Indonesia: Sulawesi - July 2007
Dear English-speaking readers, this page is an automatic translation made from a post originally written in French. My apologies for any strange sentences and funny mistakes that may have been generated during the process. If you are reading French, click on the French flag below to access the original and correct text:
Français These first two days in Bunaken have been going at full speed. The dives are up to my expectations: drop-offs covered with a variety of incredible coral. Side fauna, all the tropical panoply colorful is there.
A falling wall teeming with life
Angel fish and butterflies, scorpion fish, nudibranchs, and the much sought-after leaf fish are numerous... I came across few "big" ones, except for a few turtles and napoleons, as well as a pretty eagle ray... A graceful black triangle glimpsed in the blue - too far, alas - that seems to "fly" underwater.
The first day was hot and sunny. But that night, the rain came back in the wee hours of the night.
Gusts of wind creak coconut palms. The sound of the surf is impressive. There are real tides here. Which insulate my beach end when the sea is high. A gray, cottony sky has settled over the bay. That I look at leisure from the terrace of my overhanging bungalow.
The gray weather does not affect the quality of the dives. Grand luxury exploration outings, with a guide for me alone, Salim. He has the eye to spot the most tiny creatures. Suspended above the blue, we float in front of the falling, teeming with life.
Visibility is pretty good, if not very good. A vague sensation of vertigo and the strong feeling of being a tiny thing that makes bubbles, a few meters from the surface, while below the "wall" goes down to no end ...
I'm getting used to using the camera underwater again by immortalizing an electric green nudibranch. I had never seen one like this before!
I share the first two days the boat with Bettina, a very nice German who travels alone, like me. She left today for Gangga islandAnother island famous for diving, two hours north of Bunaken. She broke her piggy bank to buy Gangga. On this island, there seems to be only one diving resort, for very luxurious stays. Bettina was looking forward to it!
From tomorrow, I'll be on the same boat as Bert and Jeane, the Australians who do not like the stinking cheese I mentioned in the previous post ... Fifty, kind and courteous, but much less talkative than Bettina .
Peaceful atmosphere on Pantai Liang
On the way back, we "debrief" the dives with our guides, equipped with underwater fauna identification books, by devouring freshly baked cakes. As all the books are in English, the little game for me consists in finding the names of the critters in French.
Dives occupy most of the day. Other than my end of the beach, I do not really have time to explore the rest of the island.
Everyone knows each other here, it's very small. The people are adorable, greet me the morning of a "pagi" nonchalant, call me by my first name. Kids who play at the water's edge happily take the pose when I take out my camera.
