Our Stay

We spent 12 wonderful nights at the Pristine Paradise dive resort on Una Una island.  We had a spacious and airy bungalow with a garden and the beach outside our front door.  The weather was delightful and ranged from 27 at night to 32 in the day.  

Emiel, our esteemed host and diving guide.

Our home away from home.

Getting There

On the first day we flew from Bali to Makassar, the capital of Sulawesi.  The next day we flew from Makassar to Gorontalo, a smaller provincial town.  From there we took the twice weekly night ferry to Wakai, a small village in the Togean islands.   After we arrived in the morning, we hired a boat with some other tourists and headed off to Una Una.  Finally, on the third day, our destination was in sight!

Una Una ho!

The Island

Una Una is one of the many islands which are part of Sulawesi province, Indonesia.  It is comprised of a single volcano that rises steeply from the ocean floor and is about 10 kilometer in diameter at the surface.  Although the volcano does not have a cone, it’s rugged crater rim can be seen from anywhere on the island.  The island was home to around 7,000 people before its last eruption in 1985 - a scant 35 years ago.  The eruption caused numerous lava flows and covered about 80% of the island with ash forcing many people to relocate.  Today around 1,000 people live on the island, scattered between 2 villages and huts along the beach.  The people practice a mix on Islam and animism, and are quite relaxed about religion and life. Their dress is conservative and about a third of the women wear a hijab.

Una Una is situated on the equator so cyclonic weather systems are not able to make landfall and the weather is consistently within a few degrees of 30 Celcius with sunny weather, a few clouds and no real rainy season.  Refreshing winds can kick up from time to time and offer a break from the heat. The town of Una Una has one road which parallels the coast.  At the town center there is a futbol field and a short spur road that goes down to a pier where a thrice weekly public ferry stops for trips to a larger town (around 2,000 people) called Wakai on a larger Togean island.    The coastal road extends a few kilometers in either direction until it peters out to a single track motor scooter trail and then disappears into foot paths into the coconut groves.  

There were a few part time teaching and government jobs on the island.  Everyone else was engaged in producing coconut meat.  The coconuts are harvested, gathered, husked, cracked open and the meat removed.  The husks are burned to roast the meat which helps to preserve the meat during shipping.  It is a slow paced process and I never saw anyone stressed or in a hurry.  In fact, contentedly sitting on a porch with your friends and family occupied a substantial amount of the populace’s time.  The coconut revenue was enough to cover life’s necessities, visits to family on the mainland and a motor scooter.  Other than an abiding faith in the will of Allah, in sha ‘Allah, what else do you really need?

Well, I can think of one thing… a trash collector.  Unfortunately, the locals were relaxed about trash as well.  There was some sweeping and burning, but frequently the trash from packaging was dropped with thoughtless abandon and there was no real concern about whether it gathered along the roadsides.  As a citizen of the United States I knew the amount of trash, pollution and carbon I created dwarfed their biscuit and cigarette wrappers - so I was in no position to preach.  I wish there was global action to reduce the amount of disposable plastic packaging.

Typical island home.  Goats and chickens abounded.

This fence was made by sticking poles into the ground, which then started to grow!

Una Una is home to the oldest mosque in Sulawesi.  The national historical society had allocated funds to restore it.

The Resort

After a few months of research and outreach, we had found and settled on Una Una island and specifically the Pristine Paradise dive resort - one of three currently on the island.  Our host, Emiel, was from Holland and had built up the resort over the past year - an impressive achievement.  The facility and bungalows were well thought out and were built mostly from local wood and thatch.  Emiel told me he gave a picture to the local craftsmen of what he wanted the bungalows to look like.  They set to work without any plans and created exact replicas.  The main community hall was 10 by 15 meters with high open walls and a vaulted ceiling (except for the cooking area in the back).  The main vertical and horizontal support beams were cut by eye with a chainsaw and were perfectly straight. The family style meals were comprised mostly of rice, vegetables and freshly caught fish.

