Bunaken Village Resort

... ready at 9am and the flight for Manado was at 9.30.  So I basically missed it.....and the next flight out would be the Monday morning so that meant another 2 nights in Singapore.<br><br>I am not really a shopping girl (certainly not a 72 hour shopping girl) so I checked myself into Sentosa island for a bit of a chillout and entertainment weekend.  A good decision as I quite enjoyed the place.  Some good shows and minor thrills to be had on the island. Check out the Sounds of the Sea show and ...

... at least 8 mating couples, velvetfish, comet, big trevalli, devil stinger, etc etc,, At night the staff had a great time performing live music for the guests and sharing with us local palm wine All and all it was a good experience but the lack of alternatives made it no the place for me, but I will have to endure the same because Lembeh also only offers all inclusive type of resorts and there are no roads to go anywhere else So out to Lembeh !!!!

... is scratched and sweaty) we managed to reach the waterfall. Showering below it has never felt so rewarding.<br><br>Tomorrow we are off to the Togean Islands. A little secluded piece of land rising out of the Gulf of Tomini, a few kilometers south of the equator with white sand beaches, little beach resorts and great snorkelling. Or so we heard. Let's see if we will really find this piece of paradise. The 13 hour boat ride better be worth it...

... tää on "The" paikka sille lajille. Omistajat Mia ja Jaakko on ihan sika mukavia ja muu henkilökunta todella asiantuntevia ja hauskoja. Vaik tulee aina sanottua et ei samaan mestaan uudestaan (poislukien New York) niin tänne tullaan kyllä sata varmasti uudestaan. Palataan Singaporesta. P.s. Ei tosiaankaan ole helppoa tuo vedenalainen valokuvaus, joten kuvat eivät ole ihan tarkkoja, eikä värit tule kunnolla esiin. Harjotellaan vielä ;)

... ytyi n. 15 cm pitkä tuhatjalkainen ja Miian paidan sisällä oli myös jotain pikku öttejä, koska ensin alkoi polttelemaan ja sitten nousi paukamat selkään... No, ei muutamat ötit haittaa, kun on muuten niin loistava paikka. Ylihuomenna aloitetaan Advance-kurssi, johon kuuluu mm. syväsukellus, vedenalainen suunnistus, yösukellus, vedenalainen valokuvaus... Nyt täytyis lähteä vähän opiskelemaan.

... diving was concerned. It was awesome! At 5:30pm, we once again slipped beneath the waves. But this time we did a shore dive on the house reef. It's typical of a resort to have an area in front that's accessible from shore so you can dive there if you so choose. This was a night dive, and we had a blast just leisurely swimming around for an hour and checking things out. There ...

... lady... Side story - The same woman visited us daily while out at Bunaken. She would come out in a small boat loaded up with shirts, jewelry, local artwork and the likes to sell to us tourists. It was decent stuff, really. No touristy junk. Prices were very reasonable and everyone definitely bought their share. Time for dive 2, which would be our last at Bunaken. :-( This time ...

... image between Kristine and Bevan on his left). One evening we encountered what I describe and the all-time unbelievable sunset. It was absolutely amazing; I had never seen such colors as the sun went down. And one afternoon after diving we did a Paradise Dancer photo shoot; the crew even raised the sails at anchor - we never did actually sail the ...

... hefty fish!) swimming by.. list goes on. The highlight would have to be the two green turtle sightings. Never really thought much of turtles but I was just in awe when I spotted these huge but slow-moving creatures close up. There is a sense of deliberateness to all their movements that is so different to all the flighty creatures around them. Oh, and I musn't forget the very cute polka dotted boxfish which look like.. you guessed ...

I am now on Bunaken Island off the north coast of Sulawesi where I am diving about 3 times a day. Its almost all wall diving and very good though not in the same league as Komodo National Park. I don't have many pictures as my camera stopped working.