Paradise... found

Paradise … found

By: Charlene Colella

Published in AB Vol.45, No. 5 (Jul. 03)

Many have referred to Wakatobi as the “Islands at the End of the World”. For me it is by far the most remote, untouched, pristine dive destination I have ever visited in my 13 years of diving.

As divers, many of you know when you begin planning a dive vacation well over a year in advance, anything can happen between the first flicker of excitement of the plan, right up until you hit the water for your first dive. For this article, it’s important that I start at the very beginning. 

In March 2002, I received a call from a very dear dive buddy who lives in Switzerland, asking me if I’d like to join him and his soon to be bride on their honeymoon dive trip to a dive resort called Wakatobi. Naturally, my first response was that I had no intention of joining them on their honeymoon, friends or not! He was quick to remind me that technically, it would be their second honeymoon as they were getting married in May, going to Africa later that year as their ‘official’ honeymoon and that there was just no way they’d want to go to ‘Paradise’ without me! I’d met John in Truk several years back, when I’d been on one of Faith’s famous dive trips, and we’ve remained friends ever since. He proceeded to explain that his sister was a diver and she and I could be dive buddies as she was planning on going along as well. He told me the trip would be in April 2003 to a very remote island in Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia.

I must confess I did need to consult my atlas to find out exactly ‘how’ remote this place was. I promised myself that if I could figure out a way to get there using my airline mileage I would consider going, as the airfare half way around the world no doubt would be very costly.  My first call was to Delta Airlines, as that’s where I’ve logged most of my frequent flyer miles. Believe it or not with the greatest of ease, I could be well on my way to Bali in April 2003!

John pointed me to the Wakatobi website, (www.wakatobi.com), and by the time I’d ‘surfed’ the site, I was signed up for a 14 day Wakatobi dive vacation.  Well, actually there was one little ‘hitch’. Because I was flying on my airline miles and using a partner airline for the majority of the journey, I would have to be flexible with the travel dates as well as the routing. I’d also decided that I did want to spend some time in Bali. So I booked a Business Class ticket for 95,000 miles (a must if you’re going all that way), to depart on April 1 and return on April 25th. The dive portion of the trip was scheduled from April 8th-April 22nd at Wakatobi. More good news: I actually will have earned the vacation time by then, not to mention, I have a great boss which definitely helps! Life just couldn’t get any better at this point. As summer rolled around, I’d bought several travel books on Bali, relaxed on Singing Beach and read up on the history, culture, sites and of course the diving in the Indo Pacific region. I was ready, or so I thought. 

Unfortunately, as Fall unfolded so did the threat of war with Iraq. The terrorism alert was heightened, Bali had been bombed, our world was spinning out of control. My final trip deposit was due February 21st. I began seeking out as much information as I could regarding Indonesia, Bali, and all the places in between that my path would cross. I contacted Americans who’d recently traveled to Indonesia, as well as to Wakatobi, to get their take on what the atmosphere was like. There were heightened security warnings from the American Government for Americans traveling abroad into ‘sensitive’ areas. I truly agonized over what I should do after anticipating the dive adventure of a lifetime for over a year. I told myself that if war broke out before I had to make my final trip payment, I wouldn’t go. Well, unfortunately, America was at war by February 21st. I made my final payment, with the stipulation that I could forego the April trip and return anytime within a year, subject to availability at Wakatobi. Of course I knew that wouldn’t be too much fun since my friends from Switzerland were definitely going as planned. Protests against the war outside the American Embassy in Indonesia, as well as around many of the American icons within Indonesia were now heating up considerably.

As if security wasn’t enough to be concerned with, I was now facing an outbreak of SARS, the ‘mystery’ disease that was rapidly hospitalizing and killing people in the part of the world that my journey was to take me through. That’s when I began to wonder if this wasn’t some sort of ‘sign’ for me.  I continued agonizing over the trip as war and SARS heated up during the month of March. This couldn’t really be happening to our world, or could it? As April 1st rapidly approached I decided I would go with my ‘gut’ instinct right up until departure day. My bags, dive gear, trip contingencies, etc., were all in order. I was going as long as ‘it’ felt right to do so, inside. Needless to say, I had many opinions from my friends and loved ones, but I knew this had to be a decision from within. I’d taken extra precautions in preparation for this journey. I made sure I had emergency contacts, embassy information, healthcare information and contingency plans, more so than usual when planning a trip. I was ready.

