Manado - Day 1

The plane ride there was in a very very small plane (A319). There was no in flight entertainment worth mentioning. Good point was that the plane was quite empty so we managed to change seats to this really nice place where i could stretch my legs and recline all the way.

Upon reaching Manado, we passed immigration quite quickly. Was suprised and happy to see that the resort had sent people to standy for us even at the baggage collection area. The airport is really small with only 1 baggage carousel. After that, we din even have to push our own trolley and were immediately escorted to our waiting vehicles.

There were 2 vehicles but we just immediately went onboard the nearest van. This was a mistake as the aircon was really hot and we were stuck in terrible traffic for around 45mins. The traffic conditions are similar to phillippines or thailand...very congested and disorder. Interestingly they had traffic lights with counters (for green also). Another interesting thing is that their cars are all of good make - Chervolet and Ford cabs! Generally a lot fo Toyotas and Mitsubishis.

The town is as what you would expect...something like Johor but interestingly, there were a lot of churches. Manado has a dominantly christian population which is very interesting considering where we actually are.

Upon reaching the resort, i was very happy to find that there was a security gate and guards. The resort is very nice and cosy. Has only a few bungalows and very nice staff. They were very organized and immediately served us drinks as we signed in. There was also a small buffet of noodles, fried rice and chicken wings. Our luggage was then carried away and placed in our rooms automatically. We only have to put our diving gear outside the door for it to be automatically brought to the boat for us.

The room is nice, a bit better than a chalet...toilet has hot water, works well, proper fittings etc. we even have cable tv in the room. the plugs have a specially modified singapore one for our standard 3 pin. Chey, wasted all my money on travel adaptors. I think the room is great. We have our own balcony overlooking the sunset/sunrise. It is clearly the best bungalow in the resort, have to thank eric for that! Internet connection is WIFI throughout the resort but is terribly slow.

To give you a good idea of the place, here is a blog on the net i was using. Pretty much like what he described already though he was wrong on several small things. You can see the info here.

We prepared for the 1st dive which was mainly an assessment dive for the people to gauge who they have to look after during the rest of the trip. We just dove around the 'house reef' outside the resort. Already it was fantastic...there were SO MANY critters around...we saw fish we've never even seen in pictures, there were rays, crabs, eels etc. Oh there are A LOT of blue ring octopuses here...even has been said to have killer whales. The dive was really great though my new mask was giving me some problems, mainly cause im not used to it. Ears also a bit problematic coz of the mask problem. Have some ideas i'll try on Day 2, hopefully it will be ok. Diving is all automatic as well, no need to carry your heavy gear into the water as they will help u in and out...the best way to do it.

After the dive, i was exhausted, having only slept an hour the day before. Took a nap before dinner. Dinner was surpsingly good (to me). Will leave Sarah to do the food commentary. After dinner, the owner of the resort (a french guy), came to talk to us. There was also a supposedly reknowned underwater photographer there 'William' something. Our bro-in-law and the owner really hit it off and were talking for hours...apparently the owner is also an engineer in the oil business. I played pool while Sarah chatted with the ladies, was nice and relaxed.

Will eventually put up pictures. Hopefully i can keep updating this like that. Im actually waiting for breakfast to start 7:30 and have been awake since 4:30am (can't sleep). Today is a LONG day of 3 dives at Bunaken Island. Btw, sunrise is at 5am and its dark by 6pm here.