The Diving

The dive shop was well provisioned, the dive boat in good condition and there were dozens of world class, warm water (28 to 30 degree) dive sites within a 5 to 20 minute boat ride.  Simone gained her Open Water PADI dive certificate and I had a refresher course for an Advanced Open Water cert from 25 years ago.  We were then both ready to take the plunge and enjoyed many wonderful dives.  Although some of the shallow water coral was damaged, the deeper water coral was in very good condition and full of color and diversity.   Often there was enough to keep you spellbound for minutes at a time without even moving.  Overhanging walls 30 meters tall. Giant barrel sponges and fan coral.  Schools of fish that numbered in the hundreds including barracuda that formed a circling vortex.  Large eagle rays, numerous turtles, octopus and many kinds of angelfish and parrot fish.  Tuna, napoleon and sharks were seen.  Every dive was different and had something new to offer. We felt blessed to see such a rich ecosystem.  Thank you great spirit…

The Volcano

One day we rounded up a few guides and motorbikes and headed to the volcano crater.  After passing through town we were soon on single track wending our way through forest, coconut groves or flying down the open beach.  After 30 or 40 minutes we arrived at a broad, gravel filled river bed with a relatively small stream flowing towards the sea.  We drove upstream as far as we could and then dismounted and continued on foot.  The stream water was about 40 degrees (100 fahrenheit) and tasted of salt and minerals.  After awhile the valley narrowed and the water became hotter as we went deeper into the jungle.  Soon water was so hot it was steaming and we took care with our footing to avoid slipping in.  After working our way up the steep bank in a few places to skirt around waterfalls we arrived in a cirque of raw earth with active geysers, steam vents, boiling pools and billowing steam.  Wind swept the steam first away from us so that we could have a broader view, then into us like a hot steam sauna.  Rain would occasionally fall in bursts from the condensing steam.  We were soon thoroughly soaked and steaming ourselves - like dim sum buns.  After enjoying some coconut biscuits that the guides had brought, we mustered our energy and headed back.  The relatively cooler temperatures was a welcome relief and soon it started to rain, courtesy of the unstable weather which changed frequently around the crater peaks.  Soon we were back in the sun, racing along the beach on our way home.

For scale, please note the guide up ahead in blue pants.

For scale, please note Simone and another guide standing on a ledge in mid picture.

The Tsunami

There were a series of earthquakes in Sulawesi while we visited.  A mild tremor was felt on Una Una but there was no damage.  The epicenter was one hundred miles away, off the coast of Palu city.  Palu experienced dozens of devastating earthquakes and a 10 meter tsunami.  The TV at our resort was on for several days as people tried to understand the extent of the damage and if their loved ones were affected.  Some of the staff were visiting Palu at the time of the quakes and many had family in the area.  Most of them survived, but lost their homes.  A woman who worked in the resort next to ours showed me a picture of her neighborhood street that was built on top of an old river bed.  It was not reached by the tsunami, however the riverbed had turned to quicksand during the quakes - swallowing homes and churning up the streets.  A city of 600,000 was reduced to rubble.  A third of the homes were destroyed and another third were left uninhabitable.  It would take years to reestablish water and sewers.  A loss of loved ones, homes and livelihoods.  The tragedy was deep and wide.  Many people are planning to move in with extended family in other cities.

Molten

Indonesia has more than 17,000 islands, of which 8000 are inhabited; 300 languages are spoken across them. It is the world’s fourth most populous country – 255 million and counting – that runs along the equator for 5000 km. All the major religions are represented along with numerous animistic tribes. Not only are the people, plants and animals a chaotic melting pot, the earth is molten underfoot as well.  Most of the islands are composed of multiple volcanoes with frequent eruptions.  There are hundreds of perceivable earthquakes each year.  Tsunamis are not uncommon.  

The devastation at Palu underscored an interesting aspect about people's attitudes in Indonesia - life is transient and whatever you may have now you may not have tomorrow.  If you are going to build a highway, do you build it for 30 years knowing that portions will be carried away in mudslides, cracked open by earthquakes or eroded by floods?  Or do you just build with a short time frame with the understanding you will keep your resources for maintenance, and patch things up as needed.  Houses are built the same way - many are built with wood that can turn soft after 10 or 15 years.  Who knows what the future holds?

Indonesia is home to

Homework

You can run, but you can’t hide.  After several weeks of carefully calculating how long she could put off her homework assignments, Simone found herself with a mound of reading and a paper due in her World’s Religions course.  The end of our stay at Una Una found her putting in long hours, while I did yoga, meditated and lazed around in a hammock!  

There is another kind of homework we have both been making good and continuous progress with - considerate communications.  Simone has noticeably grown more capable, confident and independent.  As an overly eager Mr. Fixit father, my work has been to reduce the daily ‘friendly reminders’ and ‘tips’ and to let her figure things out.  As she puts it “Let me discover life on my own”.  Her focus has been to become more aware and careful of her ‘teenage attitude’.  As I put it “Be gentle”.  Two tall orders, but we are both making progress!

Off to Our Next Adventure!