I woke up on April 1st, did my last minute packing and set off for Logan Airport to catch my first of many flights at 3pm local time. The routing is well worth noting here. I’m still not exactly sure, but the entire journey from Boston, Massachusetts to Bali, Indonesia took about 52 plus hours to complete. Bali is exactly 12 hours ahead of Boston. On April 1st I flew from Boston-Atlanta-LA-Taipei-Singapore-Bali. I arrived in Bali on April 3rd at 8pm local time.  Fortunately, flying Business Class allows the use of the partner airline Premier Lounges. This can be a good thing because the food, drinks, atmosphere, Internet access and SHOWERS can be a blessing when you’re on a neverending plane ride! I must also give kudos to Singapore Airlines. They are the BEST airline I’ve ever flown, hands down. Professional, polite, spotless, great food, all made a very long journey much more tolerable. They could really teach some of our US carriers a thing or two. I was seated upstairs on board a ‘Mega-top’ 767 which made for a very enjoyable flight. I was even able to catch up on every movie that’s been released so far this year, some even a second time! 

I had an extra-added bonus, as the stop in Taipei was not listed on my itinerary. I soon learned it was a scheduled stop never the less. So I had the chance to visit yet another country I hadn’t planned on visiting…SARS and all.  While waiting for my final connection to Bali, I was told that one of my bags was not showing up in the computer as being ‘accounted’ for. I had just come from Taipei into Singapore and was waiting to fly to Bali. Apparently, they do a bag/passenger check for Business Class passengers and mine wasn’t adding up. By the time I was ready to board the final leg of the journey in Singapore, I was told that my bag had been found and was matched up with my other checked bag. Good news, at last.

Unfortunately, upon arriving in Bali, after all bags were unloaded, I was missing, of all things, the DIVE gear bag!  Luckily, I had a digital photo of both of my checked bags, (thanks Paul), so the ‘retrieval paperwork’ process was a bit less painful. However, by the time we completed all the necessary documents to ‘find’ the bag at a later time, my scheduled pre-paid driver had left. My friends from Switzerland weren’t arriving for another 2 days so I knew I’d be on my own in Bali for a while. No worries, the Singapore Airlines baggage dept. was more than happy to assist me in getting another Taxi lined up to take me to my hotel which was about 45 minutes away. But first, they insisted I have a ‘welcome’ drink, a snack, and a warm moist towel while they coordinated the Taxi ride. Worked for me!

So I hopped into my new Taxi, breathed an incredible sigh of relief, looked out the window and thought, “holy cow, I’m in Bali, finally”!  I arrived at my hotel to be greeted with yet another welcome drink.  I was liking this country already! The hotel was in a town called Ubud.  It’s in central Bali among the rain forest. It’s called the Hotel Tjampuhan and I would highly recommend it.  There are wonderful bungalows located throughout the property that can accommodate families, couples or singles. The lobby is open air and the plants and flowers are in abundance.  There are two swimming pools on the property, a restaurant, several out door bars and of course decorated temples everywhere.  The best feature of the hotel is the Spa, which is built out of carved stone.  It overlooks a river and the rain forest.  Not only are the accommodations incredibly inexpensive in Bali, but all the amenities are as well.  I had a Balinese Spa treatment for 2 hours at the cost of $35. Needless to say, it was fantastic! By the way, the cost of my bungalow was about $70/night!

The next day, somewhat dazed and confused with the time change, I ventured out and walked the town of Ubud.  The shops were great, lots of locally hand made things from clothing, to jewelry, woodcarvings, hand made shadow puppets, masks, kites, and on and on.  The Balinese are very talented and resourceful people.  The majority of the people are of Hindu belief, and there are spectacular temples located throughout the island, definitely worth seeing.  There is always a celebration or offering of some type going on within the community as well as the homes of the people of Bali. Typically these offerings are small but extremely significant within the culture.  It’s worth noting here that Bali thrives on tourism, solely.  Unfortunately, in light of all that’s happened over the past year and several months, they are truly suffering as a result of the loss of tourism in their economy. If you can get there, you will be pleasantly surprised at how little everything costs and how far your money will go, even in ‘good’ times.  Although we did not dive in Bali, I’m told some of the best diving in Indonesia can be reached from Bali.  So it’s well worth looking into to experience the culture, history, peacefulness and of course DIVING!

