From Pulau Kadidiri to Tomohon

While there are very good and especially daily ferry and speedboat connections between the southern mainland of Sulawesi and the Togian Islands, trips to and from the northern mainland take 12 hours, with the ferry operating only twice a week. However, as it leaves in the evening, I planned to do a dive at the B-24 Bomber Wreck on the morning of the departure day with a Dutch couple from the accommodation.

The American B-24 Bomber had to make an emergency landing on May 3, 1945, in the Gulf of Tomini off the Togian Islands after catching fire due to an engine failure. An emergency landing on water seemed like the best decision, as the islands were densely covered with jungle, which can be dangerous for parachutists. All loose items were thrown overboard to buy more time, and ultimately all 11 crew members survived the emergency landing with varying degrees of injuries. However, the aircraft lost its nose turret and three propellers, sinking two hours after landing.

Only on the morning of the dive, just before we were about to leave, the dive guide revealed that one of the boat's engines was broken, and as a result, we could not travel to the dive site about 1.5 hours away. We could have only done a dive near the accommodation.

So, on the spur of the moment, we inquired at the nearby resort, and indeed the owner said he could organize the dive for us at such short notice. Two hours later, after a brief briefing, we set off for the dive site, taking all our gear with us so we could go directly to the ferry to Wakai after the dive, instead of having to return to Kadidiri first.

The dive was pretty cool! Although we could not go inside the wreck because it was too narrow, we could peer through a missing door. Even though the plane is virtually empty for the aforementioned reasons, it is fascinating how many fish swim in the wreck and how many corals and shells have already settled there. Nature simply takes back its space.

When we arrived in Wakai after the dive, the boat's captain took us to his family's home and offered us a chance to shower there. The shower was in a tiny separate room from the living room and consisted of a large bucket, from which one could scoop water with a ladle and pour it over oneself. It wasn’t exactly luxury, but certainly better than spending 12 hours on a ferry to Gorontalo with a layer of salt on my skin and in my hair. And it was incredibly kind of the family! I am continually surprised by how friendly people are in Indonesia. Even though they have little: what they have, they share.

At the port, I met Khaoula, Antoine, and Aymeric, who also wanted to continue to Gorontalo. While Khaoula, Antoine, and I had tickets for the Executive Class (a mattress area on bunk beds with air conditioning), Aymeric had trusted the locals and wanted to buy his ticket on-site... which unfortunately did not work out. He had to sleep on the floor on the deck.

I didn’t have much luck with my sleeping spot either: next to me lay a rather overweight German man on his back, snoring as if he were alone on the ferry. The snoring was so loud that it even disturbed me through my earplugs. At first, I tried to wake him repeatedly, but that didn't work. The escalation level 2 was to poke him a few times to wake him up. Unfortunately, that was also unsuccessful. After half an hour of growing angry because he kept me awake while he had the sleep of his life, I simply wanted to shake him by the shoulder and wake him up. So, I turned around, sat up and... saw his wife on the other side giving him a good strong pinch on the chest. Startled, the man looked at his wife, but then turned over, and the snoring finally stopped. And at least until all the mobile alarms rang at about 4 a.m. for morning prayers, I was able to sleep quite well.

At the port in Gorontalo, a car with a driver was already waiting for Aymeric and me, ready to take Aymeric to Manado and me to Tomohon. On the way, we picked up two other men and a chicken, and 12 hours later, I finally reached my destination.