Diving in Manado

We've heard that Manado was a good diving destination. I asked fellow divers Ben and Jessica and they said it was great for macro stuff and for underwater photography. Since i just got my underwater case I though hmm...might as well give it a shot. As for Jose? He just wants to dive. Should find Dive-alholic Anonymous for him...

I didn't realise where Manando was until i got onto the plane. I was like wah! It's that far??

We left Jakarta after work (OK before i get flak for being dishonest, after Jose's work...i went shopping for granite and marble slabs..which is pretty tough work if you ask me but never mind that)...and arrived at about 11 plus at night. After getting out of the tiny airport, we rode in a taxi for about 45 minutes before arriving at Tasik Ria around midnight.

We got a welcome note from the Dive Centre..which was nice...then i saw the "Dear Mr. Jose Theodorus & Wife...WIFE?? Apparently i've been relegated to being called "Wife"... -_-


Next morning when we walked to the jetty to take our boat...the view was gorgeous...

Diving in Manado's pretty unique.. It seems like whatever underwater creatures you see, you get it in abundance. If it's there...you'll see plenty of it. Like this sea of sea-stars...hundreds and hundres of them...

And at a few dive sites there were thousands of Red-tooth Triggerfish...

it's pretty awesome looking away from the wall and seeing this...

There were so many turtles so much so that this American lady commented, "i never thought i'll actually like you know..see the day when i can like you know say "i'm sick of seeing turtles"...like ohmygod..there's so many of them"

this particular turtle was HUGE!

And there was an abundance of nudis...

ooh the colors of this one reminds me of the glow-in-the dark-paint i used to wear to raves at Gatecrasher a long time ago..

how cute is this Nudi?

i know this one is super common but i really like how it was resting on the soft coral. So colorful!

this one in particular is my favourite! Looks like a spotted pegasus to me.. :)

When we dived at Lembeh...there were so many puffer fish. Schools of them!
Each one was screaming out to us,"inflate me..inflate me!!"
So we did.

After our first dive when we got back onto the boat, Jose quietly slipped on his gloves. Didn't take a genius to figure out why..
There were some common fish that i really like...Its not just the appearance but the way they swim...sorta sideways with their fins propelling them...
If i had a saltwater aquarium i would so get this Spotted Boxfish...

and this Mimic File fish...

We came across a huge cluster of this soft, transparent jelly-like masses. I knew they were eggs of some kind. There was 1 tiny moving dot in each segment...but only after the dive guide popped one did i realize they were...

...super tiny little baby squids!!!!
(this pic has been magnified x10...it's actual size is about 5mm...)

Another strange coral I've never seen before. At first I thought it was a pink hair-scrunchie but when i approached it it sorta retracted...

We also spotted the tiniest juvenile lionfish...

It's so cool how something so tiny and fragile grows up to be so magnificent!..

Also our first time seeing hairy Orang Utan Crab...

Some creatures are AMAZING at camouflage...like this leaf fish..

...and this Pygmy Seahorse... super tiny...super cute!!!

...this tiny crab...

...and this Hairy Frog fish

There were some pretty ugly but fascinating fishes too...
like Stone fish

and these 2 were so cute! The way they tried to waddle away from my camera.
Yes they actually "walk" with their fins...

This juvenile white one.....wah check out this super fugly fish...

...finally managed to spot this yellow Frogfish

Another first for me was seeing Flying Gurnard.. This is it camouflaging...But once spotted...

it flies away...

We saw a few octopuses as well. Like this Mimic Octopus...

"Living in the tropical seas of South East Asia, it was not discovered officially until 1998, off the coast of Sulawesi. The octopus mimics the physical likeness and movements of more than fifteen different species, including sea snakes, lionfish, flatfish, brittle stars, giant crabs, sea shells, stingrays, flounders, jellyfish, sea anemones, and mantis shrimp. It accomplishes this by contorting its body and arms, and changing colour.

Although all octopuses can change colour and texture, and many can blend with the sea floor, appearing as rocks, the mimic octopus is the first octopus species ever observed to impersonate other animals."

Our dive guide tipped out the contents of a sprite bottle and found a super tiny baby coconut octopus

I know my picture quality is really bad...

Found a better pic showing how it disguises itself into a coconut...

i'll never grow tired of seahorses...: )

nor Nemos...

..and some of the tiniest creatures are so perfect...

Finally... i managed to spot something I've really really wanted to see...
A Cuttlefish...

it moves like a spaceship floating through space...very very cool...

Know what else i love about diving? The beautiful sunsets that greet us when we surface...

...the awesome service we get from dive guides,

(Edmund and Stanley from Tasik Ria)

the cool fellow divers we meet...
(Milanese Paulo and Luco)

...how we chill out in between dives by the poolside bar drinking ice cold beer...

...and playing my awesome guitar...

...and of course after all that hard work, the best part is rewarding ourselves with spa treatments!

When our holiday was finally over, we went to the airport a little early to eat "Klappertart"

(say "ke-la-pa-tart") it's a dutch dessert made up of layers of fresh cocnut flesh as its base, custard in the middle and topped with rum and cheese. Very decadent, very nicccceeee!

But then we were told that all flights were cancelled because one of the volcanoes were spewing ashes...uh-oh...we had no choice but to book a room at a hotel nearby...

the room had a very nice view...

...and open bath-bedroom concept...

..and what better way to spend the extra few days stuck in Manando then to dive again??
This time we went to Lembeh!

we went online to search for a dive operator and we found Dragonet...They provided us with 2 Guides, lunch, charter our own boat and 3 dives at the cost of Rp1.5 juta each...which is a pretty good deal considering it was so last minute...oh yea and they gave us goreng pisang too! : )

And at dinner that night, we were famished!

*gasp..so little!!*

that's better...
(Nad, see what i told you about the beer bintang singlets? U are not alone!!)

Awesome trip...thanks!! *muaacks*

xoxobombshelloxox