After pounding into a head sea all through the night and into the early morning, we finally arrived in Sulawesi around 10.30am; I think we were all happy to get out of the weather and finally spend more than a couple of seconds at a time ‘level’!

Entering the Lembeh Strait we were quickly hemmed in on both sides by beautiful green hills densely cloaked in rainforest and coconut palms, and fronted by narrow volcanic black-sand beaches, quite unlike anything we had seen in PNG or the Philippines.

Almost as soon as we had dropped anchor we were approached by an Indonesian police patrol-boat, and soon after began the now familiar procedure of customs and immigration formalities, which always seems to involve an amazing number of officials, questions, and stacks of paperwork! Unlike previous times, immigration took all our passports with them this time to get stamped onshore, so we are hoping they are returned to us shortly and that none get mislaid! The police patrol seemed to think STARSHIP would make a good base for them to hang out and keep an eye on passing boat traffic, but eventually they too left and we could get on with our first day in Indonesia. Of course STARSHIP was in bad need of a wash-down after such a rough passage, and was crusty with salt from radar dome to waterline, so that was first on the agenda.

Kungkungan Resort.

After brunch Michael, DJ, Lasse and I went ashore to meet the managers of Kungkungan Bay Resort (http://www.kungkungan.com), Kevin and Valerie Tear and Linda Tukunang. Kungkungan means ‘protected’ and the resort is certainly set in a beautiful and protected part of the Lembeh strait, an area that is world renowned for its fantastic ‘critter diving’…which we hope to begin experiencing tonight with a dusk dive. Some of the species that Kevin and Valerie assured us can be seen here include Flamboyant cuttlefish, Mimic octopus, Ghost pipefish, Ambon Scorpionfish, and nine different species of Frogfish!

As well as a huge diversity of creatures underwater, this area is also home to some interesting terrestrial species in nearby Tangkoko Park; the engaging Tarsier, the world’s smallest primate, a tiny furry mammal with a prehensile tail and monstrous eyes; troupes of Black macaque monkeys, Cous-cous, (another arboreal mammal), and many bird species including the bizarre Hornbill. The highlands areas surrounding the Lembeh Strait are largely volcanic, and there are also several natural hot-springs, so it will be interesting to explore!

Bitung Harbour.

After our visit to the resort we took a quick spin down the harbour to Bitung, the port town closer to the south end of the Strait, and site of the local markets we are hoping to visit tomorrow. There was an amazing number of boats in the harbour, often stacked four and five deep out from the docks so that the ‘shore’ was not even visible! Many were high-sterned wooden schooners; some were rusty steel fishing vessels, and all were crowded with friendly Indonesian fishermen smiling and waving out to us. The waters around these vessels were a maze of submerged lines criss-crossing one another, and I cant imagine how those boats closest to the dock could ever get out!

Wilson Serang, Iwan Paraeng, Linda Tukunang, Kevin & Valerie Tear.
The crew of Kungkungan Resort.

Back at STARSHIP we had Kevin and Valerie onboard for a guided tour of the boat, and then it was a quick scramble to fill tanks and get the dive gear and cameras ready for our night dive…which I will tell you about tomorrow!

Adios until then,

Diver Dave