Germans! Diving! Turtles! (Lion)fish!

As I said at the end of our last post, after our time with the dragons, Gloria had to go back to Jakarta to make that sugar momma money, while Sven, Miriam, and I continued on to Bunaken Island in North Sulawesi for some diving. Bunaken is a small island in the Northern part of Indonesia. Fun fact: it's actually in the Northern Hemisphere, while most of the rest of Indonesia is in the Southern Hemisphere. So yeah, we equator hopped. No big deal.

Expertly rendered map of Indonesia. I'm a pro.

Before I continue, a little background on Bunaken: it is a small island on the Northern tip of Sulawesi. It only measures about 890 sq. km. in area, so it's quite small. It's mostly known for diving and is recognized as one of the top dive destinations in the world. Bunaken is most famous for its steep coral walls, which drop several hundred feet deep into the ocean. They are spectacularly beautiful, as you'll see (teaser!).

So, as you can guess we were here to do some diving. We were staying at Living Colours Dive Resort, which I can't recommend highly enough. The place is awesome. Upon arrival in Manado, we were taken via boat to the resort. As we approached it, all we could see were mangroves and beautiful, clear water.

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A quick turn into the resort and it opens up to be everything you'd imagine.

The first thing you see: the bar

The dive shop

Steps leading up to the rooms and dining area

Communal dining area

My room, hammock included! Also included: lots of Geckos on the walls at night. Bonus!

The resort is beautiful. It's built into a hillside overlooking the ocean, and it's a very communal place, with daily buffet style meals where everyone eats together and mingles. Good stuff.

But let's face it. You want to hear about the diving, right? Right. Ok off we go!

Our chariot. Also known as a dive boat.

Diving here is ridiculous. It's like being in an aquarium. 

Yes, this is real. I took this picture. Hard to believe.

There is so much beautiful coral and millions of fish. It's insane. Plus the water here is so clear. I've never seen anything like it. We did a couple dives every day for a few days, plus some snorkeling. It was sick.

See all those things around us? Yeah, those are fish.

All of the dives were along the coral walls, which are amazing. Basically as you go out in the ocean, the coral extends out a few hundred ft., down to a depth of about 15 ft.. Then, the coral walls drop off and go several hundred feet down. It's crazy.

Just to give you an idea of the scale of the walls. Incredibly big. And yes, the water really is that blue.

I'm diving!

See that in the middle of the sun? That's Miriam snorkeling at the surface while we were diving. Crazy visibility.

After our first dive. Faces of pure happiness.

On day 2 we did a really cool dive. We first jumped in like normal and swam along the top of the coral. But then we came upon a hole in the coral and swooped over the top of it and down the hole (which was essentially just the edge of the wall). In hindsight it doesn't sound all the exciting, but at the time it felt cool.

The "hole" in the coral"

We also did a bunch of snorkeling and saw all kinds of cool stuff. But, it's hard to do the experience justice in words and photos, so I also made a video to try to show you what it was like. Check it out!

Ultimately, this was the best diving I've ever seen, and it was a fantastic way to cap off the trip with Sven & Miriam. I feel so fortunate to have such great friends with whom to share these experiences. My only wish was to have Gloria join us as well. That was the only thing that would have made it better. I'm a very lucky man to have a wife who supports me while I galavant off doing these crazy things. What can I say? Life is great, and my wife is even better.