If the boat turns over, prepare to grab your belongings!

March 13th

I started this day, the last in the Togian islands, by waking up early – before 7 o’clock – to watch for birds before breakfast. It was a small success! I saw several new ones, including the Black Naped Fruit Dove – which was very beautiful. Apparently the trick to birdwatching is being early, who new!?

Those who did not go to Taipr island yesterday, me for example, then jumped into the boat right after breakfast and set off over relatively rough waters (at least for our boat). We passed by several resorts on our way to the former “Taipr Paradise” resort, situated on a small island. Now deserted, you can walk around in the empty shells in this once paradise. But that was not our purpose here! Taipr is surrounded by coral reefs and we had an hour or two to explore the wonderful world below the surface. There were lots of fish and thankfully for me – nearsighted and without contact lenses – many of them were curious about me and swam forward so I could almost touch them. It was certainly the best of the places we had visited for snorkeling so far in Sulawesi. On the way back the boat had a tough time in the waves and rocked worryingly. Irina, our host and guide, leaned over to me and said “If the boat turns over, be prepared to grab your belongings!” At first I thought she was joking but then I remembered that she had already told us about how unstable this kind of boat was and that they had actually turned over with a tourist group once. But all went well and we were back exactly on time for lunch.

In the afternoon, while the tide was low, most of us walked along the shore to the village on the other side of the island. Our main goal was to buy palm sugar, which is produced here. When everybody was happy with their share of the brown sweets, we strolled around the village and greeted its inhabitants. A while after coming back, there was a “quacking” sound from the forest, high up in the canopy. We could not see what it was at first, but finally two magnificent Knobbed Hornbills appeared. This hornbill is endemic to Sulawesi (they live nowhere else) and sadly there are signs that their numbers might be in decline. It is listed as “vulnerable to global extinction”. After dinner there was a big Latvian song sing-along and later some went night snorkeling. Not me though, I was very much inspired by the day’s events, and sat on the veranda of my cottage and wrote this story.

The day of the kind jellyfish

March 12th

We have already well settled on Togian island and a barracuda for lunch is nothing out of ordinary anymore. Some of us will go to the jellyfish lake today. On contrary from the other group we already have their stories and a suspicion on what awaits us in our hands. We will be joined by Anton, a Catalonian who arrived this morning. Hence at the breakfast table we talk about Baltic Way and the independence of Catalonia. We humm “Saule, Pērkons, Daugava” [a Latvian song that was taken by Catalonians for their independence movement]. Seems that Anton recognises it.

We leave for the lake. An absolute happiness since there still is the morning freshness. We go past two villages. The houses are built on stilts, between them and the steep cliff are only couple of meters. No freshwater. That is brought to the villages in boats from our island as there is a spring on it. After 30 minute ride we reach the Jellyfish lake. That is indeed a lake as it’s not connected to the sea. Very long time ago it has been a part of the sea, so the water in it is salty, but now only rain water is supplying it. We find out from our hostess that there are only 2 lakes like this in the world – the other is somewhere in Americas.

When jumping into the lake, we feel like jumping in a pot of soup as the water is foggy and seems almost hot. There are indeed many jellyfish. Judging by eye looks like 3-5 individuals in every cubic meter of water. The jellyfish are all of the same species – supposedly also blood-relatives. Their tentacles are lighter or darker brown, but the surface almost transparent with violet stripes. The smallest are in the size of a cherry, the biggest around the size of a small watermelon. All of the jelyfish without regards of the size are very peaceful, it was possible to take them in hands and if wished so, also count the tentacles which Agnese also did. Unfortunately when moved close to the surface all the beauty got lost.

Next we go to a wonderful beach with white sand where there are no stones and nothing is hindering getting to the corals. Here the water is completely clear, many fish and lovely corals. We only get out of the water when Irina patiently calls us. On the way home we get a small drizzle. Huh, how we would want for a bigger one!

On the lunch we finish another barracuda. Everyone has such an apetite as would have worked hard. After the lunch we are snoozing in the hammocks. After a short rest the other group gets in the boat and goes to an island where there is an especially great diversity of corals. They return shortly before the sun set excited that they haven’t seen anything like that before. The main event – Vitolds has swam around the whole island! The rest of us will wait for tomorrow impatiently to see it all with our own eyes.

Day of laziness

March 11th

There was a strong rain during the night. Rūdolfs who was sleeping in the tent without the additional roof had to evacuate to the bungalo. Some rain continued in the morning. Caramelized doughnuts for breakfast were tasty. Agnese went to Wakai to pay for the car repair and the speedboat on Monday and she brought to us, guess what? Beer! Some people drank beer while it was cold, others decided to wait until evening.

Bravest men went to snorkel outside our bay where the corals are far better. For the lunch we had a giant grilled barracuda (!). After that half of the group went for a boat trip. We saw small islands and local houses but or goal was a lake of jellyfish. And there were many. Water in the lake is even saltier and hotter than in the ocean. We swam in a clear water, people could touch the jellyfish because they don’t sting. A lot of underwater pictures and video were taken. But I loved the best our second stop – a beautiful Bounty style bay with white sand and excellent corals. I snorkeled there in all directions. I and Rudolfs, we saw a clownfish.

After coming back to our Sunset Beach I laid in a hammock, drank beer and watched the setting sun. It sounds like a clichee, but you know, it works very well. After the diner we enjoyed a moonset and looked for the crabs along the beach. There is a lot of different crabs. Local cats helped us in this venture.

Agnese’s notes:
The ferry is not going from Wakai to Ampana every day but the speedboat is. Yet it only has place for about 17 people so it was important to buy tickets early for our big group.

