Manado Trip Report

[TimIngmire]

Well, I can't believe I didn't post this here.

Its a very long read - hope you like it.


[size=18px]
In The Shadow Of Manado Tua
[/size]

Intro

Its been a long time since I’ve had goose bumps purely from excitement, longer in fact than I can remember; but as I stepped from the airplane at Manado’s Sam Ratalungi airport my skin tingled with them. This was first real foray into SE Asia outside of the one city country of Singapore. What I saw as I walked along the windowed sky bridge was hills thickly covered in coconut trees - absolutely picture perfect but not a patch on what I was to see over the next three weeks. I had wanted to holiday in an exotic tropical paradise and here it was, I couldn’t wait to see more of this country both on land and underwater at some of the world’s best dive sites.


The Journey Out

I had left the UK and my family two days earlier at London Gatwick and the start of my 23 day break couldn’t have been more stressful. I had arranged with the Travel Agent to pick up my tickets at the Qatar Airlines ticket desk but they didn’t have them! A quick check confirmed my booking but no indication of where the hell the tickets were - fortunately I had arrived very early in the expectation of some kind of problem but I didn’t guess that it would take me to the wire. After a fair amount of dashing about, long phone calls between Air Qatar staff and the travel agent, I found myself being pushed to the front of the check-in queue with just minutes to spare before the check-in for my flights closed but with no ticket - the staff assured me everything would be fine, that I shouldn‘t worry, but I had just had visions of having to cancel the whole bloody trip because of an untraceable cock-up. Amazingly, the newly printed tickets were handed to me just as I stepped up to the desk and I could finally breathe a sigh of relief - I didn’t need to call my wife to come back and pick me up - I was going. Oh yes, I was going.

I had chosen to fly out to Manado via Singapore but to get to Singapore I had to fly via Doha in Qatar, a small country that juts northwards into the Arabian Gulf and a country that seems to be gearing up to attract more tourists. The flights into Doha were very comfortable considering that I had chosen to fly economy. I found myself sitting next to a quite attractive young lady that was flying out to Sri Lanka to spend three months helping the Tsunami-aid agencies. Never before, in all the times I’ve flown, have I sat next to an attractive woman - I took this as a sign of all the great things to come and I was a very happy man. To top that , all the seats were equipped with video screens from which you could access a range of films and music. The selection was very good and I watched Constantine (with a consistently wooden Keanu Reaves) followed by Hitch (Will Smith) and then listened to the likes of Led Zep, Pink Floyd, U2 and a whole range of newly released albums - the 8 hour flight went by in no time.

On a business trip years ago I found myself in Dubai airport on the way out to Oz and the scene at the transfer desk was mayhem. The mass of passengers formed what looked like an orderly mosh-pit, with the most tightly packed queues I had ever seen, in front of the desks to get their boarding passes - as people jostled, the lines swayed along its length like some kind of lethargic snake with the shakes. It was noisy, hot, full of the smell of people that had clearly spent long hours flying without a chance to wash and I was tired after my flight - not what you wanted to contend with after one long-haul flight and before another. Doha could not have been more different. The building was modern, clean, well air-conditioned (just as well as the air temperature outside assaulted you as you stepped from the airplane) but above all, relaxed and orderly - no pushing, shoving or shouting. I was booked through to Singapore already so didn’t need to go to the transfer desk for my boarding pass and so passed into the departure lounge with no hassle at all. As with most international airports these days, the departure lounge looked more like a ‘metro’ version of the House of Frazer - lots of smart stalls selling high value items from designer clothes to jewellery and from electronic gadgets to books and magazines.

It’s interesting to watch how the different items attract different people but almost stereotypically, lots of young men stood looking at the the electric gadgets and mobile phones whilst their female partners wandered around the sections with the expensive clothes. Very few of any of them were actually pulling out wallets to buy anything - all of them just killing time until their flights were called. I watched all this from the upper floor where the food courts and gate for my next flight was situated. This floor was very busy and there was no spare seat to be found so, like many others, I sat on the floor, pulled out my MP3 player and waited for my next flight where I would find myself sitting next to an older Philippino lady flying back to Cebu. She had been visiting one of her 8 grown-up children - all of whom had left home and now lived in various parts of the world. She spent her time traveling the world visiting each of them and occasionally returning home to see her husband. At this point I felt a pang of guilt as I wasn’t that much different - I had barely seen my family over the last few weeks and still wouldn’t for a few weeks more. This wasn’t the last time that I really wanted my family to be with me and experience all this as well.


Singapore.

It was with a very sore bottom that I arrived in Singapore and I couldn’t help but to jump up and massage it as soon as the engines were turned off. It may have looked a little strange to some but man, I needed blood circulating around my gluteous maximus. After this second long flight, I was now feeling very weary and just wanted to go sleep. I had arranged to meet with Kelvin, a fellow Digital Diver, at the airport and he had graciously agreed to give up his Sunday and be my guide. I called him as agreed from a phone in the baggage hall but there was no answer - Ah! I picked up my bags and called again from the arrivals hall and this time Kelvin picked up. After a quick chat he told me he would come out and pick me up - I was to stand at the pick-up point by column six and he would be there in about 20mins. From where I was standing I could see a covered area where taxi’s were picking up the arriving passengers and each of the supporting concrete pillars was numbered, I could see a number 6 painted on one of them. I sat and waited, and waited but no sign of Kelvin. After about 30 minutes my phone rang, it was Kelvin asking where I was. We confirmed the Terminal and column number but we couldn’t see each other. It was then that Kelvin realized where we each were, he would be with me in a minute. Five minutes later, another call. This time Kelvin was trapped and wouldn’t be able to get to me for another 20 minutes. Apparently, the roads around the airport had been changed and on making his way over to me he had turned into the taxi lane. Before he had realized, he was stuck with 2 long lines of taxi’s in front and they were already piling up behind so no chance to reverse out. He directed me to his position and so I walked, pulling my 30Kg case behind me, to his car. It was great to meet him but we had to get out of the taxi queue or be stuck there for ages. Fortunately, the road was just wide enough that if each of the two lines of taxis pulled to the left or right we could cautiously drive down the middle. This we did and in 2 minutes we were driving out around the terminal when Kelvin pointed out the pickup area where huge numbers were painted on pillars and lots of people were hanging around waiting for their lifts - I had been standing in completely the wrong place. As we drove on the way into Singapore along a long avenue lined it’s whole length with trees and as I sat in the car, I realized that the first part of my journey was finally over.

