Spoiler alert – we’re back on the boat! It’s been a long time coming and we’ve had to run the gauntlet of Australian and Indonesian bureaucracies in order to get here, but I can’t tell you how glad we are to be reunited with Toucan again.
Continue reading “The Gauntlet”Living in Limbo Land
I know, it’s been a long time between blogs. Almost six months to be precise. I’ve made several attempts to start writing, but each time I’ve come up smack bang against the mental wall of denial and disbelief. It’s been too hard to put the reality of the situation down on paper. But…as they say, it is what it is.
Continue reading “Living in Limbo Land”Jellies Galore!
Our final challenge in Misool is to find the famous but elusive jellyfish lake. It’s mentioned in some of the cruising and tourist guides but without exact directions it’s like finding a needle in a haystack. All we know is that the lake is full of harmless, sting-less jellyfish and that it’s possible to snorkel with them. To be honest, I’m not too excited about this – my initial reaction is more “ewww” than “aww”, but Carol’s keen and we’re always up for a new adventure, so let’s go!
Continue reading “Jellies Galore!”Love Is In The Air – Misool
We’re on the hunt for the ‘Lurrve Lake’ – we know it’s around here somewhere but no-one’s been able to give us exact directions. So we leave Kalig and head for the island of Segaf where we think there might be a homestay to point us in the right direction.
Continue reading “Love Is In The Air – Misool”Dive, Dive, Dive! – Misool, Raja Ampat
We’re having the time of our lives diving here in Misool. Every day we explore a new dive site and discover more underwater delights. Mostly these are wall dives or submerged reefs with masses of soft corals and fans. Sometimes there’s so much to see it’s almost overwhelming knowing where to focus the camera, and unfortunately without a wide angle lens we can’t get the big panorama shots (it’s on our wish list!). We’re still trying to improve on our photography skills, but we’re doing our best to document what we can of this unique and amazing subterranean world.
Continue reading “Dive, Dive, Dive! – Misool, Raja Ampat”River Deep, Mountain High – Balbulol, Misool
Balbulol – hard to pronounce, but a place to fall in love with. Bruce jokingly calls it Babylon but he’s not far off the mark. Like the famous hanging gardens, an astonishing array of vegetation clings tenaciously to the sheer rock faces, even palm trees defy the logic of growing here, sprouting from the tops of islands like rebellious teenagers. This ribbon of islands runs southeast from Misool and geologically speaking the area is very similar to northern Raja Ampat – hundreds of limestone karst islands and volcanic rocks rising vertically out of the ocean from the depths below.
Continue reading “River Deep, Mountain High – Balbulol, Misool”