The Best Snorkeling Ever!

We had spent the night at a birding lodge outside Tangkoko National Park. We had seen the smallest primate, the tarsius, the night before. A 5:00 AM wake up was required to make another visit possible to see the Macaque monkeys.

The hike to the beach revealed a troop there the guide called Rambo 2. At least twenty were jumping through the trees and running around on the beach. We followed them and they ran through the small number of observers who had joined us shortly after sunrise.

About an hour of traipsing through the woods was all we had time for because Ellie had arranged a snorkeling trip for nine of us at Bunaken Marine Park. It would take over an hour to get there and we would spend most of the day in the water.

We met the rest of our group at the dock where the boat was waiting. A long covered wooden boat with room for all of us and more. The boat was called the Bethlehem. The young crew were obviously skilled and familiar with the boat and local waters, so we were quite comfortable from the beginning.

We crossed a narrow channel to a rustic island resort called Two Fish Resort where the skyline of the island was dominated by a volcano. We got the gear we needed and motored over near a small public beach with a short pier. We wondered a bit at the location until we had our faces in the water.

This was a living aquarium. The colors of coral and the abundance of sea life was staggering. The current slowly drifted us past the pier where young tanned children laughed and waived as we went by in the water. 

After a hour of diving down time and time again to get a closer look at everything, we were waved back to the boat. All of us were upset at being torn away from what we agreed was some of the most beautiful underwater scenery we had ever experienced.

We were motored back near the resort and were told to expect to see some turtles in the area. Although the coral was not as dramatic as where we had just been it was still healthy and abundant. And there were loads of fish. And turtles too. At one point I saw four at one time.

When we were finally out of the water we went back to the resort for lunch. Unfortunately the tide was out. Fortunately the boys had a dinghy to take us ashore. Unfortunately the tide was so low even the little dinghy couldn't get closer than fifty yards from shore. So we got out and walked.

After lunch we reversed the whole process and walked to the dinghy, then poked the way back to the boat. The tide that made lunch a challenge nearly kept us from getting back to the dock. The lucky day continued with us touching bottom just as we got to the dock and climbed the twenty feet up where six hours earlier we had just stepped onto the Bethlehem.

The next day we would be setting out to scuba dive for four days in Raja Ampat.