The flights to Manado are artfully timed so that passengers flying into Singapore have to spend the night in order to catch the early morning Silk Air flight. I had been told to look at staying at a chain of budget hotels called Hotel 81. A chain, it turned out, that had started out as ‘love hotels’ charging by the hour. They also cater for regular guests (in the ‘overnighter’ sense rather than “three times daily” sense of the word, which, given the context, would be an awesome achievement) and room’s were available for $89 (about £30). My hotel was centered slap bang in the middle of Singapore’s red light district and my room looked over a small fenced park outside of which girls hung around waiting for business. Kelvin had taken me to a local food court (not one of the covered air-conditioned centres but one of the many courts offering very cheap but delicious food) for mutton soup followed by a monstrously sized iced dessert and I needed a short sleep. We agreed that he would pick me up later in the evening for dinner so I managed a quick sleep and shower then watched out of my window at the business transactions being agreed below me. Once an agreement had been reached, the various parties would then stroll over to the Hotel to complete their contractual arrangements in an hourly room. Now, I’m no business guru but I think the hotel needs to have rooms rented, at a premium, by the quarter hour, it would certainly more closely meet the needs of the majority of the target customer and they would significantly increase their revenue that way.

Bright and Breezy the next morning saw me standing outside the hotel flagging down a taxi whilst trying to escape the attentions of the girls still on duty. I was totally refreshed after a good nights sleep and although the Hotel don’t supply breakfast, I didn’t feel I needed it as I was still full of the sate and the other goodies I had devoured the night before. After a very short wait I was inside a taxi and on my way back to the Airport. The taxi driver was very chatty and asked where I had come from. When I told him I was from the UK he shouted “Manchester United” immediately followed by “David Beckham” - of course being an Arsenal supporter I just sat back and groaned - it’s bad enough hearing this in the MUFC-supporter’s enclaves in Essex but here in Singapore? It never fails to amaze me how people on the other side of the world take such an interest in the English Premiership. Surprisingly, the taxi driver, like so many others I would meet, was an ardent Chelsea supporter and we chatted all the way to the airport about being Champions, the coming season and Liverpool winning the European Championship - his knowledge of it all was as good as anybody’s back in Blighty. It was just like being in a London Cab in fact.

Check-in for the Manado flight was a breeze. Like an increasing number of airlines (Qatar Airlines excepted here), Silk Air uses an e-ticket system so all I had to do was hand over the credit card with which I had booked the ticket along with a print out of the booking and I was all set. The only potential sticking point was the weight of my checked bag which was 9 Kg over the 20 Kg Limit. However, as recommended by the Odyssea Divers website, I had contacted Silk Air weeks before to request an increase in baggage allowance and explain that it was because I was carrying diving equipment. I handed over the copy of the email from Silk Air to show the check-in lady that my baggage allowance was now 30Kg and held my breathe. We’ve all heard stories of people having similar letters confirming an increase in allowance only to be refused at check-in with some lame excuse - especially on flights to and from the Red Sea. The lady took one look at the email, looked at me with a smile and said “Of course sir, that’ll be no problem” - Yes! It’s great to know that some airlines treat divers well. This holiday may not have started well but it was getting better and better every step along the way. I now just hoped that this good fortune would continue and that the resort and diving would be everything I had imagined.

With less than a four hour flight we landed at Manado and those goosebumps were breaking out. On the airplane were loads of travelers wearing t-shirts advertising dive centres in far flung and exotic locations. This was going to be the most far flung and exotic dive location that I had yet been to and the presence of so many divers who, from their appearance, looked like they had come form all over the world (and many of whom carried tell-tell Peli and Storm cases) started to confirm that I was in store for some superlative diving and photo opportunities. With 54 dives booked I was in store for a fantastic adventure; well, I fervently hoped that I was.


Immigration

Now, there’s nothing like the formality of Immigration to dampen even the most ardent enthusiasm but the procedure and waiting I suffered at Sam Ratalungi was enough to leave me feeling almost depressed and despondent. The procedure for visitors like myself is to line up at a booth to pay for the visitors 30 day visa and then move along to another booth to have the visa put into the passport. All nice and simple. Except that the queue for the visa stretches back into the queue to pay for it so you have a lot of standing around. I don’t know how long it eventually took but my knees were starting to buckle by the time I eventually got through. Finally, with a nice big sticker in my Passport stating I was free to enter Indonesia I picked up my baggage and stepped outside and BLAM - I was hit by the heat and humidity of the air. Suddenly, wearing jeans and a jacket seemed a very unwise move and I was desperate to find the dive centre contact and get into the car which would hopefully be air-conditioned. Very quickly I was met by Bonny who greeted me with a big smile and a very un Indonesian like accent. I later found out that Bonny had spent a great deal of time in Oz and had moved to Manado a few years ago as his own parents were originally from the town.

