We arrived at Wakai, the a port on one the main islands, where we jumped off and on to another small boat.
The guy told us that the journey would be free if we decided to stay at the bungalows he worked for but if we didn't it would be minimal anyway so we got on the boat. As there were only two places to stay on the island it wouldn't be hard to choose!
The Togeans are an archipeligo of beautiful coral and volcanic islands (most of which are covered with dense jungle) in the sheltered Gulf of Tomini surrounded by the spidery arms of North Sulawesi. They are miles from anywhere (which makes them tricky to get to and puts off a lot of travellers), they have white sandy beaches, calm clear bluey-green waters that are rich in marine life - PARADISE!! WOO HOO!
The journey to Pulau Kadidiri took around 20 minutes and we had stunning views all the way. The island itself has a distinctive long pier which belongs to one of the resorts (for the want of a better phrase), Kadidiri Paradise, and Matt recognised it from a picture we had seen. As we passed by it the water became shallower and so clear it really looked like we were looking through glass! Really really beautiful.
We arrived, dumped our bags and went to have a look at the selection of bungalows available. It was a hard decision because the two bungalows were both on the beach and were beautiful but one had a rocking chair AND a hammock on the terrace! Seeing as we would be spending most of our time outside doing bugger all that seemed the better option, don't you think?
We threw our bags in and sat down outside. We had been talking about the Togeans for a while and had chosen them in favour of Bunaken (due to time limits) at the very north of Sulawesi because it was less travelled and harder to get to and now we were here! And it was so peaceful and quiet with next to nothing going on it was a bit of a shock! No roosters running around and crowing at stupid times of the day, no mosques calling for prayers on the loudspeaker at 5am, very few people and the beach on our doorstep. VERY NICE INDEED!
Three meals were included in the cost, as well as unlimited tea and coffee, so that evening whilst we gathered with the other guests for dinner (it was a good crowd) I got talking to the Dive Instructor, Harold Nahmias, who worked there (and has kindly given us his brilliant photos to use - thank you Harold!). He was planning to dive a plane wreck the following morning (the only plane wreck one there and I hadn't been on one before!) I was apprehensive as I had only had my stiches put in a few days back and wasn't sure about getting them wet so soon, but Harold convinced me that he had done it many times before. It didn't take much to convince me!
Seeing as I was now into my freedving more than scuba diving I decided I would do a couple of dives only, to see the plane and to see what the coral reefs and fish were like. The plane, a B-24 American Bomber, was 'landed' in the Gulf of Tomini in May 1945 as it was on a mission and had suffered engine failure and caught fire. As it was too far to return to base, and the islands are densely covered in jungle - potentially dangerous to parachutists, the decision was made to crash land the plane in the sea at the Togean Islands. All 11 crew escaped from the plane in life rafts, with only cuts and bruises. The craft only lost its nose turret and three propellers in the landing, and took two hours to finally sink! The plane, 17 m x 22 m wide, lies upright on a flat sandy bed and is in excellent condition.
There were several large snapper and bigeye trevally around, some lionfish, nudibranchs, shrimps and lots of tube sponges and coral growth. Not bad for a little wreck!
When Harold realised I was an experienced diver and would be up for a bit of adventure he suggested a 'deep' dive to one his favourite sites. Now, not usually one for 'deep' dives (in my experience it's normally the 'macho pigs' that compete to see how deep they can go without killing themselves) and I wasn't sure whether I wanted to go. I mean, what is there to see? It's usually the shallow dves that have all the action (ask Matt about snorkelling in Komodo!) A day went by and after chatting to Harold a bit more I realised he wasn't one of 'those types' and I agreed to go. It was to be at 'The Crack', a dive that featured a beautiful canyon drop off down to a crack in the coral at 40 meters (aready a deep dive!), exiting at 52m. Deeper than I ever imagined I would go! Even though I have dived deep before I have never experienced 'nitrogen narcosis' when the effects of nitrogen at depth affects your brain and most people appear drunk. He showed me a few exercises we were to do at depth to check my state or 'narcosis'. Of course, dearest Matt who was with us and going to go snorkelling off the boat while we dived, commented that Harold would never know if I was narced or not because I couldn't even manage them correctly at the surface! Duh!
