Blogging on an iPad is not an easy matter because blogger on mobile devices is shit. I can't scroll up and down when I am editing my post and I can't edit the picture properties properly. The setting just wouldn't show up. Then I paid for an app called BlogTouch Pro. It's still shitty, because I can't edit the picture size too! I can put, I'll have to manually drag each picture to the wanted size but the resolution would be shit. Why isn't there anyone who is fixing this problem!??!? Pictures are crucial to a blog post, doesn't everybody know that? Ah gosh.
I'm always starting my blog with rants. I guess this is going to be a very frequent thing.
But anyway, at least I recovered my last post for food review. It seems like the copy still exist on my BlogTouch because it's not resyncing every time to blogger. So I kind of cheated it out. Missing a few things, but I removed the map all together. Don't want to bother about that embedded nightmare anymore. I'm so restricted on the iPad. Urgh. And you think being able to touch the screen around is going to be more intuitive but no. We need capable programmers (HIRE ME!!! I know what bloggers want).
I wonder if emojis shows up well on my blog. Let's see 🥘🌸👗👫💕😅
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Okay, enough monkeying around. I decided to blog it out first and find some other way to change the size of the pictures later on with a computer or so. I procrastinated too long to blog about my diving trip (one month flies by just like that).
Last year was our first diving trip together with Shy Bey and her colleagues. We met Priscilla, Harry, Richard and VC during the trip and bonded really well. Everyone is very fun to be around with so we decided to go again for another diving trip this year!
There's limited flights to Manado from Singapore and I think it's rather hard to find airlines that flies this route. We ended up taking SilkAir flight and it cost us like 500+SGD for a two-way ticket. IMO, not cheap. Not cheap at all but we're followers to the diving plan and we already said we would go, so Joey, suck it up and pay up (and I did... with a frown). It was an afternoon flight and our package includes transfer service too. We reached the hotel by around 4pm.
Let me break it down to you about our diving package. Not sure if that is okay, but heck just for reference. Please note prices might change (naturally).
Package price | IDR 9, 450, 000 per person
Total | 6 days 5 nights, 4 diving days. 12 day dives
Package includes |
At Eco Divers Manado, Mercure Manado Tateli Beach Hotel
- 2 nights air-conditioned Superior room
- 2 days boat diving on air (3 day dives)
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Airport transfer
- Welcome drink
- Internet access
- Taxes
At Eco Divers Resort Lembeh
- 3 nights air-conditioned room in a villa
- 2 days boat diving on air (3 day dives)
- Breakfast, lunch, dinner
- Airport transfer
- Welcome drink
- Internet access
- Taxes
Excluded |
Night dives, convert day dives to night dives - IDR 250, 000
Additional night divers - IDR 650, 000
Equipment rental, full set (regulator, octopus, BCD, wetsuit, mask, fins, dive comp) - IDR 300, 000 per day
Per item basis, please check with the resort (Because I'm lazy to type it all out)
Torch - IDR 80, 000
All thanks to Harry for organzing the trip and negotiating everything for us!
The first hotel room was impressive. I think the rooms are really good for honeymoon purpose because the whole outlook of the room was really modern and the toilet is separated with a glass panel (yes, free show time LOL). I didn't take much pictures of the room, just instastoried it down.
The diving resort is 5 mins walk away from the hotel. This is the evening view of the sea on the way to the diving resort. We went there just before dinner to size up our equipments.
At night, we went for shopping at some nearby mall first because we would not have time to shop on our diving days. After that, Harry brought us to a seafood restaurant where locals flock to. We just kept our mouth shut and went along with it just in case the seller decided to hike up the price since we are tourists. So, we let Harry do all the talking yet once again. :P
Huge squid!
Dinner was pretty dope especially the squid ink vegetable cooked with kaffir leaves. I never knew it could be cooked like that. 🤤
The next morning, we enjoyed our breakfast in the hotel before our first morning dive. There's this aunty who makes herbal drinks for the hotel guest and each person is entitled to one free beverage. I just asked for something cooling and good for the throat since it was feeling a little dry and the aunty works her magic by mixing the concoctions. The smell is not for everyone but I really liked it!
I took pictures of food, but it's all here and there so I decided not to post anything. Hahaha. But if you are in Manado area, please try bubur manado (porridge), cakalang fufu (smoked tuna), ricarica chicken or pork, RW, Paniki and cooked papaya leaves and flowers. I got this list from an ex-colleague who is an Indonesian and he knows his ways around food. Thanks for the tips Reza!
Most of the dive sites we went to in Bunaken are wall dives. We had a little problem with the depth because we were always going too deep and we didn't know. This is where the dive comp comes in handy. I would advice to get one for the dives to avoid getting decompression sickness. Very very important. The wall is pretty impressive, there's lobsters and many fishes. I even saw my first eagle ray by chance! It was doing a flip and it was so cool. I am not really a camera person underwater as I like observe them without dealing with the hassle of taking videos and what not. So, therefore, not much pictures! I manage to copy only some pictures from partner's GoPro but not much because most of them are videos anyway.
Moving on to our second spot, Lembeh! We had the whole house to ourselves during the trip and coincidentally, we were the only ones there. Although there was some complications but luckily it was all sorted out. Some miscommunication happened and they weren't expecting any guests that day. Therefore, our dinner was a bit of a disappointment because it wasn't prepared. We were guessing they bought it somewhere nearby and it was pretty bad. Luckily we get to try the chef's food the next day. All the food they prepared were so so so good. I think it was the best homemade food we ever had in Indonesia.
For Lembeh, the jetty is like half an hour drive from the hotel. There were a lot of friendly vilages living next to the jetty too. We were greeted by a lot of kids playing around there. We felt like celebrities. LOL
Our dive station for the days. We were to return to this big boat after every dive to rest up and recharge.
Really love the mood of the place. Perfect place to chill on the top deck.
And also for some yoga poses. Hahaha.
The divers. VC is missing though.
Deliciousness
We were genuinely surprised by the number of things we saw during all the dives here in Lembeh. Even though there are really less corals, there are abundant of sea creatures to see! It's literally an underwater zoo here. Only showing you a glimpse of what we saw with the pictures above. My log book is full with names though. If you really like micro stuffs like shrimps and crabs, this is the place to be. Most of the creatures we saw are super tiny and GoPro is not good with tiny things. But seeing them with eyes are the best. Might come back to Lembeh in the future! There's too many dive sites to explore here. Our highlight for this Lembeh dive is the Electric fire clam (which you really can see lightning flickering in the clam), mandarin fishes mating (sunset dive) and coconut octopus collecting shells.
Okay, I think that is it for my diving post. I know it's very short compared to what I usually would write but without pictures, I really have nothing to show. Unless you want more rants. I'm good at that. Hahaha! Right then, toodles!
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