In no time I was in the dive centre MPV (which was indeed air conditioned) and on my way out of the airport for the short trip to Kima Bajo resort. Now, the journey to the resort was an education in itself: I could see first hand how some of the people lived as well as get my first experience of typical Manado driving styles. At this juncture, I’d like to make a recommendation for anybody who may be a little “faint of heart” - if you go to Manado, sit in the back seat and take a rest with your eyes closed. It’s not that the action is fast paced or the driving erratic (as you might experience in places like Cairo). In fact, you rarely seem to exceed 30 mph on the local roads. It’s the overtaking procedures that got to me - it was scary. I won’t go into details but one occasion we overtook on a blind bend only to see another MPV also on the “wrong” side of the road and evidently overtaking something coming towards us. Now, I don’t know how it happened but we happily carried on in the wrong lane and somehow totally avoided an accident pulling over with just inches to spare and amazingly, nobody beeped, we just tootled along on our own merry way. Clearly, the attitudes of the people in this part of the world was something I was going to have to adjust to.


Arrival

After 20 minutes of gazing out of the windows looking at the coconut plantations, roadside huts and houses we came to a large concrete sign proclaiming that we had reached “Kima Baja Resort and Spa”, at which point we pulled off the main road and up a short steep incline to the security gates and onward to the reception building. Finally, after two days travel I had reached my destination. I had a numb bum, weak legs, bleary eyes and felt the need to sleep for a day, but despite all that, all I wanted to do was get the paperwork out of the way and gear up for the try dive. My first dive in truly tropical waters. My first dive, in fact, for 4 weeks. I couldn’t wait to get wet.


Try Diving:

So finally we get to the bit that most people will be reading for; “The Diving”. The first dive was the obligatory check-out dive which was to be done at the one of the House Reefs called Open Sea Point. We didn’t get off to a great start as I was told that the dive centre didn’t have tanks with DIN valves so I couldn’t use my beloved Cyclons which I had carted out from the UK (a problem that was resolved a couple of days later after speaking to the dive centre manager, Martinus, who revealed that they did infact have DIN valves on a few of their tanks). Instead I was using the centre’s Scubapro regs which were fine, no problems relating to kit quality but just not what I wanted - they breathe quite differently to my regs and took quite some getting used to. Once we entered the water it was clear that I was severely underweighted with 6 Kgs of Lead as I couldn‘t even get under. This was due to the combination of the full length 5mm wetsuit I was wearing and the Aluminium tanks that the dive centre uses. So, passing the weight belt back to the boat, extra lead was added and finally we were off. The great thing was that entering the water was like stepping into a bath. The water temperature was a fantastic and, for me, unprecedented 28 degrees C - unbelievable! This was heaven.

As this was a check-out dive this was one of those rare dives where I elected not to take in the camera. It’s been a while since I’ve dived and had nothing to do with my hands and what a difference it makes. Suddenly I lost the desire to really stick my nose into all the cracks and crevices to find all the wee beasties. I was also being troubled by the fact that my trim was shot to hell and, try as I might, I couldn’t maintain a nice horizontal position, I was going to have to do something about my weights after the dive. Despite this, it was great diving in clear (about 20m viz) warm water and seeing the large barrel sponges that I’d only previous seen in photographs was fantastic - some of those things were huge and many had these weird white ‘worms’ crawling all over them. After just under an hour we surfaced and I had a big grin on my face despite the reg and weighting problems. I had taken my first dive in South East Asia and, even though in hindsight it was far from being the best dive, it felt absolutely superb. I couldn’t wait for the next day and taking the camera out to some exceptional dive sites.


Day 1. - Macro day

Todays diving was starting off at a site called Fukui on Bunaken Island. The attraction of this site is a row of giant clams and a newly discovered Hippocampus, a tiny little thing not at all like the normal Pygmy Seahorse - excellent, this was exactly the thing I was expecting - lots and lots of fascinating tiny critters.

Getting to the site took a leisurely 45 minutes on one of the 4 regular boats that the dive centre uses. It is a type typical to the area and, whilst relatively basic, was more than spacious enough for the 3 divers and guides on the boat. On a number of occasions I was lucky enough to have the whole boat to myself with no other guests - pure luxury. Typically, the weather was hot with a fierce sun that kept me in the shade for the journey out and the sea was almost oily flat. I had been told that we could expect dolphins and, if I was really lucky, pilot whales on the crossing to the Island but it wasn’t to be.

Bunaken is a small island that would have most beach bums and sun worshippers gagging; tall palm trees lean out over beautiful golden sandy beaches upon which numerous small colourful boats are pulled up. We had to motor around to the far side of the island and this is when you come face to face with the island that is Manado Tua. This is dormant volcano that you can see clearly from the resort but it isn’t untill you get close when you realise how big it is as it towers up over you. Awesome.


Four other boats were already moored over the site, not surprising given the attractions that were beneath us, and this generated a little debate amongst the crew and guides. Clearly, they were contemplating moving on to a less crowded site. Having dived in the Red Sea, I was more than happy to dive with just four other boats, especially as they were probably only carrying a few divers each themselves. It was hardly likely to be crowded down there and I was eager to see this wee beastie. Of course, logic told me that we could’ve come back later but I was feeling a little like a spoilt child - I wanted to see this seahorse and I wanted to see it now. I didn’t say anything though.

Finally, the decision was made and we were in. This was even better than yesterday, the viz was superb, the water warm and I had moved some of weights around so I was felling much more comfortable in the water. Now, with camera in hand, I was ready to take an award winning photo of a rarely photographed seahorse that was attracting a lot of the dive centres in the area. Ah, what a dreamer! Again, I was greeted by the sight of some huge barrel sponges some with the same white worm I’d seen yesterday and some with colorful fans crowded around the rim. Man, these would look fabulous with a wide angle lens - but I was equipped with a macro lens, so after a quick look I swam on by following the rest of the gang (having adopted my usual position at the back) and then I saw the them. I’ve never seen giant clams before and so these for me were beautiful and much larger than I had expected - another subject for a wide angle shot which meant that I had already decided we should come back here some time.

