Bunaken and Menado Tua: beautiful as ever

I was wondering whether I should write something abut Bunaken or Menado Tua, because these places are just too common for all Indonesian divers.  There are two meccas in

Menado Tua

Indonesia for diving:  Bali and Bunaken.  There are lots of resorts in Menado or on Bunaken Island itself, and the divesites are pretty much close around there.  This time, I passed Likuan I (I let Irene and David enjoy the turtles…) while I only did Pangulingan (Manado Tua), Ron’s Point and Alung Banua (Bunaken).  The last one was night dive.  And I wonder how I ended up doing 3 nightdives in this trip while I’m not a big fan of night dive..too cold!).

Lets start with Pangulingan, one of the divesites in Menado Tua, an old inactive volcano, where I would expect some big stuff there.  This was our morning dive but we didn’t wake up as early as when we did Nain Island (too much drinking the night before).  Pangulingan is always nice but the current can be evil.  But when we were there, the current was mild, the visibility was excellent (mind you that the visibility during this dive was around 15-20 m, lots of planktons

Napoleon Wrasse

floating around).   When we entered the sea, 2 sharks greated us at depth (Basrah said there were 4, but I only saw 2).  I was enjoying the beautiful corals, taking pictures of the scenery, when Oni pointed out a big Napoleon Wrasse swimming close to me.  Mind you, Napoleon Wrasse is one of the expensive food in Chinese restaurant, but this is actually a protected species and it is against the law to fish this graceful wrasse.

The corals are so healthy and so beautiful.  The shallower part is all covered by corals, and it is pleasant to do safety stop here.  We were lucky that the current was not big.

After Pangulingan, we went to Ron’s point at Bunaken.  This point may also have strong

Angelfish everywhere

current, when we were there, it was pretty mild.  What is stunning about Ron’s point was that there were lots and lots of pyramid angelfish swimming everywhere I smiled looking at these fishes.   The red Anthiases were also making this place even more charming.  One hour of dive was enough to entertain us, and we miss Irene and David in this dive.  But then they dove at Lekuan-1 and met 4 turtles and the scene was beautiful as well.  This is what I like about Bunaken, everytime you go, even at the same spot, you will just get entertained and feel that it is always different.  Well, at least, for me, everytime I dive, I always find something new.

Just because I wanted to test my torch after Opo and Oni fixed them, I went for the nightdive in Alung Banua.  None of the pictures came out good (I do need to buy a strobe), and I remember I was shivering and was sitting at the bottom of the dengue next to Oni’s

Do you see the Anthias? The red fishes.

leg, who said that it was not that cold (Men. I know he was shivering as well).  Kim said that I was like a dog shitting blades.  This is what I don’t fancy about night dives. the diving is good, we see all nocturnal stuff, it’s fascinating and the colors are different, but it is damn cold when you get out the sea, on the dengi and blown by the wind.  Aaargh…the good thing is, we can smell the BBQ party has started on Serenade, and those Absolute Vodka and Tequilas are waiting to warm our bodies up!  It’s the final night so it is one, two, three, flooooor….!  It was a great night (and I woke up on the deck, for some reason.  Didn’t make it to the cabin.  Good tequila, Corey).

After several shots of tequila, Oni made me look like Princess Leah from the Starwars (or hammerhead)

I didn’t make the morning dive the next day (it’s a deep dive and I was calculating my no flying time), but the party was so much fun.  The crews and us all danced to some local song and some of them taught me how do dance to the song.  We also listened to some Spanish songs that we really don’t know what it was but I still remember that they played the “Barbie Girl” from Aqua.  Gosh, that’s pretty primitive…”Come on Barbie, lets go party…”.

It was one hell of a vacation.  I’m glad I did it.