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TRAVEL
234
April15
The snorkelling
It was the starfish that lured me in;
the sand flat was positively seething
with the tiny creatures. It was a very
positive sign that the snorkelling in
front of the resort might be excellent.
So before the suspense killed me,
I waded in. Nervous of squashing
the abundant coral, I quickly slid
into knee-deep water to swim the
rest of the way to the reef drop-off.
The shallows offered up a collection
of fish that any large aquarium
would be delighted to host, and I
congratulated myself on choosing
so well. The house reef at Bunaken
Cha Cha was officially
amazing
.
Dusk was approaching, and
many of the reef creatures were out
and about, feeding. In the first five
minutes alone, I came across more
outlandishly coloured tropical fish
than I could have imagined. Then I
spied a larger shape materialising
from the gloom, and recognised the
lackadaisical, flowing tail movement
of a shark. The sleek, harmless and
perfectly sculptured black-tip reef
shark inspected me before darting
behind an enormous coral and out of
sight. I was so excited to see a shark
here, as I’m aware that the shark-fin
trade is making them harder to find.
Although some illegal fishing still
takes place, it seems that Bunaken
Marine Park is largely succeeding in
protecting its inhabitants.
We had the resor t’s large
snorkelling boat all to ourselves.
Our guides showed us the best
places and even entertained our
kids on board the boat when they
got tired. Our favourite snorkelling
site was “Turtle City”. The moment
we flopped into the water, our guide
was pointing out turtles, which were
often located just over the reef
drop-off. As we coasted along the
surface, the beautiful star-shaped
motifs on the backs of the ancient
creatures were illuminated in the
bright sunshine, with a background of
dusky, unending blue as a backdrop.
Our kids were able to easily swimwith
the turtles as they peacefully finned
along, feeling no danger from us.