Just beyond the clams the group were hanging around a large boulder covered with growth waiting for another group of divers to move on by. This must be interesting I thought but this was no fan coral so the Hippocampus must be further on. Eventually the other group moved on and our guide, Andy, moved in to find the interesting subject. The other two guests took a look and fired off a couple of snaps and I was then beckoned forward to take a look. Great, I couldn’t see a bloody thing - it was all just stuff. Then Andy pointed and something moved. It was a little tiny seahorse colored so that it blended in perfectly with the growth around it. I had imagined something like the typical pygmy seahorse that I had seen in countless photographs sitting nicely on a colorful fan and positioned so that I could get a nice clear photo. This was nothing like that. This one was positioned in an area with very little light and was a muddy yellow colour that was almost impossible to distinguish from the background and try as I might, the camera was finding it very difficult to find a focus lock - now, too late, I wished I had the manual focus kit. This was not going to be easy. I took a number of pictures but I knew with each shot that it wasn’t good enough. Either it was out of focus or the seahorse moved or it had turned it’s back on me. Eventually I gave up as I was aware that the others were waiting for me - we swam on.

After a while Elly, the other guide started rapping on his tank and called me over pointing at something. Before I reached him I could see a pair large beautifully colored Nudi’s. Elly moved over allowing me to get closer and I started to take a couple of pictures. I could hearing laughing behind me and felt a tap on my shoulder. A hand appeared shaking clearly say “no”, then pointed to a couple of dead leaves floating in the water. Then it hit me and shouted “oooooh, yes!”. I had completely missed two ghost pipefish right next to me - feeling like a fool and chuckling into my reg I pulled the camera around and started to take pictures. Again, the fish slowly turned around and around trying to not see me in the hope that I didn’t see them. Getting a focus lock on the eyes and then reframing before the fish moved was proving to be very difficult. This was something I found myself doing again and again over the next 3 weeks with very mixed result. Despite the difficulties I was as happy as a frolicking lamb in spring. I had already seen things that I never really thought I would ever see and here I was taking photos of them - I was ecstatic.

After another hour we were back on the boat, we had been given freshly sliced pineapple and papaya, and I was basking in the warm air, feeling very pleased with myself. The photo side wasn’t going as easily or as well as I had expected but there was lots of time to learn - this was after all, only the third trip with the rig and I had another 53 dives to do.

After an hours surface interval we were kitted up again and ready to dive Alung Banua, a spectacular wall dive with fantastic corals and sponges on the opposite side of Bunaken Island to Fukui. Here, I was introduced to pretty little bubble corals with attendant shrimp and crinoid squat lobsters; feisty little devils that would wave their tiny claws at you warning you to keep away despite the fact they were only a couple of centimeters in length. I also came across (ok, it was found by a guide again) an orangutan crab, a skinny little thing that was unbelievably hirsute. I took many photos of these things during my stay believing that I didn’t get a single one in focus. The hairs which cover the crab lend every photo a very fuzzy, unfocused look to its appearance and only by looking at its eyes did I really see if the picture was sharp or not. Another hours dive and we were up again ready for the lunch that we had ordered the previous evening and which had been put aboard that morning in thermal cases. Not wanting to go for the western food on offer I had opted for the Asian Fare. It was delicious but unfortunately, the combination of jet lag and the heat killed my usually large appetite and I could only manage a plate full which was a shame because I had copious quantities of about four different dishes to help myself to. I was really starting to enjoy the food on offer, I just wished I could eat more of it.

During lunch, and after the crew had eaten, we made our way back across from Bunaken to another of the Dive Centre’s house reefs and one which was to become a real favorite of mine, Wori Bay. This is a site with several dives in one. We started by descending onto a pinnacle which drops to a sandy bottom over which you swim to a reef covered with coral and coral debris. Every time I visited this site I found something new to me. I was told I could expect to see a blue ring octopus and stonefish here which meant that every time I wanted to put my hand down to steady myself, (on rock or dead coral only you understand) I gave the surface a little wave and a quick study to make sure one of these things wasn’t taking a rest where I was about to put my fingers - that would put my diving holiday to a very sudden end. We had come looking for frogfish but none were to be found, instead we found hundreds of nudi’s - they were just everywhere we looked. It was just as well that I had come equipped with the macro lens as the tide was on its ebb and, with the site being within the bay, the viz was not good so we were treated to an underwater snowstorm as large flakes of silt floated past and onto every surface, living or not.

Once up and out of the water, we made our way back to the dive centre jetty and back to terra firma. All the kit was taken care of and we were told it would all be rinsed and back on the boat ready for our dives in the morning. Even my camera was taken off the boat for me sparing me the effort of having to carry it the short distance to the camera room. Now, the camera room is an excellent facility. Being the only guest using it I had loads of space for my gear and uncontested access to the computer where I could view the days photos. Everyday, I would go straight to the room, remove the camera from the housing and, in turn, the batteries and compact flash card from the camera. The batteries would be recharged and I would copy the photos from my card to the wee device I’d brought for back-up, an Archos AV400 with a 100Gb Hard drive. This is an excellent device as it has a CF slot and copies 1Gb worth of files in about 5 minutes - very quick, which was just as well because I found it very difficult to wait to see how things had turned out. Once copied I plugged the USB cable from the computer into the Archos and started to view the pictures, weeding out the really poor ones. With high expectation I viewed the first day’s photos. Hmm, not so good, I barely managed two photos of the hippocampus where it was even recognizable and the rest were not good - if I had wanted sharp pictures of the surrounding growth, then I would have been happy, I had some real keepers; but I didn’t, so they were dumped pretty sharpish. So, in all a little disappointing - some very nice nudi shots and maybe one or two nice pipefish shots but nothing that really gripped me. Ah well, there was always tomorrow.


From this point I’m just going to cover the highlights of each day each day offered fabulous diving and it would be overwhelming to describe it all here.


Day 2 - Macro

Sites:

Aba Point - House Reef
Sachiko - Bunaken
Tiwoho - House Reef

Aba point is a stunning wall dive which drops to about 18 meters along the wall. The wall is draped in blue and green tube sponges which put me in mind of an old ruined temple in a jungle, covered with ivy and with the occasional stone feature jutting out from the structure. In this case, the ’stone features’ were more barrel sponges of all size. This was a fantastic dive and became another firm favourite of mine for this and other reasons.