Anyway, we went backwards off the boat and descended into the clearest water I have ever dived in. The visibility was between 40 and 50 metres!!! We were deep pretty quick (but it didn't seem like it because of the clarity of the water allowing so much light down- it normally gets darker) and then headed off to the 'crack'. We descended through the crack (it was wide enough to go one by one) and exitd into the blue at 51m where we could see even further down! It was absolutely incredible! But then again, was that the narcosis doing funny things? We did our exercises and believe it or not I caned him! I was thinking quick, was spot on with my answers and felt so confident about it too! I even felt so good about being so deep underwater even though I would normally be concerned at the thought! That's narcosis for you. No wonder cocky divers end up in so much trouble. It's a long way up if anything goes wrong and in that state of mind you don't even worry about it! But of course, I was aware so don't worry, we ascended slowly for the rest of the dive, ending in a beautiful coral garden at 5 meters where Matt had been snorkelling.
And a first for me, a pygmy seahorse! It's body is no bigger than 2cm!!
It ended up being one of the most spectacular and chilled out dives I had ever had. Harold was great underwater and any concerns I had about the depth quickly disappeared resulting in a very good and safe dive! It also ended up being my longest, 100 minutes! (We had a spare tank with us which we shared air from if any of you are wondering)
Unfortunately, Matt was timing his snorkel and time out in the sun by us which was a little too long for the middle of the day in the Indonesian sun! He did have a good snorkel, not his best, and felt a little burnt at the end of the day. That was all he thought it was until red rash showed up on his lower back the next day! They looked like very big jellyfish stings but no one had seen any (and he didn't feel it at the time) so we assumed it must have been a stray tentacle that had done the damage. So on suggestion from the others, we went back to the bungalow and shaved the area (to remove any bacteria from the jellyfish) and he peed into a bucket to wash the wounds with! I did offer my pee but he din't want it. Haha.
Unfortunately, we woke the next day to find his war wounds had got worse and had started to blister badly! It looked and felt very nasty! Poor thing. It was unlike anything anyone had seen!
They got bigger and more fluid filled after these pictures were taken before they got better. As well as being uncomfortable, it also meant he wouldn't be able to sit out in the sun or snorkel much which was a pain! Despite this we had a few lovely days chilling out in the hammock, taking long lunches, reading and generally lazing around. We did manage a walk to through the island towards another bay and came across a beautiful secluded beach. Very Robinson Crusoe!
I managed two more dives before we left, one of which was to a pinnacle called Batu Gila, or Crazy Rock. There are no markers for this dive as the pinnacle begins around 40 meters under the sea and apparently only one captain knew how to find it from landmarks above the sea. So of course, I HAD to go. Overfishing has resulted in fewer big fish in Indonesian waters but this pinnacle is the most extreme northern point of a long reef, therefore more exposed to currents, and is generally the best place to hang out in deeper water for big fish action. And indeed it was. With a nod from the Captain, we dropped into the water and descended quickly so as not to be carried away from the site by any currents and dropped straight onto the top of the pinnacle. We spotted two black tips and one grey reef shark immediately! Within minutes of that we were enveloped by many many big silver and black treavally, giant tuna and then soon after a shoal of hundreds of barracuda! It was such an exciting site to see and be in the middle of!
That was the last dive I did there but I would have easily kept on going had we had more time
On our last night guests at the bungalows were invited to a wedding of a former staff member on Wakai on the main island. Matt was feeling a little low and concerned about anybody 'bursting' his fluid filled welts so he stayed and I joined the others. It was a strange wedding as they basically sat there whilst everybody else partied around them. It was a fun evening though, especially as we managed to get some Indonesian palm wine to drink!
Here's a picture of the happy couple looking really bored.
We met some lovely people while we were on Kadidiri (we couldn't be bothered to move to any other islands) whom we hope to keep in touch. The food was great, the people wee cool and the diving was awesome. All in all, Paradise!
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