havecarryonwilltravel

The first two days of diving from the Pelagian are unexciting. The reef doesn’t seem to be the pristine eco system that we had heard about. By day three, we change our minds.

Healthy coral, both soft and hard, stretches for as far as I can see. The colours range from the usual tan to brown to yellow, blue, purple and orange. There is only a teeny bit of white bleach spots on the odd piece of coral. 

The fish are abundant, although there are hardly any big silvery fish like barracuda. Most of the fish are smaller, like damselfish, triggerfish, anthais, and very colourful. Enormous schools of Red Toothed Tiggerfish swirl and eddy beside us. Anemone fish (clown fish) in their individually tailored anemones are happily doing their thing, until we float by, and then they are nervous and on alert.

Nudibranches, my fav, and flatworms, Mur’s fav, are spotted regularly. Some we know and some we do not.

Our fourth dive every day is a night dive.  The day time fish are in holes resting. Weird and whacky creatures come out of hiding when it is dark. Two of the weirdest are the Spanish Dancer Nudibranch, a foot long fat Nudibranch, and the Anemone Crab.

Pygmy creatures are always exciting to peer at. We see a number of pygmy seahorses and a pygmy squid. The squid was so hard for me to see, I had to ask the dive master to hold his pointer next to it so I knew where to focus my camera.  

The diving off the Pelagian in the Wakatobi area is some of the best diving we have done. We are now thinking we may have to come back to experience more of this wonder.

We disembark the Pelagian this morning and are now staying at the Wakatobi Resort. The resort is run like a finely tuned Ferrari. We are met, checked in, given a tour of the dive center and then whisked away to do two morning dives while our bungalow is being prepared.

After diving we are escorted to our bungalow and given an orientation there. Drinking water, outdoor shower, A/C, safe, no shoes/no sand inside. The usual.

The resort has a Longhouse, where reception and the dive center are, a Restaurant, a Spa and numerous bungalows and villas. Check out the website if you want to know more.

The staff at the resort memorize the photos and names of the guests from passports, so when we meet Opan for the first time, he opens with “Hello Debbie”. It is a little disconcerting and I ask him how he knows my name and he explains that they know all the guests names. And then Ibram, the restaurant manager, calls us by name. It’s kinda freaky but kinda nice also. Murray and I are now determined to learn, and remember the names of some of the staff.

Another unusual thing is that on the name tags that the staff wear, there are the words “My passion is:” and then varying passions like swimming or football or playing guitar or cooking. We chat with a number of servers in the restaurant about their passions. It provides a way to chat with the staff that brings a level of friendliness to the resort. I like the idea!

Hermit crabs! We not only see crabs under water but at the resort too. Once it turns dark, diminutive shells with their occupants start scurrying along the pathways. Some have fancy shells and some have plain shells. We are now careful where we step so no crab gets squashed and ends up with a broken house.

We have come off the Pelagian tired as we did four dives a day for six straight days. Our schedule for the resort is two morning dives and veg for the afternoon. There is a beach and crystal clear water that is calling me, so playing in the water is on tap too. Will write more after another good nights sleep.

In the room is a Pillow Menu. The resort wants us to have a good nights sleep so offers four different pillows: down, microfiber, natural latex and memory foam. Murray’s pillow is giving him a stiff neck so he has utilized the service and will try a different type of pillow tonight.

What makes this resort special is the staff and how friendly and genuine they are. The customer service is exceptional and this one thing puts the resort high up above other resorts. We plan to come back here.