At Sachiko we found another of the tiny Hippocampus sp. that we had seen at Fukui (although his one was a brown colour) and just like Fukui, this one was a bugger to photograph as it was sited right at the base of another boulder and beneath the skirt of a Porites which covered the rock.

At Tiwoho I had the joy of seeing my first frogfish. This one didn’t need to be pointed out - it was huge and sitting prettily over the mouth of a small barrel sponge - an excellent picture; or it would have been! As I unwisely sat back whilst the other guests moved in to take a couple of snaps, what was a nice setting in clear water soon became history as the sand was kicked up with each passing diver and with little current, a lot of it stayed in the water around the frogfish. So immediately, the idea of framing the whole fish on its perch was out of the window and I had to make do with a close up of it’s face. Nothing like as interesting but I took what I could. This was not the last time that this was to happen to me and it certainly wasn’t the most frustrating but it was very annoying all the same.


Day 3 - Macro

Sites:

Siladen Island
Odyssea Point II - House Reef
Aba Point

Siladen is another site where shallow muck diving is on offer right next to another beautiful wall dive and you can do both in the same dive easily. This time we were after boxer crabs and I had a great time photographing several which was great fun. These things carry little anemones around in their claws and use them to ward off enemies, predators and photographers. Like the crinoid squat lobsters, they are happy to take on any size of opponent and will wave the anemones around at you. Very difficult to photograph as they like to scurry off but occasionally you’ll find one that will try and take you on.

At Aba point, I came across what I came to see as the guardian of the wall, a huge tuna. This thing was about one of the biggest fish I’ve seen and it cruised back and forth along the wall almost as if it was on patrol. It would follow us around the dive and even back to the boat always keeping one eye on us. One of critters I was keen to see was a mantis shrimp and toward the end of the dive James, the guide, found one happily searching outside its burrow but as he was about to call me over the tuna swam past and the shrimp caught sight of it and was off like lightening. Ah well, there was more of these to come in the days ahead.

Day 4 - Macro

TJ Kopi - Manado Tua Island
Gabet
Open Sea Point - House Reef

TJ Kopi is another spectacular wall dive which faces into the open ocean on the side of Manado Tua, consequently it is subject to stronger currents than the other sites I had dived which made macro photography a little difficult. It also means that waters are more nutrient rich and so the walls are covered with life. Several large Napoleon Wrasse patrolled the wall here which was a fantastic sight.

Day 5 - Wide Angle (12-24)

Molas Shipwreck - Opposite Manado
Lekuan II - Bunaken Island
Siladen Island

Today was the day that the weather turned. We had been enjoying bright sunshine and blue skies but today started a little overcast and with a slight wind that stirred up the surface of the water making the journey across to Bunaken a tiny bit choppy. Lekuan II is one of three Lekuan sites (I, II and III) that sit next to each other and means ‘not straight’ or bendy. This was another awesome wall dive with barrel sponges big enough to fit a man inside. Unfortunately, the weather was getting worse and so getting nice scenic shots with sunbeams was not possible - annoyingly whilst at the reef around the molas shipwreck earlier in the day we had a sun break-out and managed to get some nice sunbeams but the reef was nowhere near as good as Lekuan. Typical! However, the best was yet to come. After the dive at Siladen we surfaced away from the boat and into a lovely swelling sea with the a little rain starting to fall. After a short while the boat picked us up with a little difficulty as it swayed in the swell and then the heavens broke. In seconds the viz topside was obliterated and we could no longer see the mainland, Manado Tua and not even Bunken, the rain was torrential and lightening was flashing around us. Breathtakingly exciting.

Day 6 - Wide Angle (18-70)

Fukui
Sachiko
Aba Point

Sharks! Sachiko point will be remembered as the site where I saw sharks and no doubt about it. Prior to the dive other guest on the boat told me they had seen three sharks the previous day and until that point I hadn’t even considered the thought they might be around. This changed things, just before we jumped in I told James that I wanted to see a Shark - actually I wanted to see three, just as the others had. “Uh ok” he says, “but no guarantees right?”. About 20 minutes into the dive and about 10-20metres below us I see a dim shape swimming below me and at the same time I hear James dinging on his tank and pointing below us - sure enough as the shape came closer we made out the unmistakable shape and swimming action of a shark, closer still and you could make out a white tip to it’s dorsal fin. “Yahooooo”, my first shark. Ok it wasn’t up close and personal but I didn’t care, this was a shark in the wild and a total happenchance encounter, I was thrilled. As it disappeared into the gloom beneath us I was again a happy man and again ‘ding, ding ding’ as James rapped on his tank pointing higher up in the water column but still below us. Another shark. Was it the same one? Hell, no. This one had a black tip and was clearly bigger than the previous shark. “Yes yes, yes!”. This was incredible, I asked in jest but never thought we would actually see one, let alone two sharks. Happily we moved on and continued along the wall. Incredibly 5 minutes later and James was excitedly dinging on his tank again, another black tip at about the same level as us but about 25 meters away from the wall. Fan-bloody-tastic. Funnily enough, I didn’t bother trying to get a photo of them I just stopped, hovered and watched all three.

Oh, we also saw barracuda and three frolicking puffer fish.


Day 7 - Wide Angle (18-70)

Bunaken Timur
Lekuan II
Lekuan I

Yay, Sharks! Again almost on order 3 black tips appeared at Lekuan II but these came much closer, and closer they looked much bigger. A fantastic sight as we saw two of the black tips just below us one cruising just behind the other, then a third level with us and about 10 metres away. Again, no photos, just staring in awe, pulse racing with excitement.


Day 8 - Macro

The day of my 200th dive.

