Indonesia

8-99

Trip Report

 


We left Seattle under gray skies (nothing new here) on August 28.

We arrived at Wakatobi dive resort three days later (well, four if you count the day we lost due to the dateline). I'm sure you don't even want details on the endless flights (Seattle to LA to Taipei to Singapore to Ujung Pandang to Kendari) and one very, very long boat ride.

But when we finally DID arrive, the weather was nice, the beach was lovely, and the house reef beckoned. We ate a quick lunch, changed into our dive gear, and dove smack bang into one of the highest-current shore dives I'd ever experienced. This check-out dive lasted a total of about 30 minutes (including flooding and replacing our masks to demonstrate that we were competent divers) but in that 30 minutes we saw lionfish, orange and purple soft corals, nudibranchs, interesting yellow ball sponges and lots and lots of fish. One more dive an hour later and we were back at the resort.

We should have stayed underwater!

The resort, mind you, is not BAD. But for what we were paying (I won't go into details, but it was a LOT) I expected better than paper-thin walls, exploding dive tanks one floor below our bed (boy, was that loud -- on three different nights), cold-only running water and a choice of fish, fish, or little hot dogs as an entree. At every one of 24 meals. Once we got over the rustic surroundings and started to get over our jet lag the trip improved, though I'll be the first to volunteer that 12 days (their standard trip) is long enough to stay there, even once we upgraded our accommodation to one of the two bungalows (HUGE improvement).

There's nothing to do at night but chat, drink a bottle of overpriced beer from the fridge, or try reading in the dim flourescent light (the power is all from generators, so once the sun sets at 6:00 p.m. there isn't a whole lot of light left). However, the first 4-5 days it was all we could do to stay up until 8:30, since the combination of jet lag and 3-4 dives a day (you could do more shore dives if you wished, but you usually had to battle those darn currents!) was enough to keep up pretty pooped. And the hot, hot sun -- thank goodness we were on -- or in -- the water most of the day, and that the resort's beach area was blessed by cooling breezes.

The second day we dove off "Waiti Ridge" and our divemaster, Kris, pointed out a blue-spotted ray under a ledge as well as the first of several schools of friendly batfish. Boat dive number two was to "Pockets," where we went to 60-some feet and saw lots of soft corals, a crocodile fish, a small lionfish and about 3-4 different types of nudibranch. For some reason, the currents on these dives were very mild -- and these were the drift dives! We had the option of diving more from shore that afternoon, but decided to hang out on the lovely beach and catch up on our reading and dive log entries.

In the days that followed we visited "Inka's Palette" (huge fan corals -- the biggest I'd ever seen, huge lionfish, and an enormous giant clam); "Conchita Beach" (murky water but lots of turtles and the one and only manta ray of the trip); "Fan Garden" (myriad fans, including some that looked just like cherry blossoms, plus "batfish canyon" where sea-lice-encrusted batfish circled curiously); "Table Coral City" (extremely large hard corals -- and in perfect condition!) and "Fan 38", where we finally did see a shark cruising in the distance.

We also managed a couple of night dives off the house reef, but the currents were unpredictable. Some night dive outings were calm and serene, others were endurance efforts. When we had a chance to look, we found some flashlight fish, pygmy seahorses (take the reading glasses for those!), and one fascinating juvenile batfish at twilight.

Even when we weren't seeing beautiful things underwater, there was plenty to watch topside. Among our group happened to be one terrific specimen of a man, from Brazil via Bali, who provided plenty of eye candy when we needed a break from the fish. Of course, he was only entertaining for the females among us. The guys had to be content smoking cigars, drinking duty-free scotch from Singapore, and talking about photography. We were lucky to have a sociable and entertaining group on our trip.

Besides Eden (the "hunk"), there were Ed and Leslie from San Francisco who filled us in on all the high-tech activity around the Bay area; and Guy and Mary from Cincinnatti, who kept us fed and drunk -- hey, that didn't sound quite right. What I'm aiming for is food/fed and drink/? Well, you get the picture. Anyway, Guy finally walked into the kitchen one night and whipped up an edible alternative to that night's lamentable dinner entree. They also had a secret stash of American candy which they enthusiastically shared. Besides, Mary's daiquiris were pretty potent).

Also with us were Diana and Jahn, and Diana's enthusiasm was positively contagious. She was thrilled with everything she saw underwater! From Houston came Ron and Sylvia; from Germany, Christiana and her husband; and, rounding out the group were Niles, quiet but pleasant, Dennis, the photo expert, and Ken, the tour leader.

On two occassions we were able to visit local villages where the people live as they have for hundreds -- maybe thousands -- of years. The children were like children everywhere; they called Eden "Tarzan" and followed us all through the village as if we were pied pipers. At the larger village the older kids used us to practice their English. They had a memorized list of questions: "What's your name?" "Where are you from?" "Are you married?" I have no idea if they understood the answers, but they smiled and acted like they did so what does it matter? We were also treated to a dance performance by the local children and coffee at the town hall. Then it was back on the boat for the journey to our insulated little world at Wakatobi. There was no outside news available, and so while East Timor was undergoing near-revolution a few short sea miles away, we were pleasantly enjoying our entertainment and underwater forays. I guess that's what being American and having enough money to stay at a place like Wakatobi can buy you.

While the first six days went languidly by, the last six days just flew, as is typical for a vacation! The dives melded into one another, and pretty soon Fan Garden started to seem just like Fan 38. If you'd asked me the difference between Waiti Ridge and Waiti Kecil I couldn't have told you. The only dives that truly stood out that second week were the last two boat dives, to "Blade," and "Coral Hill," about an hour's boat ride away. Both were deep (to 100' or more) and both had the clearest water of the trip, as well as the most spectacular hard corals I'd ever seen. The fish action wasn't as thrilling, but the enormous mounds and rosettes of coral left a lasting impression, reminding me why we'd traveled three days to get to this remote out-island.

Here are some underwater photos from our trip.

Follow this link for a report of our Bali trip.

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