Diving...Bunaken Island off the north side of northern Sulawesi.
First, keep in mind that I have only ever been diving in Anguilla. Certified there about 4 years ago. Never been diving anywhere else. Hardly ever done even two dives in one day since as locals we go out at 9a and are back home by 11a to go about our day. The thought of diving 13 times in 4 days was daunting. But that's what tourists do.
Furthermore, dives in Anguilla can be coral reef dives that tend towards about 60ft maximum depth just working along the reef or wreck dives that drop to about 70 feet, work around the flat, and then ascend straight up again.
Bunaken has walls. On the first dive the current was strong enough that the drift seemed to take us past the reef as if we were in a car barreling down the road. The second wall dive found me at 89feet before I decided I didn't need to follow everyone else down to 100 ft to see a turtle. I see turtles all the time. I was willing to wait.
That said, the diving is spectacular. Michael sees pictures from dives in Anguilla and says, "wow, is that what it looks like!" And I say, "not even close". The camera flash introduces the light spectrum at depth that does not naturally filter its way all the way down for the naked eye. Much like the northern lights look better?/ different through the camera lens.
That said, this time when we looked at jaeson's pictures, I said, "here it looks every bit as stunning as that and in fact it seems even more colorful". I imagine that is because I am seeing more at one time than the picture so the amount of color was overwhelming.
That said, here is a wee sample:
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