Once John, his wife and sister arrived 2 days later, we rented a jeep and toured the island. Beware though, driving is on the ‘other side’ as we say.  I decided to leave the driving to John!  Those of you who’ve had the pleasure of my driving, might agree that was a good decision on my part :O). We visited several temples, a monkey forest, rice paddies, and remote villages. We observed several celebratory offerings being prepared and celebrated.  One note to the ‘gentlemen’, be prepared to wear a sarong when entering any of the sacred temples.  Men and women are required to wear them.  They are standard temple offering dress for the local men.  Another ‘must see’ in Bali is their Barong Dance.  It’s a traditional story told in costume, along with Balinese music. Men and woman are taught at a very young age how to dance the Barong.  There are different versions of this story, some told without the Balinese music, but just dance and chanting. Never the less, worth catching if you go.

Oh and by the way, Singapore Airlines never gave up searching for and successfully retrieving my dive gear within a day after my arrival into Bali.  They even delivered it right to my bungalow doorstep!

But I know what you’re really waiting to read about :O)  On April 8th we made our way back to the airport where Crispin Jones, the Sales Administration Mgr from Wakatobi, greeted us.  There would be 16 guests flying to Wakatobi for 14 days of diving.  The resort can accommodate up to 24 so we were in luck to have a lot of ‘extra’ room, as we’d soon learn.  The plane is both large and comfortable, considering where it has to land.  I think it holds about 30 or so people, with 2 seats, the aisle and 2 more seats across.  The trip takes about 2½ to 3 hours from Bali to the dive resort.  This is a good thing because prior to acquiring the airplane and building the airstrip, it was a 28-hour boat ride!  Wakatobi has been described as being “hidden in the midst of a remote island archipelago known as Tukang Besi,” which is North East of Bali. 

The plane lands on a single runway that was built by Lorenz Mader, the owner of the Wakatobi Dive Resort.  Small vans shuttle you to the Wakatobi dive boats, and from there it’s about a 20-minute boat ride to the dive resort.  As the boat approaches the island and the resort, you know you’ve arrived in ‘Paradise’.  The water is crystal clear, aquamarine, and all you can see is sparkling white sand in front of several bungalows, along with the main house just beyond the resort jetty.  Your luggage is brought over on another boat soon after your arrival at Wakatobi.  To cut to the chase, you arrive on the island around 12-1pm.  You have lunch around 1:30-2pm, meanwhile dive certifications are being validated, and you are in the water by 3-3:30pm, for the first of many spectacular dives at Wakatobi.

After a brief check out dive (be prepared to do a mask removal drill, and an out of air drill), you’re on your way to exploring your first dive on House Reef. It’s breathtaking and all you can think about is how worth it the long journey to get there really was, to be in that moment.  Not to mention the fact that you have 13, count them, 13 more days of paradise above and below the water!  Could you have died and gone to dive heaven? Is this really real?  

If you decide to go to ‘Paradise’, I highly recommend arriving several days prior to your stay at Wakatobi.  Take the time not only to enjoy all that Bali has to offer, but to get acclimated to the time change, climate and peacefulness that await you on the other side of the world. It’s definitely worth it!

Currently, the resort can provide accommodations for 24 people.  There are 6 bungalows and the Long House.  There are several rooms located on the second floor of the Long House that sleep 2 guests to a room.  On the first floor there are both Men’s and Women’s rooms equipped with showers and toilets.  Since the resort was not completely full I decided to move into the last vacant bungalow after the first week.  I was pleasantly surprised as the bungalow allows for a bit more privacy and you really feel like you’re on a deserted island.  All rooms have nets over the beds.  The bungalows have a mini bar, coffee and tea available 24 hours.  The best part about the bungalows is that they are located as close to the beach as one possibly could be.  The sunsets are magnificent as the resort conveniently faces the West.  If you enjoy stargazing, there is no better place.  The Southern Hemisphere sky is illuminated with ‘lights’ everywhere you look.  The best part is there’s absolutely nothing to get in the way of nature’s brightness.  The bungalows are well worth the ‘extra’ money.  Of course if you go with that ‘special someone’, a bungalow is a must. :O) But enough of the mushy stuff!  Let’s go diving!

