to Singapore: 12h • Flight from Singapore to Manado: 3½h • Taxi from Manado airport to Manado city: ½h. • Boat transfer from Manado harbour to Bunaken: 25'
Time	N-Sulawesi time = Copenhagen summer time + 6 hours
Weather	Air temperature: 30°C. Often overcast with some downpours every couple of days. Water temperature: 28°C.
Currency	1 USD = 9000 Rp (Indonesian Rupiah)
Language	English is spoken by some.

Singapore

It's a 45' ride from Murex Manado to the airport. Followed by a 3,5 hours flight to Singapore. The airport's left-luggage charges about 5 SGD/bag/day. Not cheap, but very convenient. The MRT to Bugis takes about half an hour or so. We've got 24h to shop, before continuing our journey back to reality.

After previously having tried trendy Japanese conveyor-belt sushi (3-6 SGD/plate) and popular food court Chinese noodles, we now choose for a no-nonsense dinner served on banana leaves in an Indian eatery (4,5 SGD).

From Little India to China Town only takes 5', thanks to Singapore's speedy MRT. Most of the smaller stores are closed on Sunday, but not the big shopping centers like Sim-Lim Square, Funan Digital-Life Mall or Raffles Shopping Arcade. In Singapore, to shop is to be. And with the bargains to be done here, it's hard to resist the urge to acquire a few things just to confirm your existence. In my case: Arena & Speedo swimming trunks (35 SGD/piece), 'Shadow divers' by Robert Kurson (20 SGD), 'An essential guide to digital underwater photography' by Michael Aw (25 SGD) and a pair of Merrel walking shoes (50 SGD). I managed not to buy an ultra-portable Sony Vaio laptop (3700 SGD) for writing my reports while on the go, a Suunto Mosquito dive computer (500 SGD) as back-up for my Vyper, and a lot of other things.

Before you know it, time's up, and you've got to head back. From City Hall to Changi airport, 45' by MRT (1,5 SGD).

Murex dive resort outside Manado

While aboard the Liburan, a headline in a dive magazine jumped out at me: 'Betlehem, better than Lembeh'. Betlehem being pretty near to Manado, we decide to leave Bangka a day earlier, to check it out.

From Bangka we're first transferred to the mainland, stepping off the boat onto the black sand beach of a small fishermen's settlement. Our pick-up arrives soon afterwards and drives us to Murex's dive resort just outside of Manado. A long 1,5 hour ride, through the city's maze of lanes. Once there we're given a nice bungalow with a remarkable sense of privacy, thanks to lush vegetation and cascading water, creating a double wall of green & white noise.


The next day we're on our way to Betlehem. Hoping to see a rhinopia scorpionfish. But they're here no more. Still, it's an enjoyable muck dive with four seahorses, a weedy spider crab, some anemone crabs, several nudibranchs, a line of sharp looking razorfish and a school of small barracudas.

Murex dive resort on Bangka

On our way from Lembeh to Bangka, a pod of dolphins graces us with their presence, effortlessly riding the ship's bow wave, before veering off to go somersaulting in the stern waves. The crossing only takes a slow 2 hours, after which the Liburan drops us at Murex's small resort, where we accommodate ourselves in one of the spacious sea view bungalows. Our guide here is Kennedy, who does his best to keep all the tourists satisfied. The food's excellent and for once there's no noise disturbing the peace.

The diving here is mainly around pinnacles overgrown with soft corals or along sloping walls. Currents can be pretty strong depending on the tide. Making it totally impossible for me to photograph the tiniest seahorse I've ever seen. Actually, it being only a couple of mm tall, I can't even say I had a good look. Not a dive goes by without at least one frogfish being spotted. Considering they pretend not to be there for a living, it must seriously undermine their self-confidence to constantly be in the center of divers' attention.

Dedi had some problems with his ears, so I left my eardrops on the Liburan. Only to get hit a couple of days later by a double ear infection myself. Despite preventive action. Luckily some Dutch divers staying in the resort had some eardrops I could use. But I still had to stay dry for three long days. I guess there must have been something nasty in the water, because three other tourists also had ear problems during our stay on Bangka.