Odyssea Point II
Wori Bay
Tiwoho


Today was the day of my 200th dive and I knew in my bones that it was going to be spectacular. I readied my gear in the camera room and dashed onto the boat, this time the small Piccolo which I had to my self. We took the short trip to Odyssea point II and dropped in. Instantly we came across a fabulously coloured Nudi at about 14m and I pulled up the camera but I couldn’t see anything through the viewfinder. I checked to see that I had taken the lens cap off the macro port and looked through the viewfinder again; the camera was on and the lens was hunting for focus but I couldn’t see anything. I suspected instantly what had happened and, knowing what I would see, I turned the housing around and looked down the port to see the bright silver Nikon logo which adorns all their lens caps - “Arrrrrrgggggghhhhhhhh”. In my haste I’d forgotten to take it off - I was now paying the price for not taking a test shot after putting the gear together. “Right, I’m not doing the whole dive without the camera” I muttered into my reg and set off after James to tell him we were surfacing. Back at the boat I jump out, dry down the camera and in a dry area carefully removed the port and asked the skipper to remove the lens cap - I would have dripped sea water all over it. Once done, the port was screwed back on and quickly leak tested in the rinse bucket, gear back on and into the water. I didn’t take a test shot. At about 13 metres James came to a bizarre looking thing on the sloping sand that looked like an upside down speckled jellyfish with thick arms; I was clueless as to what it was. James was pointing at something on the animal and looking closer I could see a small shrimp that clearly lived between the arms of this thing. “Oooh, lovely” I thought. I pulled the camera up, saw through the viewfinder and gently pulled the trigger to focus. Nothing happened. Ah, I must have the camera in Manual focus, so flicked the lever and tried again.

No movement.

Nothing.

Flick the focus selector switch again in desperation and still nothing. Again, another flash of realisation; I’d been playing with the macro lens the previous night and switched the lens itself into manual focus and not switched it back. I couldn’t believe it. The camera would still take a photo but who knows where the lens would focus. I recalled at that instant that the D70 has a trick where you can set the camera to fire once focus had been achieved, I also knew that the trick wouldn’t help me, I couldn’t remember how to do it. Pulling the camera up I looked through the viewfinder and moved slowly backwards and forwards in the hope that I would get a decent focus close in. Amazingly, I could get focus at about 4 inches from the subject, the trick was to judge visually when I had a good focus and then fire away. I didn’t think it would be wise to return to the boat to make the change again so just carried on with the rest of the dive swaying backwards and forward to focus. Once back on the boat I could again remove the port, flick the switch and I’d be back in business. Some spectacular 200th dive that was!

Back on the boat, nice and dry, I made the adjustment ready for the next dive repeating the leak test for the third time that day. Fatefully, I didn’t take a test shot. For those not in the know, the Nikon 60mm lens is a classic macro lens which gives a fantastically sharp image. As you have seen, it has a switch to allow auto or manual focus. It also has another switch - it is important because this switch can limit the focus of the lens. It is important to make sure you have this switch in the correct position - full focus or limited. It is important to remember that you check it.

An hour later we were ready again to dive and we jumped in at Wori Bay, dive 201. Halfway down the pinnacle and inside a small deep crack James found a leaf scorpion fish, again something I’d only seen in photos and behind the glass of an aquarium tank. Excellent. It was perched in a nice position allowing a full fish shot with a nice bit of negative space around it. Superb award winning shot coming up. I positioned myself at just under arms length away and slightly beneath the fish and up came the camera, a gentle pull on the shutter release and focus and focus and focus. The camera was hunting but getting nowhere near the right focus point. Then it hit me what was going on.

I could only hang my head.

The focus limit switch was set to limit - it was set to close focus only. All I could manage was the face of the leaf scorpion fish. Never again when diving Wori Bay would I find the fish in such a good position in such good conditions. One day I might look back and find this funny.

The third dive was going to be different. We were returning to Tiwoho, I was going to get a nice full frame picture of the resident giant frogfish that we had seen the other day. As it was just me and James, we’d have no sand in the water and that elusive award winning photo this time of the fish sitting on its permanent position on the barrel sponge would be mine, nothing could stop me.

The frogfish had gone. It was not to be seen.

Things got worse from there. Whilst looking for the fish and at about 13 meters I felt a small ache in my head - I just dismissed it as a CO2 thing from holding my breathe whilst taking photos. Very soon the ache felt like somebody was drilling into my skull and rubbing the back of my right eyeball with stinging nettles. I stopped doing everything and pushed on my mask hoping in vain that this would help. It didn’t and the pain got worse and the itching behind my eye made me sneeze. I called James, signed that I was in trouble and to ascend. We swam up the reef and slowly the pain began to lessen and then disappear at 5 minutes. That was a huge relief. I never felt anything like that before and I was worried that I had done something silly - I knew I hadn’t been stung so it wasn’t that. We ambled at 5m and again James called me to look at something at about 6m. I tried to descend but the pain returned - I was going nowhere but up and out. To top it off, we surfaced to more torrential rain. The pain went and replaced by a dull ache which subsided after about 2 hours.

A spectacular day for my 200th dive.


Day 9 - Macro

Gabet
Wori Bay - Ebbing Tide
Wori Bay - Flooding Tide

In a desperate attempt to put right the problems from yesterday we found ourselves back at Wori Bay to get those Leaf Scorpion fish but the first dive found us swimming through a blizzard of silt as the tide was ebbing. We quickly moved onto the reef area where we found another of the creatures I was keen to see - Mantis Shrimp. We found one sitting in its burrow and I very cautiously approached - I had heard they could easily smash a glass port but I had no idea how long there reach was. Clearly this was not a fully grown individual so I could get reasonably close. These things are beautifully colored and have the most amazing, highly evolved eyes - this one was a ‘smasher’ and when it moved you could clearly see the highly calcified elbow that it used to hit its prey at lightening speed. And every time it did move, I jerked fearful that it would try and smash my lens port. Eventually I had taken enough photos and moved on relieved that my camera was still in one piece. I was to get the shock of my life from one of these later in the week.