The policy at Wakatobi is: you can dive anytime day or night, as long as you’re with a buddy.  There is ALWAYS a full scuba tank at your disposal. The standard tanks are aluminum 80’s but they have some larger ones, and din valves are available as well.  We were told that Nitrox would be available shortly.  Each diver is assigned a gear basket with a number on it, which is kept in an area along with wetsuit racks and hangers.  The numbers are how the FANTASTIC dive staff keeps track of what gear belongs to what person. You’ll see the importance of that point later.  

There is a very good sized camera gear room available to anyone as well.  Slide processing is available for $10/36 roll.  As I write this article the resort is in the process of expanding the photo facility, which includes none other than Mr. Steve Fish, the resident professional photo guru. (Yes his last name really is Fish!)  His talent is not to be believed! You can check out much of his work on the Wakatobi website. 

There are 3 very good size rinse tanks available 24 hours for rinsing all types of gear.  There is a white board that is used for indicating when, where, you and your buddy are either shore diving or ‘taxi’ diving, as well as when you return from your dive.  Each morning, you can also find a brief description of where the boat dives will be for that day on the boards.  There is always a ‘taxi’ boat and crew at your disposal to drop divers off and if need be, depending on the current, pick them back up from any of the nearby reefs.  Anyone can do as much or as little diving as they prefer, keeping in mind the repetitive diving safety limits. Worth noting is the fact that the nearest chamber is 200 miles away.  

A typical dive day at Wakatobi would go something like this: You rise around 6:30am; by 7:15 at the latest you will have heard the breakfast ‘gong’ being rung.  All meals are served in the Long House, which is an open air, wood and thatched building.  On or around 7:45am you will hear the dive briefing ‘gong’.  Prior to every dive, a briefing is provided by one of the dive guides as to what the day’s boat dives will be.  A minimum of 2 boat dives per day are scheduled, often 3.  Shore diving is unlimited and worth the price of admission, but I’ll get to that later.  We did boat night dives as well as shore night dives, again as often or not as we preferred.  Immediately following the dive briefing we board the dive boat, typically around 8-8:15am.  Lo and behold, our gear baskets are on the boat along with the ‘style’ tank we’ve indicated we’d like to use for the duration of our stay.  It’s a good idea to ‘ready’ the tanks while the boat is steaming out, as is the case with most boat diving.  Then it’s time to relax, take in the beauty and remoteness of it all, and get to know your fellow divers from all over the world.  Most dive sites are within 20 minutes to half an hour, some were a bit further.  The currents in this part of the Indo Pacific have minds of their own!  It’s not unusual for the current to change direction, speed, up, down, and at different depths, all bets are off on a given dive.  The dive operation does require that all divers carry a sausage and believe me, “the sausage can be your friend” in that part of the world.  Having said that, you can also be on an incredibly calm dive with current non-existent, so anything is possible.

Pristine and diverse, diverse, diverse! Did I mention the marine life DIVERSITY? There is so much marine life and color to take in on any given dive that it’s extremely difficult to know where to begin to describe it all.  On House Reef alone, which is located at the end of the Wakatobi jetty, you can find turtles, batfish, crocodile fish, scorpion fish, ghost pipe fish, sea snakes, nudibranchs, leaf fish, frog fish, and on and on.  Typical wall dives consist of massive coral colonies, an abundance of reef fish, and rainbow-colored soft corals everywhere.  Sponges, gorgonians, multi-colored crinoids, bubble coral.  I saw many critters for the first time in this part of the world. The squat lobster, a type of crab that makes its home within the crinoid’s arms and steals plankton food from its host.  The Pigmy seahorse, which is incredibly small, and lives among the branches of a certain species of gorgonian.  These were the tiniest critters I’ve ever observed underwater.  Their surface texture blends in perfectly with the polyp structure of the gorgonian.  One literally needs a magnifying glass to see them; standard ‘dive gear’ in that neck of the woods!