My favourite site here is actually located on the mainland. A 15' crossing from Bangka, Paradise Pier is first class muck diving with more critters per square meter than I've ever seen. The pier is heaven for all kinds of creatures, from refuge seeking juvenile batfish to hidden daemons waiting in ambush for innocent souls. Hot springs keep the water temperature comfortably warm. An ideal playground for photographers indeed. But beware where you put your hands!


A sea fan is home to several wonderful harlequin ghost pipefish. At some point four of them even posed together. With sunlight in their back they almost seem to have a halo. A beautifully colored frogfish, inspired maybe by the pipefish's typical head down position, tries hard to keep his precarious upside-down position between a sponge's arms. Among paradise's rubble you can find devil scorpionfish and false stonefish, moody cuttlefish and small seasnakes looking for some morsel. Nudibranchs are all over too, should you run out of usual subjects.


Surrounding the pier are three different habitats: seagrass, sandslope and coralreef. There I saw green pipefish, baby frogfish, small stingrays darting out of the sand, a whole colony of frantic hingebeak shrimps and even a hovering army of ghost shrimps...

Liburan live-aboard in Lembeh strait

For 150000 Rp, Ron arranges a boat to bring us back to Manado, as there's no public crossings on Sundays. It's a rainy boat drive, together with some islanders going to the big city for some shopping. At the mooring quay, Mr Anky is waiting for us, and brings us to Bitung, N-Sulawesi's main harbour city and the Liburan's home base. A 1,5 hour drive. After settling the payment, we're then brought to the Liburan, a basic live-aboard that will be our floating home for the next week. The crew gives us a cordial welcome, taking care of everything as we settle in. Dive gear is set up immediately, as they fully expect us to go diving straight away. We don't object.


The Liburan can supposedly take up to eight passengers, besides a crew of at least six. However, as it happens to be, we're the only ones to have booked this trip. So we've got the whole ship for ourselves, and the full attention of the very friendly crew. A real luxury. Now, I can't imagine eight divers on this rather small ship, as even six would be crowded. The crew's the most professional I've ever seen in Indonesia, working together efficiently as a team, to make our stay as pleasant & comfortable as possible. Rudi, the German owner, isn't there, but Ferry, the captain, and Dedi, the dive guide, make sure everything goes smoothly.


After lunch and a small siesta, we're ready for our first dive. The site: Aer Prang. 70' later we surface, after having seen a small blue-ringed* octopus, a rare golden-orange* giant mantis shrimp, a fingered dragonet, a big stone fish dug out of the sand by Dedi, a seahorse, a black crinoid squat* lobster and various nudibranchs. Without a doubt one of the most fantastic intro dives I've ever had. Now this is what I call muck diving extraordinaire! Am I glad I just acquired a digital UW camera, allowing me to shoot and shoot without concern of running out of film.


Lembeh strait is not that long actually, and there's absolutely no need to be on a live-aboard. All the dive sites are within a short boat ride of the resorts here. But make sure that they have a 'maximum 4 divers per guide' policy. Especially if you're into photography. In our case it couldn't have been more perfect, with Dedi as our personal guide. For a trip like this to be successful, the guide's the one who has to deliver. He's got to find the critters. Knowing where to look is one thing, seeing is another. Especially in Lembeh, where what you see is not always what it seems. On the strait's mainland side, the sloping bottom mainly consists of black lava sand. Here's where incredible critters roam and hide in full sight. Pretending to be sponges, weed or sand. You could spend a whole dive without seeing any of them but for the guide's gift of detection.

I spent about 3,5 hours underwater every day, doing 18 dives in all, seeing at least one (for me) new critter on 14 of those. I've marked them with an * in this report. It's truly amazing actually. Normally I'm happy to see just one new creature on a whole trip.