On the third dive the pain returned and we surfaced slowly.

That evening, I spoke to a couple of the others at the centre and I learned that I had a sinus blockage. Bugger. I knew that I shouldn’t dive with the risk of a reverse blockage but I also know that I could be a stubborn so and so. Drugs would help.


Day 10 - Macro

Tiwoho
Popo

Only two dives today. Sinus trouble so didn’t push it with a third dive especially as tomorrow was a trip to Lembeh. Nothing would stop me doing that.


Day 11 - Macro

Nudi Falls - Lembeh
TK3 - Lembeh

I woke early and excited all ready for the trip to Lembeh, the legendary dive destination for macro photography. All manner of weird and wonderful creatures were waiting for me there. No corals, just black volcanic sand - pure muck diving heaven.

The dive centre had booked an MPV for the 90 minute drive across North Sulawesi and it was full of guests. Myself, Kieran (a Brit brought up in Perth) and a group of divers from Singapore, 6 fellas and 3 women. I had heard stories about their legendary diving abilities (note the heavy irony here) and was not looking forward to diving with them in potentially silty conditions. Nevertheless, their were enough divers for two boats and Kieran and myself found ourselves on the second boat - result.

Now I didn’t really know what to expect from topside Lembeh Strait but certainly didn’t expect a very busy port with literally hundreds of ships moored along the dockside and in the straits. It is not a good first impression but like many first impressions, it was totally deceptive. One little chuckle I did have on the journey came from two large towering silos with huge logos painted on the side proclaiming “Semen, Indonesia” - Wow, I thought, that’s one hell of an export. Other than that I didn’t see much as I jumped straight to the back of the MPV not wanting to see the driving.

Anyway, on arrival at the dock the crew set about loading the gear onto the two boats and we quickly drew an audience from the other ships nearby and a host of onlookers along the dock side. All just watching the activity. And then it became clear that they were also watching the three Singaporean girls who were very skimpily dressed and flaunting their, admittedly very attractive assets, around on the tops of the dive boats. For the crews of the ships - who probably spend a great deal of time at sea - this was ‘must see’ entertainment and they were going nowhere until we had pulled off.

Nudi Falls was surprising for two reasons. Firstly, because it actually had a wall and coral and secondly because we saw almost nothing except a rather large nudi at the end of the dive. Thankfully we didn’t see the other group but then even if we did there seemed to be nothing for them to silt-out. The next dive at TK3 would turn out to be the total opposite. Pain returned again but went during the surface interval.

TK3 was fantastic fun. Grubbing around in the black sand and coming across some freaky fish. It would have been exceptional had it not been for the fact that we saw everything through a cloud of black sand. You see, we were following the other group. We were clearly told in the briefing about keeping off the sand and being gentle so that you don’t kick anything up and ruin the viz. Now cue a group of nine divers finning up to a subject grabbing hold of whatever to come to a stop, slamming into the bottom, flash, flash, flash then fin like crazy to pull off and swim to the next subject. Yep, Kieran and I were following this around the site - consequently all the photos from this dive were all clouded with a black mist. Superb. Ah well, I’m sure I’d be back, this dive had really given me a taste for Lembeh and I wanted more.

Too much pain now. Tomorrow I would take a rest from diving and hope that things would settle down.


Day 12 - Macro

Mike’s Point - Bunaken Island

This place was wall diving utopia. Breathtaking, with unbelievably clear water I wish I had brought the WA lens but I came to see Pygmy Seahorse. Unbelievably we found one where we didn’t expect to see one. I couldn’t get down below about 12 meters and about 20 minutes into the dive we found one on a fan coral and I spent ages taking about 50 photos of this thing - I knew I wouldn’t get too many other chances. The pain returned though and we had to surface. This time we hit the surface with blood in my mask. Damn and blast. That was the end of the diving that day and for the next day too. The day after that was a return trip to Lembeh and I wanted to be pain-free for those dives.


Day 13 - Macro

Nudi Retreat - Lembeh
TK3 - Lembeh

Today we were retuning to Lembeh and I had high hopes. The previous group of divers had long gone and today the group was made up of a much more experienced group, 4 from Thailand (including an Ozzie) and two guys from Singapore (both of whom were good fun) we were also joined by Priscilla who was working at the dive centre helping design their new live aboard (remind me to tell you about that - it looks set to become an awesome boat). I had been warned about one of the group nicknamed 747 for his ‘approach, landing and take off’ ability. It was up to me to identify him - it turned out to be very easy indeed.

The diving was just excellent with far too many ‘goodies’ to see to concentrate and spend time on just one. I was like a kiddie in a sweet shop. The group didn’t kick up too much sand I thought and then, just as I was settling down to ‘capture’ a nice frogfish, 747 suddenly revealed himself. I was grabbed on the shoulder as our mysterious sand kicker came steaming in and had to hold me to stop. He pulled out a neat little video camera and proceeded to film despite the fact I was ready to shoot. I waited patiently for him to go and finally he put away his video cam and then whipped out a stills digicam. I was dumbfounded and sat waiting for him to take his snaps and bugger off which he eventually did in a swirl of black sand. I hadn’t managed to take single photo in that time and now I had the now familiar black sand fog in front of me. Ho Hum.

End of the first dive and I hadn’t had any pain but now we had to surface. I knew from previous dives that I had to be carefull over the last 6m and particularly the last metre. I slowly ascended and to my relief no pain and I could feel my sinuses equalizing. I surfaced, no pain at all but a little blood in my mask. No worries, blood I could handle. The second dive was on as was the rest of my diving holiday.

Day 14 - Macro

Aba Point
Siladen
Posi Posi - House Reef

Today the currents were switched on. Not ideal for macro photography although it turns out, much to my pleasure, that Aba Point has excellent muck diving at the far end of the wall in a sandy area..