The pristine reefs at Wakatobi are magnificent for wide angle and macro photography.  Photographers’ dive fantasies come true, every dive!  If ‘it’ exists, you’ll see it at Wakatobi! Boat dives are limited to 75 minutes so that everyone can enjoy the time above and below the water.  In my 14-day stay, I logged 43 dives and 40 rolls of 36 exposure slide film!  I also had the opportunity to be diving over the course of a full moon.  It’s incredible what happens to so much of the marine life during this time.  Triggerfish were nesting and ‘attacking’ if anything came within range of their nests.  Clown and anemone fish were protecting their newly laid eggs and did not hesitate to ‘snap’ at a perceived threat.  You could hear the clicking sounds that they make when threatened.  Not to mention the fact that they become fearless of a framer, which made Nikonos photo opportunities quite challenging. 

After the second boat dive, we would return to the resort to a hearty lunch, typically around 1:30 or so.  The afternoon would be open for either a 3rd boat dive, unlimited shore diving, or just relaxing among the serenity of it all until dinner, which would be served around 7:30pm.  This time would allow for a dusk/night dive before dinner, as well as an evening night dive after dinner. We also had the opportunity to rise really early and take advantage of some great dawn diving as well. 

One of my most memorable dives was on the evening of April 10th.  My Swiss dive buddies and I planned on diving House Reef and celebrating my birthday underwater at midnight.  What we hadn’t planned on was the ripping current that evening on the reef.  But the good news was it was going in exactly the right direction to drop us just down the beach a ways from the resort.  We entered the water about 11:15pm and did one heck of a night drift dive.  We found a gully that gave us shelter from the current just in time for our midnight celebration.  I was signaled to turn my light off and turn around, so I did.  Meanwhile, as midnight approached, my buddies lit several glow sticks and began singing Happy Birthday underwater.  I turned around and there was a huge slate with birthday wishes written all over it, shining by way of the glow sticks.  After a few laughs and some underwater hugs I thought to myself “this has got to be one of the best birthdays I’ve ever had so far!”  We made our way back to shore only to have a shore crew waiting to take our tanks and gear back to the resort.  We showered and continued our celebration on our bungalow porch with champagne, appetizers that the chef helped whip up and lots of birthday goodies.  Complete with an orange with a birthday candle glowing in it for me to make a wish upon.  After a few hours sleep, I awoke and proceeded to do 3 more spectacular reef ‘birthday’ dives, followed by a special birthday dinner and a huge 6-layer cake that the chef had made.  It was packed with 40 something candles that would not blow out. (Very funny John!)

We also had the opportunity to celebrate Easter at Wakatobi. The crew had planned an all day boat trip to an uninhabited island about 2 hours away.  The plan was to do our dives on a nearby reef, have a surface interval picnic on the island, and then do some exploring.  Complete with an Easter egg hunt as well!  Unfortunately, as we were steaming out further and further from the resort, the weather was taking a turn for the worse and the swells were growing larger and larger.  Heck, we New Englanders are certainly used to 3-5 foot seas, so what was the big deal? (ha,ha.)  The Captain made the decision to turn around and we decided to dive one of our many local reefs that we’d previously enjoyed diving.  One thing to note: Although the crew has a GPS with all of their dive sites programmed, there are no channel markers to follow and certainly no ‘marine forecast’ stations to obtain sea conditions from.  In fact, I found it quite remarkable just how well these guys know every inch of the waters and reef systems. They are excellent navigators both day and night.  It wasn’t uncommon for a torrential rainstorm to pass through the area, but right behind it there were always blue skies and sunshine.  All in all, it ended up being a great Easter Sunday, complete with decorated Easter Eggs even if we didn’t get to hunt for them!

I think part of what makes Wakatobi such an incredible ‘Paradise’, is the approach that its founder, Lorenz Mader has taken to its continued preservation.  For almost a year, Lorenz explored the remote islands and reefs of the Wakatobi archipelago looking for a combination of island serenity and unspoiled reefs.  In 1994 he came upon the island of Tomia, the paradise he’d dreamed of.  With the consent of the son of the last Sultan of the island, he set out to make a contribution to marine conservation in a rather unique and challenging way.  Lorenz shared his dream of replacing reef fishing and destruction with preservation, and re-occurring revenue through world class diving.  “Take only pictures, leave only foot prints in the sand, and bubbles in the water.”  The land on which both the airstrip and the resort are located is leased from the island community.  The resort employees are all local island inhabitants.  The business is a ‘shared’ proposition with a win-win for all.  There is an agreed upon and imposed penalty if a fisherman is observed fishing on any of the designated reefs.  Lorenz is Counselor to the Wakatobi Foundation, advisor to the Indonesian Marine Park Development program and consultant for other startup dive companies and marine conservation agencies worldwide.  He’s really got the right reef protection idea! 

