Manado trip
Just came back from dive trip in Bunaken/Lembeh, Manado. Fabulous walls, worth the raves. Only problem is it's rainy season and the visibility sucks, for Manado. I'd say only about 10m tops, and that's not funny when you're going down 30+ meters to see a ship wreck.
But anyhow, Manado itself is so beautiful, I'm taken by surprise. I expected beautiful underwater view, but I didn't expect such picturesque, postcard-perfect above-water landscape. It's surrounded by water and mountains, and there are 2 particularly, spectacularly symmetric mountains that rose up out all by themselves. I think the landward one was called Minahasa (right behind Manado city), and the other is the curious Manado Tua island which is a perfect cone rising out of the sea. Diving there is beautiful too. A couple of volcanoes around, lots of birds (and insects, unfortunately). Incredible sunsets too.
Diving? Diving is spectacular, superbly rich corals, soft and sponges predominantly. Quite a few overhangs, caves, some funnels, and all of them are jam-packed with colorful life. Not much big fishes, unfortunately, but Manado's attractions have always been about the tiny/weird critters it has. Namely: pygmy seahorse (saw two! a baby one too!), ugly frogfish, nudibranches (tiny, really colorful slugs :), flatheads that looked like refugees from paleonic era.... And I was surprised to see so many lionfishes. One of my favourite fish, and I once saw 4 of them in one place, hanging around a piece of rope. The biggest white-orange one is 3 times the size of my fist! (swoon)
Also saw quite a few sharks, white and black-tipped ones, swimming in the deep, saw a red octopus squeezed inside a broken bottle, hermit/camouflage crabs with one lugging along a 'bulu babi' on top of itself so that you basically see a 'bulu babi' with legs skittering along the sand...
And Lembeh Strait is seriously pretty. Like something that epitomized untouched tropical jungle/sea. Thick forestry hanging over the dive wall site, branches overhanging the pristine clear-green water, kids climbing up and down, hanging off ropes ala Tarzan and jumping off into the water. Cooling wind with sun warming your skin and breaking silver over the water. Tranquility and contentment. Times like these, you are content to just be, enjoy the now, and be grateful that you are alive.
But anyhow, Manado itself is so beautiful, I'm taken by surprise. I expected beautiful underwater view, but I didn't expect such picturesque, postcard-perfect above-water landscape. It's surrounded by water and mountains, and there are 2 particularly, spectacularly symmetric mountains that rose up out all by themselves. I think the landward one was called Minahasa (right behind Manado city), and the other is the curious Manado Tua island which is a perfect cone rising out of the sea. Diving there is beautiful too. A couple of volcanoes around, lots of birds (and insects, unfortunately). Incredible sunsets too.
Diving? Diving is spectacular, superbly rich corals, soft and sponges predominantly. Quite a few overhangs, caves, some funnels, and all of them are jam-packed with colorful life. Not much big fishes, unfortunately, but Manado's attractions have always been about the tiny/weird critters it has. Namely: pygmy seahorse (saw two! a baby one too!), ugly frogfish, nudibranches (tiny, really colorful slugs :), flatheads that looked like refugees from paleonic era.... And I was surprised to see so many lionfishes. One of my favourite fish, and I once saw 4 of them in one place, hanging around a piece of rope. The biggest white-orange one is 3 times the size of my fist! (swoon)
Also saw quite a few sharks, white and black-tipped ones, swimming in the deep, saw a red octopus squeezed inside a broken bottle, hermit/camouflage crabs with one lugging along a 'bulu babi' on top of itself so that you basically see a 'bulu babi' with legs skittering along the sand...
And Lembeh Strait is seriously pretty. Like something that epitomized untouched tropical jungle/sea. Thick forestry hanging over the dive wall site, branches overhanging the pristine clear-green water, kids climbing up and down, hanging off ropes ala Tarzan and jumping off into the water. Cooling wind with sun warming your skin and breaking silver over the water. Tranquility and contentment. Times like these, you are content to just be, enjoy the now, and be grateful that you are alive.