Dear diary!

I hope you are fine even though I was not writing much lately. There is so much going on that I need time to set things straight in my head and then I am lost for words to describe all this and then more and more happens and when you finally stop to think you realize 6 weeks have passed since we left home.

After Tana Toraja we decided to explore beaches and marine life of Sulawesi. We ended up on the north-east edge of the island, where you can find a few islets that all together make the Bunaken National Park. We stayed in Panorama Dive Resort on Bunaken island itself – beautiful place run by a German-Indonesian couple. I wanted to write about this place because it is a nice, cosy place and if you ever happen to be around here and would like to dive, this is the one to choose. Many accommodation options (budget-wise), food included (and a lot of it and very tasty, especially after a month of fried rice or fried noodles). The island is so small, there are no cars here and the main road is like a pavement on Marszalkowska street in Warsaw 🙂

The biggest issue that Bunaken has to deal with is rubbish. I wrote about this on Facebook already. Every day the tide brings a new batch of “everything”. Resort beaches are cleaned up but this is Sisyphean work. After a while the waves bring more rubbish and the situation is back to “normal”. I read that Asia is very dirty but it is really hard to believe it is so bad. Seeing it with my own eyes is the best and the saddest ecology lesson I could ever have.

Underwater life of Bunaken is a miracle. After 100-200 meters of walking through shallow water there is plenty of starfish and sea urchins and then boom! A coral reef wall with herds of fish, turtles and any creatures you could imagine. You literally do not know where to look. A first encounter with a turtle makes my heart run faster or makes me wanna cry and this repeats with every next encounter of these creatues.

We spend our days diving or snorkeling, taking breaks only for food and laying in hammock. Szymon is teaching our divemasters to speak Polish – eyebrow, elbow, weenie (basics you know). It is also an interesting opportunity to meet people. Where they come from, what they have seen. We go to sleep early and we wake up early and this is how we spent out 13th anniversary.