After our wonderful first dive, Dedi kept us thrilled with more of nature's amazing creatures: Giant, painted, warty, hispid* & white-striped hairy* frogfish; a yellow* shortfin lionfish; devil, leaf & ambon* scorpionfish; false, reef & estuary* stonefish; cockatoo & longspine* waspfish; velvetfish*; pink & yellow* pygmy seahorses; various kinds of hippocampus; a winged* pipefish and two robust* ghost pipefish; a pair of scrambling seamoths; a mimic* octopus quickly floundering into its hideout in the sand; cuttlefish; blue, black & yellow ribbon eels, snake eels and several moray eels; longnose*, bubble-coral, cleaner, anemone, emperor & mantis shrimp; hermit, box, boxer, anemone, decorator, whip coral & soft coral crabs; tiny pink squat* lobsters on a sponge; cockatoo* flounder; flying gurnard; mandarinfish* romancing at dusk; coral & banggai cardinalfish; a small bamboo* shark; stingrays; tiger & egg cowries; electric* clams; lots of nudibranchs and a polyclad flatworm.


This list is by no means complete, but it should give you an idea. Besides being a magnet for critters, the strait's sandy slopes are also a kindergarden for various fish species. One thing we did not see, is the rhinopia scorpionfish. Next time maybe.

On the Lembeh island side of the strait, corals are more abundant, with plenty of soft corals and sponges, should you get bored with the black sand. There's even a wreck or two.

M.C. homestay & dive center on Bunaken

As agreed beforehand, Ron, the Dutch manager of M.C. DiveBunaken picks us up behind the Celebes hotel at 10am, for a free 25' boat ride to his homestay on Bunaken, right beside the village, facing mainland Sulawesi. At 9 Euro pp/night, including three meals, it's a bargain. The food is excellent. Even though we had fish and rice twice a day, for most of the week, I never got tired of it. Coffee, tea and water are free of charge. With even a big 19l water bottle in the bungalow for our convenience.


The bungalows are basic, with an Indonesian style mandi and a small terrace. They're a bit too dark for my taste, but OK. All the front row bungalows are being renovated at the moment. There's no power during the day, but at night the homestay is connected to the village's generator. The village's proximity is a bit of a nuisance due to the noise from the public addressing system in the evenings and mornings. Imagine a woman rallying people to donate for a new church or house for the priest, every evening, again & again. And religious pop songs at 5am... Interesting local customs indeed.

Two boat dives cost 35 Euro (including, I think, equipment). There's a 7 nights (room+meals), 10 boat dives and 1 night dive package for 210 Euro. Visitors must pay a 150000 Rp Marine Park fee, valid for one calendar year. Jimmy, one of the two dive guides, is friendly, but doesn't speak much English.


The wall dives around Bunaken are relaxed and nice, with quite a few soft corals and big barrel sponges. Fish life is abundant especially at reef corners, but don't expect anything bigger than an occasional napoleon or a turtle. With a bit of luck though, you might spot an eagle ray passing by or a reef shark down below. And if you're really really lucky, as was a Vietnamese girl during our stay here, a juvenile whale shark might cruise in from the blue for a closer look!


The wreck between Manado and Bunaken is definitely worth a dive. Especially for wide-angle photography. With a maximum depth of about 39m, it's a bit deep, but it allows some nice swim throughs.

Manado

Only a short flight away from Singapore, but a whole other world. There are no trolleys in the arrival hall. Besides it being only a short stroll to the outside, they would cause too many jobless porters. After having checked our options, we take a taxi, for 50000 Rp, from the airport to the Celebes Hotel, a slow 30' minute ride due to some traffic jam.

The Celebes is perfectly located close to the harbour, right where the small boats moor and depart for Bunaken. The basic room, at 50000 Rp for two, including undrinkable coffee and a toast for breakfast, is just four walls around a bed, but we don't need more. It's just for one transit night anyway.

Having nothing else to do, we walk around town. Checking out some supermarkets & malls. They're quite something actually. Besides the AC being rather chilly when entering from the sweaty streets, you almost get blasted off your feet by the noise level of the public announcements and music. I mean, it's just impossible to think, let alone talk, while in there. But Indonesians seem to like it. The louder the better.

A Coca-Cola can costs about 3000 Rp, as does a 1,5l bottle of water. You can get a basic meal in a street side eatery for 6000 Rp.

