It seems this time of the year is a bit of a down time around Indonesia. As the last post indicated we are living and diving with groups far below resort capacity. Also noticeable is the amount of construction and renovation taking place around both of Froggies outlets. Froggies has been here for quite some years and although everything is not brand spanking new it has been maintained very well. Any place right on the ocean deteriorates very quickly and often we stay in newer places where things just don’t work any more. Here everything works. It would appear things are in a constant state of upgrade and improvement. A testament to the owner’s resolve to have a great dive resort for the customers. I would have to do little research for a place to stay in Bunaken and Lembeh, if I were to return. Froggies would be my starting point.
Our room, cabin, villa, bondok in Lembeh is right on the water. Literally. When the tide comes in we can look through the boards on the deck and there is no more dry land. One cool thing about this is the sound of the lapping water that lulls us to sleep each night. That is after we discovered we did not want the AC while we slept (The AC is noisy and you cannot hear the water). The boats motor in and out at a much less frequent rate then the cars on any street. So we sleep very well.
The people we have met on this trip have been absolutely charming. Mostly Europeans from Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, France, a young South Korean, one American, and one fellow from Shanghai. We had great conversions in the boat and around the eating table. As things go I will most likely email a few of them next time we are diving and see if we can match schedules and meet up again.
The Indonesian people are absolutely fantastic. Extremely polite. Wonderfully caring and attentive. They jump to help when asked. They are quiet, no loud screaming matches, they keep their voice down when on the ubiquitous cell phone, when they use the car horn it is a short beep rather than a drawn out blare and when they address us it is so quiet we usually have to ask pardon. I have said this before that a the place is its people and Indonesia rates as a great place.
Indonesia is up. Every where we go it is up. Debbie mentioned we had 70 some steps to bed in Bunaken. Here we live on the water but we rise up 56 stairs to the restaurant every meal. For breakfast it wakes you up, after diving it is hard work for lunch, it is OK for dinner by that time we have rested and the climb is not bad. When we did the land excursions off the live a board it was mostly rock climbing. Steep, scary, and using hands and feet to both ascend and descend. I think these steep slopes are the result of the islands being formed by volcanoes.
This morning we awoke to a several beached jelly fish. They don’t last long out of the water. When we come down from breakfast one of the grounds keepers is digging mass graves in the sand and filling it with jelly fish carcasses. There are still a lot of free swimming jellies, the non-stinging variety, but it is still sad but there is not much else you can do with them.
Tomorrow we board a plane to Singapore and leave diving behind. We’ve had a great time and are already looking into returning to dive different areas. More creatures await!