Today the last dive was to be done at dusk to see the Mandarin Fish. The resort and dive centre is blessed with a number of house reefs that are home to these incredibly beautiful fish. They are very skittish though and trying to take the ultimate picture of them mating requires a PhD in patience. We dropped in at about 5:30 and made our way to the fields of staghorn coral where the Mandarins were to be found. Once there it’s a matter of waiting for the fish to come out of the depths of the coral and start to find each other. Once they’ve done that they start to coyly check each other out and then suddenly they come together and side by side they rise slowly out of the coral and in that moment you have the chance to take a picture. Only, its not easy, there is very little ambient light and so you need a focus light. Problem is, if you shine a torch on them they disappear back into the coral and you don’t have a shot.

So there we were, myself, Priscilla, Carlene, Kieran and the guide Andy. All crowded around one small patch of coral where we had been waiting for 40 minutes for two of the four potential candidates to get it on and come up out of the coral. Eventually, as the light was fading to nothing, they made their move and started to rise. Andy, with his fingers over his torch, allowed a slight beam of light to fall on them to help my auto focus. I already had the camera to my eye and pressed the shutter release to focus and shoot but they were disturbed by my movement and shot straight back down. This was to happen several times and each time everybody would visibly go “ah, damn”. Then, finally, it happened. The fish came together and started to rise. Andy let a small faint beam of light play across the fishes bodies and I was ready, moving closer I cracked off a shot and moved back as the fish darted back into shelter. I knew I had something and looked into the LCD to see the two fish captured as I’d seen them. I turned to the others and raised my fists in a cheers and everybody followed suit all silently cheering. Then, it happened again, the fish rose and I managed to get closer before cracking of another shot and this time the LCD revealed another better picture “Yesssss”. We all cheered again - we hadn’t spent over 40 minutes hovering over one spot for nothing and we were all dead pleased. Having got photo and considering that we had disturbed the poor fish more than enough we headed back to the boat after what must have been our least active 90 minutes underwater. Several celebratory Bintangs were consumed that evening.


Day 15 - Macro

Mike’s Point
Wori Bay
Odyssea Point I

Dolphins. Lots and lots of dolphins all around the boat on the journey out to Bunaken. Spectacular jumps and leaps. Very, very nice.


Day 16 - Wide Angle (12-24)

Lekuan II
Siladen
Aba Point
Posi Posi (Macro)


Day 17 - Wide Angle (12-24)

Gabet
Bunaken Timur
Budo Point

Day 18 - Macro

Mike’s Point
Aba Point

Today was a day of rip-roaring current at both sites. Mikes Point was a real roller coaster - we dropped in to a gentle current in the hope of seeing the pygmy seahorse but there was no hope of that as the current quickly picked up and we were swept past the fan coral where the guide, Elly, was beckoning us to see the seahorses. In a moment he was long gone and we were racing along the face of the wall. I was ahead of the group and suddenly hit an up current and within seconds shot up from 17 to 7 metres to the top of the wall with my computer beeping madly away. I was then swept along the top off the reef somewhat like a rag doll and down into a narrow gully where I could regain my composure and relax a little. In a moment Kieran came screaming over the top of the reef in the same way I had. We then swam out of the shelter of the gully and it seemed the current had slowed. Not wanting to get blown away I stayed close to the wall and saw the others in the group come around the wall rather than over the top of it. Then a down currant hit me. Not a strong one but I could feel it pushing me relentlessly downwards. I had always feared this - caught in a down currant and no bottom in sight - shit. I was now breathing a little faster as I tried to fin across the wall and hopefully out of the current but it wasn’t helping. I grabbed onto a rock to steady myself and take a breather all the while my mask shaking and bubbles hardly moving - man I was annoyed and not a little worried. I looked behind me to find the others and was surprised to see Andrew, the dive centre owner, about 5metres behind me and away from the wall hovering effortlessly with a big grin on his face. He was enjoying seeing me struggling only a few metres away and then I realized I just had to fin away from the wall a couple of meters and I’d be out of the current. I felt a bit of a fool as I did so. A little bit of local knowledge of the currents was all I needed and Andrew had taught me that with a big grin. Once out of the current I looked over at Andrew and smiling I mouthed “bastard” into the reg.

The diving holiday was finished with a final dive at Aba point. A great, if tiring, dive along the wall against another strong current to get to the muck diving where, after 60 minutes, Julius and Augustus Ceasar (names changed to protect the guilty) left me to get some air at the surface (CESA - get it?). We were only in 4 metres of water so both were in no danger. I stayed with the guides hunting out the wee creatures and was surprised to see both J & C reappear - they had boarded, changed tanks - and come back down. I would have done the same if it was me as the diving was so good. After 80 minutes we finished off with a pair of Cockatoo Waspfish and surfaced.


So that was the end to the diving and it had been truly exceptional. I could have taken a few more day trips to the Islands of Banka and Ganga but I really didn’t feel the need to as there was so much available locally.

The next day I was to catch a flight back to Singapore which was all very uneventful. That evening I met up with Priscilla, Carlene and the two guys from Singapore that we met in Kima Bajo and had a few beers and lots and lots of chicken wings. Delicious.

The next day I was on a mission. I felt I had to buy my wife a little pressie, she had been left at home with our three daughters to look after as well as move us into a new house following our move from Ireland. Not only that, I had not been there for her birthday so clearly something very pretty and sparkly was the order of the day. That sorted, I didn’t have time to revisit Sim Lim square and look for all the goodies so I took myself back to the airport ready for the long tiresome flights back to London Gatwick and Home. Except as we had moved, I didn’t actually know where home was and my phone was dead so I couldn’t call me wife and ask. Oh and I didn’t know her new mobile phone number or our new house phone number either but hey that’s another story and besides, who was I to care? I had just had a spectacular holiday.