Playing Robinson Crusoe in Bunaken, Indonesia

 

My last night in Jogkarta, December 24, which just happened to be my birthday, was spent eating a last supper of cooked cobra and python with my new friends Laura and Rudy.  Earlier that night I had recovered my lost iPhone which had somehow slipped onto the minibus seat on my ride from Bali to Probolinggo.  I had been on the road for four months, but the inevitable meeting, making fast friends, and then saying goodbye after a few days was only becoming slightly easier.

I woke up at 4:00AM on Christmas morning, but it wasn’t in anticipation of opening presents from Santa Claus.  Instead I grabbed a taxi to the airport for my flight to Bunaken, a tiny island just off the coast of Manado, in Sulawesi, Indonesia.  My plan was to treat myself to four days of diving in the world-class waters of Bunaken National Park.  My plane landed in Manado and I was greeted with deserted streets; everybody was inside celebrating Christmas in this decidedly Christian town.  I was staying at Lorenso’s Cottages, and Lorenso himself picked me up at the airport.  We drove through the empty streets of the city, which Lorenso told me are normally filled with traffic any other day of the year.  Little did I realize how much of a stark contrast this day was.  When I returned to Manado on New Year’s Eve I was greeted with wall to wall traffic jams.  An hour after driving to a quiet landing point, we met up with Dion, a local who was overseeing Lorenso’s place when Lorenso wasn’t there.  Lorenso bade me farewell for a few days as he headed back to celebrate Christmas with his family.  I walked with Dion to the shore, through 50 meters of water since it was low tide, and on to the small boat that would transport me to Bunaken.

We made our way through the water from the mainland and slowly Bunaken came into sight.  The tiny island is punctuated with a large dormant volcano on its west end, and the only village on the island was located in its shadow.  There was only one small street cutting through the island, which was more of a wide bicycle lane more than anything else.  Of course, there were no cars on Bunaken, only motorbikes, so the small lanes were suitable to the local population.

I had a hard time judging the size and scope of the island and resorts on the island when researching Bunaken.  It turns out everything on the web portraying the resorts looked way bigger than it really was.  I would very loosely call anything on Bunaken a “resort”.  Even the “resorts” are more a collection of cottages, albeit with hot water and stunning views of Sulawesi if the cottage was lucky enough to be on a hill.  My stay in Lorenso’s Cottages was much more basic.  Mosquito nets, cold water if the shower was working, a scoop and a bucket if it was not, electricity that frequently went out were what awaited me upon landing on Bunaken.  That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy myself.  Quite the contrary.  However, if you are looking for anything more advanced than a Robinson Crusoe or Swiss Family Robinson lifestyle, you have come to the wrong place.

 

See a larger version of the panoramic view from my cottage porch.

Lorenso’s Cottages cost me a total of $30 US a day.  That included 3 meals a day and lodging.  I did my diving with Living Colours, the resort located ten minutes walk through a jungle from Lorenso’s.  If the tide was low, I was lucky enough to make the walk along the sandy beach.  If I wasn’t lucky, which occurred one time, I made the trek through the jungle at night in pitch black with only the light of my iPhone to guide me.  Trust me, your mind jumps to all sorts of crazy conclusions when the sounds of the jungle are all around you, you can only see 2 feet in front of you, you are trudging along a path roughly 8 inches to 1 foot wide with plants brushing your legs, and the occasional glowing fungus peering out at you from the brush.  Yes, there were even glowing mushrooms along the path.  By the third day my compatriots and myself at Lorenso’s Cottages dubbed the jungle area “Blair Witch Project” due to the unnerving trek we often made through the dark.  Remember, Bunaken is located just north of the equator which means it got dark shortly after 6:00PM each night.  That’s a lot of darkness for young backpacker night owls.

I spent my time in Bunaken doing one of two things: diving or lounging on my cottage deck reading.  Really, there wasn’t much else to do.  I was fortunate enough to have a group of interesting and like-minded backpackers stay in the cottages during my time there.  However, there were only 8 of us total and we usually only spent mealtimes together due to each of us doing different activities (hiking, snorkeling, diving, taking diving courses, etc).

I did spend one afternoon walking along the small road to the lone village on the island.  It was a longer walk than I expected, and the village was truly a simple affair.  There were no grocery stores, no convenience stores, or shops of any kind that I found.  Either I missed these or they don’t exist on the island.  However, the residents were beyond friendly and it was Christmas so they were outside in groups, the younger children and teenagers dancing to music while the adults lounged around and enjoyed the day and each other’s company.

My dives were spectacular.  Bunaken National Park is everything it was hyped up to be.  Massive turtles, hundreds of fish, thriving coral cliffs 100 feet deep, and more all added up to a fascinating time spent underwater with each dive.  I was able to go on 9 dives, including a night dive, and each one was incredible.  However, I do admit I had diver’s envy when another dive group saw an octopus and a fellow diver saw at least one turtle on every dive.  Oh, to be so lucky.

Living Colours had a passable internet wifi connection, plus the resort was situated on a hilltop which allowed for tremendous views all around, as opposed to Lorenso’s Cottages, which were located right on the beach.  I spent a few afternoons holed up at the Living Colours kitchen/lounge/reading room/chill-out area.  The computer and water cooler allowed me to keep hydrated and connected, and a couple of times I was stuck there for a good afternoon when the skies decided to open up.  Yes, it rained a lot in Bunaken.  Almost every day.  There were only two days in which it didn’t rain at all.  The day I arrived and the day I left.  Most days it was a steady downpour for at least half of the day.  Sometimes it started late at night, sometimes early afternoon, sometimes late evening, but usually it wouldn’t let up for hours.  This didn’t bother me much when diving; I was underwater and wet anyway.  However, it did confine me to either my cottage balcony or the Living Colours common area when I wasn’t diving.

There was one resident in Living Colours that freaked me out.  Cockroaches?  No, I had plenty of those in and around my own cottage at Lorenso’s.  In fact, one evening I came home to a massive cockroach hanging out on the mosquito net above my bed.  I wasn’t happy.  Mosquitos?  No, but they were bothersome.  Luckily I had plenty of bug spray with me.  No, this particular resident was a large black and yellow spider that was perched directly above the computer and water cooler in the common area of Living Colours.  The first time I used the computer I didn’t look up.  Who looks up, anyway?  When was the last time you looked up at the ceiling above you?  It wasn’t until the second night there that another guest told me about the friendly neighbor hanging out in a web above us.  This spider was as big as my hand.  For those that don’t know, that is about 10 inches long.  It’s body was the size of my palm and its legs were each as big as my fingers.  I don’t like spiders.  Of any size.  Least of all big spiders perched directly overhead when I’m on a computer or filling my glass with water.  Lucky for me Mr. Spider and I made a pact: he agreed he wouldn’t spin himself on down to my level and I agreed not to freak out like a little girl.

 

I enjoyed my time in Bunaken, more-so now that I look back on it.  It wasn’t easy living.  Each meal was very basic: small banana pancakes in the morning (more akin to crepes), fresh fish, rice, and some sort of noodle for both lunch and dinner.  The cook was a local resident, not a world-class chef, so think of it as camping with your buddies and one of you cooks the meals.  Unless one of your buddies is an amazing cook.  Then disregard and pick yourself as the cook.  The beds were hard, the mosquitoes were annoying, the cockroaches were uninvited, the electricity was sporadic, and the shower was less than desirable the times that it worked.  However, the beach was lined with incredible seashells, hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of starfish greeted you just yards off the beach on the other side of the mango trees, and underwater was paradise.  If you enjoy seclusion, a little roughing it, and amazing diving, then Bunaken is the place for you.