The boat had Starlink, and it was reasonably fast, but they had to cap the amount of network we used. So I waited to upload until now. Sitting in the airport in Hong Kong on my way home.
The trip started as many trips start. With a problem. The zipper on my luggage broke! It was just one of the zippers, the other one still worked, so I didn’t have to do any emergency shopping. The bag has definitely been through more than it’s designed for. Most luggage is too heavy — this one worked great, but the lack of weight came at a durability expense.
The boat looked just like it’s pictures! I came to find out it’s a pretty high-end, luxury liveaboard. I’ve been spoiled on my first trip. Any other liveaboard trip is going to take some expectation resetting.
We immediately got underway and went to a place nearby where the locals fed whale sharks. I’ve never seen one before. They go to Kenya a lot, but never at the times I had been there. (Yeah, the divemaster makes for a good size reference in the photo, but he’s too close. They call them puppy-like because they’re gentle and curious. But they’re still BIG!)
If you got bored of them, you could always check out the garbage. 🤦♂️
This group differed greatly from the other group I’ve gone with. This trip had far fewer “big things” — even fish weren’t swimming around us all the time. They were interested in small critters and the reef. Good reason too: the reef was so much more alive than the Caribbean! We saw some huge, healthy sponges throughout the dives.
Lots of little critters! Thank goodness for my time in the Philippines where I learned how to use my flashlight to take decent photos. My strobe continued to fail. (I got busy and forgot to get it serviced, or buy a new one, before this trip.)
Still a few larger things. The others could take better photos of these (they didn’t want to, but they could) because they had cameras not too different from mine, but with working strobes.
We each had a station with a fish-y name attached to us. Mine was very fitting. I do love a cuttlefish!
For all of the trip there were no other liveaboards, no dive centers, no divers at all except for the 12 of us. It was so much more relaxing than busy dive locations where you’re fighting for position (looking at you, Phuket!). The team on the boat works hard to keep it like that. And I could spend the morning mostly alone on the top deck just enjoying the views.
Of course it had to end. Finally to a busy harbor. I headed home. The others moved on to a nearby dive center for another week. They were going “muck diving” — no reefs, just sandy bottom and lots of little things to find and photograph.
Our path was fairly straightforward, starting from Gorontalo and ending in Bitung keeping mostly to the Gulf of Tomini.
I’ll definitely go back on this ship and with this group! Now I just have to figure out how to do two dive trips a year…
Travel 