Bunaken

View of Siladon from Bunaken

Bunaken is beautiful. It all started when we got to Makassar last Tuesday. We had a Garuda (National Airline, they're all dodgy) flight booked for the next morning up to Manado which is the closest airport to Bunaken. On arrival at Makassar it turned out that Garuda had re-scheduled our next morning flight to the evening of that same day which meant we'd lose a day in Bunaken. Nathalie and I stood there at arrivals in a state of confusion, do we book a Lion Air flight, there was one available at midnight or do we stick to the 'safer' airline... after a few horror stories back and forth to remind each other what the airline track records were here we decided to risk it and go with Lion Air. (!!) That flight was scheduled on a new Boeing (info frm Nathalie) and boy we choose right. This meant that all though we'd get into Manado at 4am we could be picked up by Lorenzo himself (the guesthouse owner on Bunaken) and be taken to the island that same morning. Lion Air in fact, we were told later, is the safest airline to date as they've recently bought so many new planes.

Further down the beach from my Tree House

Arriving in Bunaken was bliss. The east coast of the island is a mix of mangrove forests and tiny deserted beaches whereas the west is mainly beach and lots of 'bigger' developments. We stayed at "Lorenzo's" on the east coast. It's a guest house on the beach that offers bungalows and one tree house on the beach itself... and what did I opt for? Of course the tree house and NO regrets it was so lovely.

My tree house

My nickname became 'Jane' and I had to endure smart comments such as 'where is Tarzan' which were made at my expense ;) but at 85,000Rp about $9 a night for full board and lodging it was a bargain! And a really cute home.

We dived with Living Colours which is run by a nice Finnish couple and the other divers there happened to be a really great bunch. We really had a good time and were in bed by midnight each night to rest up for the dives ahead. It's a really quiet place.

Arriving at Lorenzo, Lorenzo and son on boat

The island has 4000 inhabitants in three villages. I got to see one village and hear the inhabitants again last night as there was a wedding and the stragglers weaving their way home were a little drunk. The island has one or two concrete paths that link the villages and these paths are lined with the tallest palm trees I've seen to date. I asked my taxi driver (motorcycle) whether he was scared of a coconut falling on his head and he laughed. I was. These people truly live in Paradise.

Nathalie and I were discussing over lunch one day how lovely 'Lorenzo's" was and how good it was to live simply and exactly an hour later we happened across a Living Colours dive boat that was off an afternoon dive to Siladen, the neighbouring island, so we jumped aboard and hitched a ride. When we got there we parked ourselves on the beach of a really swish 5* resort and giggled whilst we sipped a glass of wine and enjoyed the fresh water shower on the beach. The rest of the water supplies elsewhere were brackish and oh boy did it feel good to be clean!

Sunset & Wine on Siladon. Bunaken and the dormant volcanic island of Manado Tua as a backdrop

Diving here is a little expensive in Asian terms especially with Living Colours but they were located next door, professional and just a great crew. However I might be tempted to use another dive op on a future visit as the others are significantly cheaper

Leaving this morning

Originally I had booked a flight to Kota Ternate on Saturday for the start of my Moluku trip but having heard that the planes used on the route were small propeller jobs and after Nathalie's story of plane crashes with less than 10 passengers being not reported as it's not 'news' I changed my mind.

I'm now back in Makassar for the night and tomorrow morning I'm off on a Boeing flight (with Merparti - yet another local airline) to Kota Ambon. I've heard that there is a ferry to the Banda Islands from there next Friday and I want enough time to explore Ambon and the neighbouring Lease islands!!