The light day after the Big Eclipse

March 10th

It seems that after the big eclipse, the car problem and the night drive in 2 teams of 6 people all the possible in Indonesia has been fulfilled. However it is not so. The adventures won’t finish, the mechanic from Luwuk will come to help. After all of that we wake up in the morning at Ampana ferry pier in different places – some in the cars, others in the ferry waiting room on the stools. Like some seals.

In the terminal on the floor the ants eat up the remainings of the dead cockroaches. Toilet, as fitting in a public place, is rather “criminal”. Roosters are singing, next to the small cafe’s near the pier dogs ar chasing chickens. For the breakfast we have avocados that we bought yesterday in the market – big, dark, ripe and delicious. For the tea ordered in the local cafe the sugar has been added richly, not easy to drink from it, more similar to syroup. However warmth and some joy comes from it. We buy 12 tickets from Ampana to Wakai, each for 58000 rupees. We leave the cars at the pier to wait for us returning from the small islands.

On the ferry we make ourselves comfortable in the economic class – some on the chairs, some on specially designed sleeping-shelves. We decide that 80% Indonesians are smoking as there is smoke smell everywhere. Meanwhile in the business class there is an AC, feeling like in a fridge. As guests we get some karaoke songs dedicated to us. All the songs are like “schlager” [pop songs usually about love associated in Latvia with German culture] – melodic and similar to each other. We get happy about the Bintang (Indonesian word for star) beer cans in the fridge of the ferry cafeteria. In the water there are unknown long fish swimming, visible are many schools of little silvery fish. Sometimes some flying fish disturbed by the ship flies by. Everyone sleeps for a long stretch of road to renew the sleep resources “sweated out” during the night drive.

After 4h of journey we notice islands. When we get out of the ferry we arrive in a considerable scorch, the hostess Irina is waiting for us, divides us along 2 boats and brings us to a lovely corner of paradise on the Togean island. Palms, white sand, small houses on stilts, hammocks, warm sea. Some warming up in snorkelling. Wonderfully delicious dinner with fish, rice, fruits, the palm wine bought the previous evening. We introduce ourselves to 4 Finnish people and sing some songs (Ai Sulavesi stūru stūriem, Maza zaļa vardīte, Anders’ solo about frogs in Swedish and some more beloved Latvian songs).

After the dinner we hold an improvised disco on the beach in the light of shining plankton. Suddenly around 20:30 the generator breaks down. In a complete happiness we go to sleep. There is no light, no TV, not possible to charge the electronics. Nothing is disturbing our tender sleep – neither in houses, neither in tents, nor in hammocks. Only the she-dog Lucky steals the wet clothes hung out for drying (especially Rudolf’s) and chews them at the trunk of a palm with much care. Some bigger crabs get found and involved in a photosession. Silently are lulling and singing cicadas. In our camp and in Indonesia all is calm.

Agnese’s notes:
The ferry is named Tuna Tomini and it goes several times a week from the harbour east of Ampana.
Some of us took the mattresses for sleeping from the business class on the ferry. It seems to be fine, just need to pay 10’000IDR for the “rental”. If you want to sleep – absolutely worth it!
The electricity gets switched on at around the sunset time around 6pm and off at around 11pm in the Sunset Beach “resort” normally.
The boat cannot accommodate 12 people plus the captain and Irina at the same time, so we had to split.

The day before the eclipse

March 8th

It is important to talk to the local people. In this way, last evening we have found out that our route goes through a road renovation zone. It is closed for cars between 8am and 12pm. This factor requires leaving the hotel early (we are staying in the hotel Waraswati in Pagimana).

As usual we wake up at 6am. The breakfast is not included in the hotel price but we get some rice with few pieces of chicken and traditional shrimp crisps. Even though there is no alternative, the food here is great. Tea or coffee is not served (we don’t specificaly insist on having it, so it may be possible to get it if asked).

We fear that it may be difficult to find petrol station further along out route, so we fill the tanks in Pagimana and continue our journey. Around 1 km to the south from a town called Salodik, there is a small park called ‘obyek wisata pilaweanto salodik’. When we arrive, there is nobody at the entrance, so we open the gates ourselves and enter the park. This recreational zone contains few waterfalls, canopies and pedestrian paths. It is poorly maintained and almost seems to be abandoned. The waterfalls are nice and some of the group members go for a dip beneath one of them. The park offers refreshment during the hot day, so it is worth visiting. When we leave two men are waiting for us at the entrance and ask for an entry fee – 2000 rupies (approx. 0.13eur) per person.
8th of March is known as women’s day and Ilgonis presents flowers to the ladies in our team.

As we plan to camp on the beach during the night, we continue our road without stops. We must arrange our camp before the nightfall – the sunset here is around 6pm. We manage to find a nice spot close to the town called Pangkalaseang in the east of the central Sulawesi. The beach is close to the main road, but we need to go a short distance through coconut palm plantation to reach it. This is an extremely beautiful place – white sand, blue ocean, clear sky. This is a tropical paradise. Few of us set-up tents, few arrange sleeping under the mosquito nets and one would sleep directly below the sky (mosquite repealent is required). We make a small fire place and set up a dinner ‘table’. We go to sleep early. Tomorrow is the most important day of our journey.

Agnese’s notes:
The road between Salodik and Pangkalaseang is not ideal but not too bad either. Potholes in places sometimes small, sometimes for several meters.
The Poh bay is beautiful, we snorkel for a bit just before turning north away from it. There are coralls here as well and very beautiful ones once you get through a small forest of sea-weed.
Don’t attempt to sleep on beach without a mosquito net. The mosquito repellent perhaps helps to fall asleep, but the sleep only lasts till a point when you wake up from something biting vigorously.