Posts Tagged ‘diving’
Buleleng, on the northern stretch of Bali, is often seen as the other side of the island in terms of culture and landscape.
The regency is a melting pot of cultures that coexist in an exemplary peaceful mode amidst a mountainous terrain and sandy beaches.
Singaraja, the regency’s capital city, for example, is home to Hindus, Moslems and Chinese, all of whom boast interesting and intricate places of worship located within close proximity to each other. Read the rest of this entry »
While it takes only 20 minutes of flying time for Garuda Indonesia’s Boeing 737-400 to bring you from Ngurah Rai airport in Bali to Mataram, the capital city of Lombok, the two islands are actually worlds apart.
Lombok’s quite and undeveloped environment stands in marked contrast to that of Bali’s, beckoning travelers seeking a relaxed pace and spectacular natural beauty.
Most well-heeled tourists tend to gravitate towards Senggigi, a 10-kilometer strip along the coastal road north of Mataram, where most star-rated beach resorts and nightlife action are found. Read the rest of this entry »
Kapoposang is one of the largest of the Spermonde Islands, around 70 km northwest of Makassar, South Sulawesi. Kapoposang covers an area of around 50,000 hectares and is inhabited by around 100 families. Several other islands, both inhabited and uninhabited, lie near Kapoposang. The larger ones include Papandangan, Kondongbali, Suranti and Tambakulu.
Kapoposang and the nearby islands were declared a Nature Tourism Park by the Department of Forestry in 1999. Diving has been an important activity at Kapoposang since the mid 1990s Read the rest of this entry »
When we think about fantastic surf spots in the world usually the first thing that comes to mind are Hawaii, Australia, Mexico, California and Portugal. But there is another location on the surf map, undiscovered, unpredictable, un-spoilt, beautiful and exotic. This destination is perfect for the European surfer staring out the window of his apartment, office or car at the cloudy, grey sky and cold, wintery conditions. This location, a hidden getaway, distant and remote, will surprise even the most skeptical with challenging waves breaking of scenic beaches, reefs and points without the crowds. Few know of this place, travel agencies rarely offer this direction that is why it is a surfer’s dream! The place in mind – Papua New Guinea.
Papua New Guinea or PNG in short is located 160km to the north-east of Australia and lies just south of the equator. A country diversified and picturesque, discovered in the early 1500’s by a passing Portuguese fleet, is made up of a wealth of dense tropical rainforest, highlands, long rivers, tropical islands and white sandy coastline. Read the rest of this entry »
Bunaken Island has become an icon of the city of Manado, and indeed of North Sulawesi, since an underwater paradise was discovered by several North Sulawesi diving pioneers, among them Loky Herlambang and Ricky Lasut. The vertical coral reefs that seem to go down forever immediately made Bunaken one of the world’s favorite diving venues. The underwater walls of Pulau Bunaken are full of colorful corals and exotic fish.
Like mushrooms in the rainy season, in the mid 1990s diving resorts sprouted up along the beaches of Malalayang and Molas, not far from the Manado city center. Bunaken is now home to dozens of diving resorts; over 30 diving operators are eager to take you on a dive trip to Bunaken every day.
The run over to Bunaken takes only around 50 minutes on a motorboat specially designed to accommodate diving tourists. As long as the seas are fairly calm and the sun is gently shining, it’s an ideal time for those who want to sunbathe before the sun’s rays get too fierce.
There are more than 12 diving sites around Pulau Bunaken. Some of these dive sites are characterized by steep walls quite densely covered with coral to a depth of 40 meters.
Others are more gently sloping but covered even more densely with coral. Typically one will see many types of reef fish – butterfly fish Read the rest of this entry »