Froggies Sept 2004
on 15/09/2004

(Click on thumbs for larger image)

I was eventually harassed to leave the Scottish waters once more and head to warmer climes. Destination Froggies, Bunaken Island, Manado, Indonesia.

The journey there involved flying from Glasgow to Dubai, transferring to a flight to Singapore (via Colombo). We stayed a night in Singapore and had a great meal in the local Chinese market in Changi. Then the next day flew from Singapore to Manado, where we were met and taken by car to the local port. There we boarded one of the local boats which took us to Bunaken Island (appox 40 mins) where we were dropped of at the dive centre.

I wondered what we were getting into as we waded onshore with our baggage following us. We then met Christiane and chatted while we did the usual paperwork before being taken to our Hut.

	Froggies Dive Centre
Path from Centre to Hut	Our Hut 'Frog Fish'	View from the balcony
Our Balcony	Bedroom	Bathroom
Sunset	Relaxing At Froggies	Boarding the Dive Boats
Froggies	Local Fishing Boat	Local Village, Must have spent all the money on the church!

So we had our tour of the place and the 'interesting' bathroom, there is no fresh water on the island and hence it has to be brought over from the mainland. Subsequently there is no running water. The toilet is flushed using a bucket of water from a bin of Salt water. The 'Shower' is the rectangular tub of fresh water and a couple of buckets. The only way to shower effectively was to start a water fight!

The following day we headed out diving, we had 3 divers (Myself, Hazel and Harold who was from Amsterdam) on our boat, two dive guides a deck hand and skipper, so there was plenty of room to kit up. The kit had magically appeared on the boat and was setup on the cylinders for us. Once in the 27 degree water there was lots to see and Nicolas our dive guide did a great job of hunting down things for us to see and photograph.

We hardly bumped into any other divers throughout our time at froggies, there was the odd group though. Other than diving there isn't much to do on the island, we went for a wander to a local village (approx 40 min walk) after one of the dives, we eventually got to the village just in time to take a quick photo and then head back to Froggies before it got dark.

Hazel after our long walk

Another Dive Group. Glad I'm not on their boat

Local Gecko Great at keeping the Mossies in check

So what was the diving like? Around Froggies reminded me of the red sea with some spectacular drop offs. Here are some of the pictures I took :

	Nudibrachs (Slugs)
	Fisherman's Eyeballs	Feather Star
Hazel	Me
Harold	Mandarin Fish
Nemo!
	Shark!
	Mohican Anemone Fish

	Night Diving

On our fourth day we went on a liveaboard to the Lembeh Straits for three days. This involved a transfer to the boat which was already there, but which then traveled back to Froggies afterwards. Hence we got a chance to see bit Manado and the surrounding area. The boat 'CLOWN' can take six divers but there were only five of us and we were glad of the extra space. Gill and Paul who were on a round the world trip joined us.

Shark!	Strange mix of slums and technology
This is one corner on the main road through Manado!
	No Compressor on the liveaboard so we took 74 cylinders with us.

The Lembeh Straits reminds me of some of the Lochs around Scotland due to the sandy black slopes, however the critters are a wee bit different. The Flamboyant Cuttlefish was so bizarre I took a video clip . (WMV 424kb)

	Octopus	Stargazer
Octopus	Octopus	Octopus
Leaf fish
Hairy Frog Fish	Mantas Shrimp	Frog fish
		Cow Fish
	Ghost Pipefish
Pigmy Seahorse	Seahorse	Pigmy Seahorse
	Seahorse
	Frog Fish
	Snake Eel
Cuttlefish	Flamboyant Cuttlefish	Flamboyant Cuttlefish
		Harold
Big Crab
	Gill	Paul
	Jaws
		Batfish
Ghost Pipefish
	Pass the bucket
	I wouldn't like to see the other guy!
	Bearded Clam

	Lots and Lots of Nudibrachs (Slugs)

Once back Froggies we did a few more dives on the reefs :

Sleeping Dolphins	Lobster
Giant Clams	Mantas Shrimp	Garden Eels
	Nicholas (Our Guide)

After spending 9 days in a beach hut/onboard a boat, we really looked forward to our stay in Singapore. Stayed a couple of nights at the Stanford 5 star hotel in the middle of the city. We spent the days Shopping and the nights eating. I've not walked through as many shopping malls, and I'm sure there are plenty more to explore. The first night we ate at the restaurant at the top of our hotel (70th floor) with a stonking view over singapore, after which we went to the other extreme and used the food courts/street traders in the evenings.

			Shopping arrrrhhhh

Just the flights back and the jet lag to go after that.