Sadly enough, on day 14 it was time to say good-bye to ‘Paradise’.  Luggage was loaded onto boats and ferried over to the airstrip around 8am or so, depending upon the tide.  We ate breakfast, exchanged email information with our new found dive buddies and sadly boarded the boats to take us back to the airstrip for our noon departure for Bali.  The plane arrived, unloaded the next lucky group of ‘Wakatobians’, and we boarded the plane and waved goodbye to Paradise from the air.

Upon arrival into Bali, I said my good-byes to my friends and headed over to the Grand Bali Beach Hotel for 2 more evenings, one more day in Bali.  The hotel was very nice, with several options for room types.  Again, prices very reasonable.  I had a room on the 7th floor with a great balcony that overlooked 2 pools and the ocean.  They also have individual cottages, which unfortunately at the time, were closed due to lack of tourists.  The property itself is quite large and is located on Sunur Beach.  Within walking distance along the beach were all kinds of shops and restaurants.  I chose to wind down and spend my last full day relaxing on the beach and reliving the spectacular diving I’d just done the past 14 days.

On the morning of April 24th, I headed to the airport to begin my long journey homeward. It was really difficult saying good-bye to Bali after having been there for almost a month.  I’d forgotten that I had a life anywhere else but there.  Twenty-four days of total relaxation, peacefulness, and serenity.  For the first time in my life I had literally experienced the feeling of “no worries”. 

Upon an extensive departure delay in Bali on my way to Singapore, it was decided that my flight would be cancelled due to mechanical problems with the plane.  Naturally, this concerned me because I had several connections to go before I would be back home in Boston.  Once again, Singapore Airlines came through with flying colors.  They put me on another airline, and flew me directly to Taipei so that I would not miss my connection on to LA.  The really fun part about that leg of the journey was that I was the only person in Business Class the entire way from Bali to Taipei.  There were 12 seats, 11 of which were unoccupied.  Talk about feeling like you own the plane! Needless to say, the service was superb!

On April 25th, 9:30am local time, I touched back down in Boston, successfully retrieved all my luggage, and headed home.

Most people that know me know that typically I don’t like to go ‘back’ to a destination I’ve previously been to.  Rather, I enjoy exploring new and different dive destinations.  So when asked if I’d go back to Wakatobi I’m torn.  The reason being is that both Bali and Wakatobi are truly the most remote, magnificent, peaceful places that I’ve ever been to in my life both above and below the water.  It’s pretty hard to say ‘no thank you’ to that!  Besides, Lorenz offers a discount to repeat customers.  So I ask you, is that irresistible or what?

I highly recommend taking a look at: www.wakatobi.com, but beware; you WILL be hooked if you do.  So 40 rolls of underwater slides, and 1000 digital images above water later, I have memories of a dive trip of a life-time.  I look back now and think of what I’d have missed if I hadn’t followed my heart among all the turbulence and sadness that was going on in our world at the time.  For me, after much reflection prior to my journey, it was the right thing to do, at the right time.  I’ve learned more recently to listen to my gut and appreciate the present now more so than ever, for none of us knows what the future may hold. 

There’s still much beauty to behold underwater all over this world. Wakatobi, hands down, is at the top of my diving list!

PS: There are two things to keep in mind about Wakatobi.  If you’re looking for ‘big’ critters it’s not really the place to go.  Although on occasion whale sharks and various other larger than life critters are known to have been spotted.  Also keep in mind that there is absolutely NOTHING else on the island besides the dive resort and the natives.  No nightlife, restaurants, shops, etc.  The real beauty of the island is that those places don’t exist.  If that’s a requirement of your stay, my recommendation would be to visit and dive from Bali.  Beware though, you haven’t found ‘Paradise’ unless you spend some time taking in Tomia Island and the Wakatobi Dive Resort.

Happy and safe diving!