Today is our first wedding anniversary. Honestly I had to check some document to remember the exact date (only remember it was a Saturday in end of July). But I do remember the day we got married – the sky was so blue. What better way to celebrate than jumping to the sea & partying with gorgeous reefs and thousand of fishes? Well at least I don’t have to cook them food and worry about awkward conversation ha ha…
The area called Timor – about 30 mins boat drive from our resort. After diving the day before – today we settle on snorkeling instead. I want to see whether I can take better picture if I don’t feel my life is threaten ha ha…
With my new camera that able to produce such vivid images and new underwater casing Ian got me for my birthday – I jumped without hesitation. And oh my God, it’s so gorgeous! Best corals I’ve ever saw so far. Thailand may have powdery beaches but in terms of corals – Bunaken is in totally different league.
In one sight, you can see at least 5 types of corals – sea fan, mushroom coral, leather coral, soft coral, fire coral, brain corals, plate corals, etc. And if you look at another direction, you can see another set of types, shapes and sizes! And it’s only like 1 meter deep or even less, so the sun shine right through. Not to mention the fishes! Gosh, so many different kinds! I even saw this pack of mini fishes that travel in a group consist of hundreds. Funny thing is when I pat the water, they scatter a bit away from each other – but next 2 seconds they converge again.
Interesting facts on Timor is that it’s shallow reef is side by side with this plunging vertical wall that goes like hundred meters deep. So when you’re swimming, it’s interesting to see the shallow on your right, and see this cliff on the left. And the corals at the edge of the cliff are surprisingly gigantic. The are seriously brain corals that’s 5 meters wide, or giant plate corals that’s 20 meters in diameter. And in the shallow area you’ll see the smaller version of the corals. And also in the cliff area, there are really lots of fishes that it look like rain of fishes. If you see my pictures and see lots of dots – that’s not necessary not focus images, but those are fishes!
I smile when I saw this fire coral with the shape of heart! Perfect decoration for this party. There are also a lot of corals that have different tone – up to 5 tones of colors! Interesting to see it side by side. But more crazy shapes also available. I see this coral that’s resembles baby hands giving the F sign ha ha ha (see picture!) I also see what I thought was sea flower or something. Very colorful red, yellow, blue – attached to a stone coral. But when I looked it up on my big book, it turns out those are Christmas Tree Worm! Worm man, worm! If you see my picture, I think most of you didn’t thought it was worm either.
Again, same like in other area of the Bunaken national park – the garbage issue is also feasible in Timor. It’s like drifted away from the Bunaken village or the big ships that crossing by. If you talked to local people, they tend to say the garbage comes from Manado – the capital of the province. But honestly, seeing the direction of the current, I don’t believe it’s 100% from the city. I bet most of them comes from local as well. It’s a pitty though that this gorgeous place doesn’t have a good waste management. (well, the island doesn’t even have electricity and fresh tap water). And more crazy facts, is that the local government is planning to build a ferry pier right next to Timor reefs! Man, you don’t have to be a genius to know that means the reefs in this area will be destroyed in a very short time… What a pitty.
And what better way to end the day then watch the sunset together. Well, at first the plan was watching SUNRISE together (cause in our honeymoon last year – we saw this most gorgeous sunrise ever). But as the resort is facing southwest – we can only see sunset. Hey but that’s not something to complain ^_^
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