Bunaken, Days 4-5

From Bunaken

We are now at the end of our diving holiday on Bunaken, having done 5 more dives since my last report, including a night dive. I have managed to get several reasonable photos with the new camera, but of course, on the dive where we saw three large turtles the battery was flat so you will just have to take my word for it. For me though, it is not the sightings of large marine life that make for an interesting dive. I am much happier looking as smaller fish and sea creatures and admiring the beautiful coral gardens that are found in the shallow areas, above 10m. There seems to be some sort of obsession amongst some divers for doing deep dives, which I can not really understand. OK, you are more likely to see larger fish, such as sharks, at these depths but otherwise, it can be rather desolate.

Looking back on this part of the holiday and comparing Bunaken with the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, I would say that they are both world class dive sites. I possibly have a slight preference for the Barrier Reef diving as the topology of coral ‘bommies’ makes for a more interesting dive, and the defined bottom at 20m makes it more likely to see the larger marine animals.

The Living Colours dive resort in Bunaken has been excellent, with friendly a friendly dive team and domestic staff, good food, and pleasant accommodation. Pity about the insects, but you can’t have everything. Anyway, beats freezing winter in Brentford.

Tonight being New Years Eve, time to party!