24.02.20 - 28.02.20 Bunaken, Manado

The last week on Sulawesi started for us with the journey from Tomohon to the island of Bunaken to meet up with Lisi and Julie again. The journey was quite easy. Right next to our hotel in Tomohon was the bus station, where an old, packed bus took us to Manado. From there, we took a mikrolet to the port... or at least almost to the port, as the driver let us get off about 1 1/2 km away. We arrived there at 11:30 and only had about 2-3 hours to kill before the boat was scheduled to depart. We treated ourselves to lunch and strolled through the market located at the harbor, which was quite stinky and full of rotting food waste. Otherwise, the first impression of Manado was quite positive, not as some blogs and travel guides would suggest.

Before the boat could depart, it had to be loaded with dozens of water tanks, as Bunaken does not treat its drinking water and the tap water is slightly salty. The boat trip took about an hour and Julie and Lisi welcomed us on the beach in 'their' village of Bunaken. They told us about their wonderful time so far and how they had already explored half of the island. The island is quite small and belongs to a marine national park. There are two small villages where some people live, but apart from a few small shops, a church, and a mosque, there is little infrastructure. The island is primarily surrounded by mangrove forests, except for the part where the villages are, there are sandy beaches... not as paradise-like as in the Togian Islands. The main reason for visits to Bunaken is the underwater world, which is said to be extremely diverse and beautiful. After checking into the same accommodation as them, we jumped into the water and spent our time there until dinner.

The next day was our only full day on Bunaken. We decided to rent a boat to go snorkeling (something we never do, as we either don't want to spend so much money or don't want to do such activities with strange people - but with our dear friends it was different). The original plan was to snorkel near a neighboring island in the early morning to see the dolphins that come there to soak up the sunlight every day. Unfortunately, clouds started to form and it started to rain. Therefore, we probably wouldn't see any dolphins. Instead, the boat took us around near Bunaken and let us snorkel at several spots. The disappointment of not seeing dolphins was quickly forgotten as we snorkeled over the most beautiful coral reefs we had ever seen. About 100m from the shore, the coral reef drops down at a 90° angle and forms a coral wall that goes down about 100m. But you can't see that far down. What we saw were countless fish and schools of fish in the most colorful shades, and as a highlight, turtles gliding peacefully over the reefs into the infinite blue. Since we had only been able to observe turtles from the land before, it was a special experience to swim so close to them in the sea and not just see one, but so many. Wow!

In the late morning, our snorkeling excursion ended and we tuckered back. The weather remained rainy and gray all day, so we spent the day indoors with various activities. In the afternoon, we had cocktails during the happy hour at the nearby bar, which, well, let's just say tasted unusual because they were mixed with the local Arak.

The next day, we said goodbye to Julie and Lisi again and made our way back to Manado.

The two wanted to experience as much island life as possible on their last days of vacation and went diving again.

When we arrived in Manado, we took a mikrolet to our booked hotel. When we wanted to check in, it turned out that we were in a completely different hotel. The hotel we had booked was in a completely different district, but the address on the booking page was wrong. We were annoyed that we had already paid for the originally booked hotel and couldn't cancel it (we are still waiting for a response from the booking site where we complained). So we checked into that hotel, even though we had to book and pay for it again. At least it was very cheap.

In Manado, we spent our time strolling around. Manado turned out to be a quite pleasant city with some nice spots. In the shopping area, Mathias managed to get himself a new pair of shorts, and we bought farewell gifts in the form of local 'rats brandy' for our temporary travel companions. The two spent another day diving and a night on Bunaken before joining us on the 'mainland'.

One last time drinking coffee and juice, one last time having lunch and dinner, one last time Martabak Manis & Malabar for dessert, and then we said goodbye in the evening. The next day, we had to leave very early. Lisi and Julie would only wake up when we had already landed in Jakarta.