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Wakatobi trip report
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Elliott Goldstein
Mar 30, 2009, 4:44:54 PM3/30/09
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Wakatobi Trip Report
My wife and I recently returned from Wakatobi in far eastern Indonesia,
and I thought I would share the trip with everyone. We let Sayang Travel
organize the trip for us. They were recommended by the resort and were
excellent. We discovered that travel into the pacific is different from
all other travel. We couldn’t match the prices on our own. This was the
best diving I have ever done (compared with Red Sea, Cozumel and Caymans).
We flew over on Singapore Air from L.A., coach, of course, which meant
going through Narita Japan. I have heard people complain about Singapore
Air, but it was the best flight we have ever taken- comfortable seats,
great food. The 17 hour trip was really long. Narita Airport was not one
of my favorites. We arrived in Singapore at ~ midnight and had a transit
hotel room in the airport ready for us. It is the first time that I have
rented a hotel by the hour; you rent for 6 hour blocks. It wasn’t very
expensive but worth it just to take a quick shower and lie on a bed for
a few hours. Right downstairs was a Starbucks that had chocolate
croissants. We were in heaven.
We had a midmorning flight to Bali. The Wakatobi rep met at the airport,
got our luggage, got our visas and gave us (2 couples) a quick briefing.
There is an overnight in Bali before going on to the resort. He made
sure we were all set with a taxi to our resort for the night.
The next morning we all met at the airport, in the VIP lounge, for a
longer briefing. There were 7 of us all together, including 2 wives who
were not divers.
I’ll say it here, the rep told us if there is anything we don’t like, to
speak up and they will fix it. They have had some bad press in the past.
We boarded a charter flight. Because there were so few of us, they
doubled up and dropped some people off on Komodo Island. That was a nice
side trip for 15 minutes. We all looked for dragons, but didn’t see any.
We arrived at the airfield on the island next to the Wakatobi resort.
Five minutes later it was pouring. We took a couple of taxis into town
(more about that at the end). They handled our luggage and we boarded
the shuttle to the resort (the shuttle was one of their big dive boats).
It poured and the wind was coming up.
We got to the resort; our suitcases were waiting for us at our cottage
and we settled in. And it poured. Only people who have gone through a
hurricane can really understand that. By dinner time we waded down the
path to the lodge in a foot of water. High tide, on-shore winds and
pouring rain breached the retaining wall and contributed to the worst
flooding in 20 years. Everything is built on stilts so it was not a
problem for the buildings. We swam back to our cottage after a fantastic
meal. Their chefs were amazing. We always ordered diner from a menu.
Breakfast and lunch was buffet style. (I do like good food.)
By the next morning the water was mostly gone, the sun was out; the
weather was beautiful; we didn’t see rain again until the end of our 10
days, after our last dive. They did move us (twice) to a new cottage a
little further inland. The phone line were out but the satellite
internet connection still worked (slowly).
Diving
We had 9 days of the most incredible diving that I have done (they
scrubbed the intro dive on our arrival). We went to 18 reefs (I only did
the morning dives, not afternoon) scatted around within about 10-30
minutes of the resort. The dive boat was large and comfortable. There
only 5 divers with 2 dive guides. The guides were a little different
than in most places. Their only job was to guide and find critters for
us to photograph. They were really super at it. I never saw nudibranches
before (I don’t usually do macro).
Every reef was incredibly healthy with both hard and soft coral and many
large schools of fish. The only thing missing were really large fish. We
never saw a shark or manta. I have been to places where one reef will
match that, but here, every single one did. I had a brand new camera. I
finally gave my wife my old Sony P7 and bought a Sony W300, partly
because it had underwater scene selection. I took 850 pictures, only a
handful were blown. I quickly cut that down to ~400 decent ones. It was
agony cutting down to the best 90. I will post the pics on my web site
soon; I need my son in law to help me.
The camera was good, I got better towards the end. On the old camera, I
had a pink filter (but no strobes), but I don’t on this one. The shallow
water pics were great and needed very little editing. The deeper that I
went, the more editing that I needed. Overall, I was pleased with the
camera. All I want is a point and shoot. I can’t run through a menu
underwater and remember to breath at the same time.
Finally, it was over. As we were getting ready to leave, I worried a
little about a story that I heard about climbing stairs and hauling our
luggage up to the runway. My wife could never do that. I mentioned that
to a couple of staff and they took us back through town and put us in
taxis- no problem. That town was an eye opener. A very poor little
fishing village. Maybe a dollar a day income per family. We have seen
some poverty areas, but this was at the extreme end.
We flew back to Bali and again the rep met us at the airport to make
sure we all made our connections. We were staying in Bali for an extra
week Sayang made all the arrangements for us (one of the cheapest
vacation weeks we have ever had- and one of the best). The rep made sure
we hooked up with our travel guide.
This is getting long so I will summarize here. Bali is truly an
enchanted and beautiful island with wonderful people and great food. We
wanted to see the whole island (it is not that large) and so they booked
4 resorts in 4 different areas. The best was in the town of Ubud in sort
of central Bali. We had our own guide and driver (and car, of course).
I hope you enjoyed this report.