Singapore

Singapore's hot & humid. 6 hours ahead of Copenhagen. 1 USD = 1,6 SGD. 1 Euro = 2 SGD. It's probably the cleanest city in the world. And Singapore's pretty efficient mass rapid transportation system, MRT for short, brings you anywhere in no time. Especially with an EZ-link card, getting in & out of the subway is a breeze. Or you can walk. The center's not that big actually.

If you need to find a specific road, street or bridge, check out this pretty cool city map of Singapore. Good old unfoldable city maps are available for free in the airport (among other places) and pretty handy once you're out on the street trying to find a particular place, be it a street, mall or subway station. Street names are well-posted at each intersection to help you around.

We're staying at a backpackers place called the Inn Crowd. They've got mainly dorm beds, but also some double rooms at 48 SGD/night, including basic make-it-yourself breakfast. It's located in Bugis, Little India, close to Sim-Lim Square, a big shopping mall full of all kinds of electronics.

However, the Adelphi's my primary target, as that's where Singapore's Sea&Sea dealer is housed. And I'm lucky. The DX8000G, Sea&Sea's latest UW digital compact camera, has just arrived. Replacing the less than a year old DX5000G. It being brand new, I can't get a special discount, but the promotional price is a pretty good deal. And I do get 3% off for paying cash. After that I can relax. I got what I came for. Besides the camera & housing, I also bought a 0.6x Wide Angle Lens, rechargeable batteries, and a couple of SanDisk Ultra II 512MB SD memory cards (90 SGD/piece).

A Coca-Cola can costs about 1,2 SGD, as does a 1,5l bottle of water. You can have a nice meal for 5-10 SGD.

Flight #1 cancelled, #2 delayed, #3 missed

Summer vacation means busy airports. So we make sure to be there in good time. There being no check-in queue, we find ourselves in Copenhagen airport's departure hall way too early to have a gate assigned. So we just stroll around while waiting for a gate. Waiting for a gate in fact till 17:10 our planned departure time. At which point we're finally told that Maersk has cancelled its flight to Frankfurt. No reason given. We're just redirected to a service desk, where they're not quite prepared to face a whole flight of stranded passengers demanding a solution. However, all other direct flights to Frankfurt are fully booked. But they assure us they'll get us there no matter how nor when.

In our case that means we're rerouted to Prague first, at 18:25, on a SAS flight, stuffed in the tail end between the MD80's two engines. That's a very noisy place. But hey, we're flying. And with a bit of luck we should make it to Frankfurt, even though only half an hour before our flight to Singapore. We've been told to go for it, change terminals as quickly as possible and run for the gate upon arrival in Frankfurt. And just forget about our luggage...

In Prague's rather provincial airport, there's no personnel at our supposed departure gate. 20:35, our planned departure time, comes and goes without any information whatsoever. Until at 20:50 we're being told that our flight will be leaving at 22:00. Meaning there's no way we can make the Singapore flight. We've been told repeatedly that all subsequent flights to Singapore are fully booked. The little hope we'd left, now totally evaporates. At last we're on our way to a city we no longer have any reason to go to. It's 23:30 when Czech air drops us in Frankfurt's deserted airport. Our luggage is actually waiting for us by the time we make it to the belt. But it's too late to get anything done. All airline offices being closed, we head for the airport's Sheraton hotel, only to find out that there's some international football match in town and not a single room's available. However, one of the clerks knows about a small family run hotel only 5' from the airport, at 140 Euro for a double room, half the Sheraton's price. A bargain we sure hope to get paid back. A bit later a friendly Turkish looking man picks us up and cramps us in his old Mercedes together with another traveler. It's hot and humid as we drive through the night to the Taubengrund hotel. It could be any town, almost anywhere. The room's decent enough, and after a quick shower I just crash into bed.

Next morning, as we have breakfast in the Mediterranean looking dining room, Marianne calls Singapore airlines. What was just totally impossible yesterday, is no problem at all today. We can fly at 12:35! With our luggage. Once again we have a holiday, thanks to Singapore airlines' helpful attitude. We're given a ride back to the airport, where check-in is a breeze, making it all real. The flight is on time, we've got decent seats, with private view-when-you-want movie displays, the food's pretty good and we even land on time. Only 12 hours later than originally scheduled.