Diving in Lembeh, North Sulawesi, Indonesia

At last we got to Sam Ratulangi, in the Lembeh Straits! It was close to 10 at night. The trip to get there started at 1:30 to the airport. What a long day it had been… the airport was full of people, some wearing masks and glaring whenever someone coughed or sneezed near them.

It was no different on the plane. There was man who half way through the flight suddenly remembered he had a mask with him, and put it on … however he took it off again as we disembarked! Kind of pointless, don’t you think?

We filed off, went through numerous scanners and had to fill declarations saying we were/not ill and/or had travelled to other countries …. sigh … is this a sign of the times, where traveling across borders, on planes pose not just dangers from terrorists but also biological dangers?

We were met by Bastianos Resort crew members who hailed us like old friends … that was so nice. The bus we were to continue our journey (another hour by land)  was so colourfuly painted it was such a delight to take the first photos of the group.

Then it was a half hour boat ride to Bastianos Resort and dinner. It was a late night for us as we had to set up the cameras for the next day’s diving. This time I’ve added a strobe to the camera … ugh! it’s heavy on land and looks like a huge insect too.

It was an early morning dive at 8am. We got on the boat and geared up under the watchful eyes of the divemaster, Agus. As always my buddies, Zainal and Sam, and I were raring to try out our newly outfitted cameras.

We did 4 dives today, including a night dive. Boy… I’m tired! My highlight of the day was when we saw the flamboyant squid that had the most exotic colours.

No wonder my friends say that I am a workaholic … even my vacations are exhausting!

I tried to upload the photos but it’s just too, too slow…. maybe tomorrow.