Elliott
My wife and I recently returned from Wakatobi in far eastern Indonesia,
and I thought I would share the trip with everyone. We let Sayang Travel
organize the trip for us. They were recommended by the resort and were
excellent. We discovered that travel into the pacific is different from
all other travel. We couldn’t match the prices on our own. This was the
best diving I have ever done (compared with Red Sea, Cozumel and Caymans).
We flew over on Singapore Air from L.A., coach, of course, which meant
going through Narita Japan. I have heard people complain about Singapore
Air, but it was the best flight we have ever taken- comfortable seats,
great food. The 17 hour trip was really long. Narita Airport was not one
of my favorites. We arrived in Singapore at ~ midnight and had a transit
hotel room in the airport ready for us. It is the first time that I have
rented a hotel by the hour; you rent for 6 hour blocks. It wasn’t very
expensive but worth it just to take a quick shower and lie on a bed for
a few hours. Right downstairs was a Starbucks that had chocolate
croissants. We were in heaven.
We had a midmorning flight to Bali. The Wakatobi rep met at the airport,
got our luggage, got our visas and gave us (2 couples) a quick briefing.
There is an overnight in Bali before going on to the resort. He made
sure we were all set with a taxi to our resort for the night.
The next morning we all met at the airport, in the VIP lounge, for a
longer briefing. There were 7 of us all together, including 2 wives who
were not divers.
I’ll say it here, the rep told us if there is anything we don’t like, to
speak up and they will fix it. They have had some bad press in the past.
We boarded a charter flight. Because there were so few of us, they
doubled up and dropped some people off on Komodo Island. That was a nice
side trip for 15 minutes. We all looked for dragons, but didn’t see any.
We arrived at the airfield on the island next to the Wakatobi resort.
Five minutes later it was pouring. We took a couple of taxis into town
(more about that at the end). They handled our luggage and we boarded
the shuttle to the resort (the shuttle was one of their big dive boats).
It poured and the wind was coming up.
We got to the resort; our suitcases were waiting for us at our cottage
and we settled in. And it poured. Only people who have gone through a
hurricane can really understand that. By dinner time we waded down the
path to the lodge in a foot of water. High tide, on-shore winds and
pouring rain breached the retaining wall and contributed to the worst
flooding in 20 years. Everything is built on stilts so it was not a
problem for the buildings. We swam back to our cottage after a fantastic
meal. Their chefs were amazing. We always ordered diner from a menu.
Breakfast and lunch was buffet style. (I do like good food.)
By the next morning the water was mostly gone, the sun was out; the
weather was beautiful; we didn’t see rain again until the end of our 10
days, after our last dive. They did move us (twice) to a new cottage a
little further inland. The phone line were out but the satellite
internet connection still worked (slowly).
Diving
We had 9 days of the most incredible diving that I have done (they
scrubbed the intro dive on our arrival). We went to 18 reefs (I only did
the morning dives, not afternoon) scatted around within about 10-30
minutes of the resort. The dive boat was large and comfortable. There
only 5 divers with 2 dive guides. The guides were a little different
than in most places. Their only job was to guide and find critters for
us to photograph. They were really super at it. I never saw nudibranches
before (I don’t usually do macro).
Every reef was incredibly healthy with both hard and soft coral and many
large schools of fish. The only thing missing were really large fish. We
never saw a shark or manta. I have been to places where one reef will
match that, but here, every single one did. I had a brand new camera. I
finally gave my wife my old Sony P7 and bought a Sony W300, partly
because it had underwater scene selection. I took 850 pictures, only a
handful were blown. I quickly cut that down to ~400 decent ones. It was
agony cutting down to the best 90. I will post the pics on my web site
soon; I need my son in law to help me.
The camera was good, I got better towards the end. On the old camera, I
had a pink filter (but no strobes), but I don’t on this one. The shallow
water pics were great and needed very little editing. The deeper that I
went, the more editing that I needed. Overall, I was pleased with the
camera. All I want is a point and shoot. I can’t run through a menu
underwater and remember to breath at the same time.
Finally, it was over. As we were getting ready to leave, I worried a
little about a story that I heard about climbing stairs and hauling our
luggage up to the runway. My wife could never do that. I mentioned that
to a couple of staff and they took us back through town and put us in
taxis- no problem. That town was an eye opener. A very poor little
fishing village. Maybe a dollar a day income per family. We have seen
some poverty areas, but this was at the extreme end.
We flew back to Bali and again the rep met us at the airport to make
sure we all made our connections. We were staying in Bali for an extra
week Sayang made all the arrangements for us (one of the cheapest
vacation weeks we have ever had- and one of the best). The rep made sure
we hooked up with our travel guide.
This is getting long so I will summarize here. Bali is truly an
enchanted and beautiful island with wonderful people and great food. We
wanted to see the whole island (it is not that large) and so they booked
4 resorts in 4 different areas. The best was in the town of Ubud in sort
of central Bali. We had our own guide and driver (and car, of course).
I hope you enjoyed this report.
Elliott
Greg Mossman
Mar 30, 2009, 6:25:23 PM3/30/09
to
On Mar 30, 1:44 pm, Elliott Goldstein <e.goldst...@asu.edu> wrote:
> I hope you enjoyed this report.
I did. I've been eyeballing Wakatobi for years and have decided to
finally grace it with my presence on my very next Western Pacific dive
trip whenever that might be (hopefully in 2010). I already know the
diving will be superb, but your positive comments on the food made my
choice even more a no-brainer.
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