It's all about getting to the Coral Triangle, the most diverse region on the planet. There are 605 coral species vs. 61 in the Caribbean. 37% of the world's coral reef fishes are at home in the Coral Triangle; there are 58 species of Butterflyfish vs. 5 in the Caribbean. The reefs are in outstanding condition (even with ocean acidification and temperature rises which are killing the corals). And the waters are warm and clear.
This trip included milestones for both of us.
We chose to return to the Wakatobi Dive Resort where we had been in 2012 and 2013. It's that good. This time we added a week on Wakatobi's liveaboard, the Pelagian . (Wakatobi is an amalgamation of the names of the main islands that form an archipelago off Southeast Sulawesi - Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko.)
We departed on November 12th, flew DCA -> JFK -> (by car!) EHR -> HKG -> DPS; our return was December 10th, flying DPS -> HKG -> JFK (with a stop in Vancouver) -> DCA (late into JFK so delayed return). Other than the nights on the airplanes, we spent six nights on Bali, ten at Wakatobi, seven on the Pelagian and a final two on Bali.
Some bottom line numbers
Andy
64 dives (of 66 possible)
4 in Tulamben
38 at Wakatobi
22 on the Pelagian
74 hours 25 minutes total underwater time
3381 underwater photographs taken of which 565 were kept (but most not included in this report!)
Valerie
53 dives (of 62 possible)
33 at Wakatobi
20 on the Pelagian
62 hours 27 minutes total underwater time
Filled watercolor sketchbook
On Bali, we stayed at the Amankila and Amanusa as we did in 2015. If you are curious about these amazingly wonderful hotels, see my 2013 report.
Because of the vagaries of mileage awards for airline travel, we had six nights on Bali before going to Wakatobi. So I added a two-day underwater photo workshop (you'll be glad to hear) with the Underwater Tribe. I've read their various postings and reviews by others and they sounded like a good option. My Undercurrent review is linked here if you are curious (but if you are a diver you should really subscribe to Undercurrent). We did four dives over two days at the village of Tulamben on Bali, a site famous for the wreck of the Liberty, a US Army transport ship torpedoed by a Japanese submarine. I'm not particularly interested in diving on wrecks but it is a convenient site to dive from shore. What I found most interesting is that the villagers have formed a cartel and handle all equipment portage, including tanks.
And we enjoyed more of rural Bali this trip; Bali is traditionally rice-growing.
And predominantly Hindu; temples, shrines and ceremonies everywhere.
And occasionally interesting visitors.
The Denpasar Airport has been extensively rebuilt and is absolutely gorgeous, both the international and the domestic terminals. Wakatobi now uses the large Indonesian airline Garuda for their charter flight to Tomia Island, a 2-1/2 hour flight when all goes well, which it did. The flight is now much more comfortable.
This upgrade has another consequence - enhanced security at the resort's private airstrip on Tomia Island, so they inspect all outgoing luggage and hand carries and the resort staff can't wait with the guests in the terminal building. Bummer. From the landing strip, they drove us most of the way to a waiting boat and then we went on to the resort.
which is spectacular
The longhouse (in the center) houses the office and dive shop and was the original entire resort, the restaurant is to the right, the jetty is where the boats are at high tide (they moor off the reef at low tide and you are shuttled by small boat), bungalows line the shore and our villa was out of the picture to the left. The house reef is obvious and we dove it just about everyday we were at the resort.
We were greeted
While the food is always amazing, they even went all out on Thanksgiving (and there were only a few Americans at the resort).
There are loads of hermit crabs walking around but this one was unique for his/her choice of home.
In the shallows in front of our villa, we could watch baby sharks and rays.
The dive operation remained the same; docking at the jetty during high tide but using water taxis at low tide.
This was low season for the resort so the boats were never crowded (that's Kaz chatting with Valerie).
It is really an eat, sleep, dive schedule if you do all the possible dives.
| Resort Diving Schedule | ||
|---|---|---|
| Breakfast | 6:30 | |
| First dive | 7:30 | Boat |
| Second dive | one hour after coming up from first dive | Boat |
| Lunch | 12:30 | |
| Third dive | 2:30 | Boat |
| Fourth dive | one hour after coming up from third dive | House Reef |
| Dinner | 7:30 | |
If you are curious about how it all went, my Undercurrent review is linked here (but if you are a diver you should really subscribe to Undercurrent).
We experienced more current than previously so the various divers (who are in small groups; we had either Kaz or Muji as our private dive guide) come up at widely scattered locations along the reef. How does the boat find us? By looking for our SMBs (surface marker buoy).
And they are very very good at.
We then tried something new - the liveaboard Pelagian . We have done one previous liveaboard on the Great Barrier Reef and had some real issues: incredibly rough seas, no ability to handle food issues (despite best effort) and the diving is bleh. Fortunately none of these occured on this trip. My Undercurrent review is linked here (but if you are a diver you should really subscribe to Undercurrent).
Our room.
And our view.
During boat movement the porthole was occasionally all underwater.
The lounge was also used for dinners and slide shows. (That's cruise director and dive guide Shelly standing; this photo was taken in 2013 so none of the other folks were on the boat with us.)
And the upper deck was made for lounging.
Dive briefings were extensive.
The Pelagian schedule is also all about the diving. One difference is that everything is close and convenient - no walking to the restaurant or boat.
| Pelagian Diving Schedule | ||
|---|---|---|
| First Breakfast | 6:00 | |
| First dive | 6:45 | |
| Second Breakfast | 8:30 | |
| Second dive | 10:15 | |
| Lunch | 12:30 | |
| Third dive | 2:15 | |
| Fourth dive | 5:45 | |
| Dinner | 7:30 | |
Key to our enjoyment was Yayak, our tender captain, who was always there when we came up, even once when we came up early with an equipment issue.
Here's the route we took with the spots we did dives marked. You can see where the name "Wakatobi" comes from - it's the amalgamation of the four smaller islands in the area.
For 17 days it was barefeet, diving, eating, sleeping and (very little) relaxing!
Eventually we were forced to return to Bali, but it's not all bad.
Not surprisingly we are making plans to return in 2017 and thinking of two weeks on the Pelagian.
A few words on the identifications that I give in the photos. Identification is an effort fraught with issues. Underwater creatures have the distressing propensity to have different colors, patterns and even features for the same species. The key piece of information to identify a creature may not be in the photograph (either because it was hidden or I didn't know it needed to be recorded). Identification books show a single photo when the reality is much more complicated. But I carried on, occasionally asking Kaz, who really knows this stuff, for help. So the identifications given in my photographs are those of an untrained amateur! If you have any corrections, I'm happy to hear them!
The whole trip was just amazing!
My underwater photos are linked here.
But here are a few of my favorites.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
<
|
|
|