Kadidiri Island

Getting to the Togian Islands, a group of islands between the northern and eastern mainland arms of Sulawesi, is not that easy. From Tentena, I shared a car with Khaoula, Antoine, and Aymeric to get to Ampana. Aymeric was already sitting in the third row when Khaoula, Antoine, and I were picked up, and then our three backpacks were squeezed in too. Halfway through the ride, Aymeric told us that it was his birthday - what a great birthday gift to be squeezed between backpacks in the back seat for five hours :D

Kiki, our driver, is actually a farmer and has about 1 hectare of land with around 1,000 cocoa trees. Every two weeks, he can harvest 150 kg of cocoa beans, and in April and October, it's even 300 kg every two weeks. Sadly, Indonesia exports all its cocoa beans to import them back in the form of chocolate. For Kiki, though, this is still his dream life. Currently, he manages all the work alone with his wife. However, he dreams of owning 10 hectares of land filled with cocoa trees and having a number of employees accordingly.

From Ampana, we continued to Wakai in an overcrowded speedboat, where our paths first parted ways. Aymeric stayed in Wakai to go to Pulau Unauna the next day, while Khaoula and Antoine headed to Pulau Malenge, and I took a boat to Pulau Kadidiri. When I finally arrived in Kadidiri around 5 PM, I threw myself into a hammock and relaxed. Since Makassar, I had been looking forward to arriving at the Togian Islands, knowing that the ferry further north to Gorontalo only runs twice a week. So relaxation and unwinding were definitely on the agenda.

Contrary to what the hostel worker in Makassar recommended, I decided to stay only on Kadidiri instead of switching to another island. Without any arrival and departure days, I had five whole days on Kadidiri ahead of me, which I planned to use in the following priority: relax, dive, go on day trips. Ultimately, I relaxed for two days, did two dives on one day, and went on a day trip on each of the other two days.

The day before my dives, I had to somewhat take a chill day because the only dive master at the accommodation had a toothache. The day after the dives, I was so worn out that I just wanted to chill. On these two days, I read a lot and took short walks to the other two beaches of Kadidiri. On the hikes, I was always accompanied by two of the many dogs that live on the island, who showed me the way. Unfortunately, they caught a huge salamander one morning, but at least they ate it in the afternoon.

One of the two other beaches reachable by foot from Kadidiri, which has a pretty nice coral reef, is Barracuda Beach. This is also the only place on Kadidiri where the mobile signal from the Wakai tower reaches. There, I could bypass the - actually quite pleasant - digital detox and even had a short phone call with Markus. However, the most beautiful coral reef is found at the beach of the Harmony Bay Resort, relatively far in the south of the island. There, I was even invited by the staff to play volleyball.

The two dives were the first I did after completing the open-water course in Cambodia, and I was accordingly happy that I was the only one who wanted to dive. This meant I had the dive guide all to myself. The dive spots we went to are called Taipi Wall and Mini Canyon, and they were full of corals and fish - simply amazing! The coolest thing I saw was a huge school of jack fish.

I was a bit confused at the beginning of the first dive when something green appeared in my mask, but I was able to rinse it out easily. At the end of the break, just before the second dive, I discovered a little blood on my nose and asked the dive guide where it was coming from. It was only then that I realized that the green stuff in my mask during the first dive was blood... Thankfully, three dive guides/instructors have since told me independently that this can happen and is not a big deal. Thank goodness, because the next dive is already in the planning!