Indonesia - Sabbath at Klabat

Being dressed up and going to church here without air conditioning is very uncomfortable. Wooden straight backed pews make it worse. Then paying attention to a service in a foreign language makes it really hard to concentrate. After church we had our own Sabbath school. In the afternoon we went and met some of the students that are still left on campus. They are the poor students who have to work to pay for school. They work one year, then do school and work for a year. They do this until they graduate, usually 8 years for a 4 year program. They take English classes but they don't speak English very well so we were supposed to help them practice by talking to them about stuff in English. They live in a pole barn with a concrete floor. Their rooms have no walls. They make "walls" with cupboards and plywood and boxes. Every thing they have is usually made by them. They seem very happy, and really liked taking pictures with us.

Indonesia - Diving and Snorkeling in Bunaken

We traveled from the Klabat University to the ocean side in the city of Manado via a regular city transit kind of bus. The one hour ride was really hot. The heat was accentuated by the fact that our seats were not bolted down. The already roller coaster like driving sent us rocking back and forth the whole trip. Once at the marina we loaded ourselves on a big wooden dive boat. All the boats were made out of wood, painted simple contrasting colors, and had sweeping curves reminiscent of Asian roof tops or dragon puppets. On the ride to the island of Bunaken we saw flying fish. Those things are amazing. They pop up out of the water and spread their wings and whip their tail to gain speed. Then they glide along the contours of the water for incredible distances. We couldn't believe our eyes as we arrived at our site for the week. The resort called Panorama sat right on the waters edge. Bungalows squated on the hillside seemingly stacked on top of each other. Ivan, Seth, Daniel and I were in one of the lower ones with an incredible view out over the bay. All the guys had rooms overlooking the beach. The girls were in a long house type bungalow that had no view.

We settled into the housing and then then rented our gear and went snorkeling. We went to a less alive portion of the reef so the noobs wouldn't mess anything up. I followed Dr. Snyder and he pointed out tons of stuff. He knows these reefs really well from his time as a student missionary and then as a full blown missionary years later.

The next three days were water logged. I spent so much time under water that I had an almost constant headache. I had a cold so I was worried about diving. I dove deep quite a bit while snorkeling and was able to equalize pressure but my sinuses sure had gunk in them. Our first dive went well. I had no problems. It was my first wall dive and it was a very different kind of diving than I had done before. It is easy to lose track of depth, and currents can be ferocious and change instantly in all directions. We were diving with aluminum 80s, starting with 200 bar. We spent most of our bottom time between 15 and 20 meters deep. We didn't use tables or anything, we just followed our dive guide who had a computer. Eight of us were SCUBA certified and four were quite inexperienced. Two guides dove with the inexperienced group and one dove with the group I was in. Our first dive was short. We splashed to the surface after 45 minutes. After a couple dives we began to get our breathing back under control and stay down longer.

The first day we dove twice in the morning and once in the afternoon. The second day we did the two morning dives and spent the afternoon on the surface because our group was doing a night dive. The night dive was incredible. It felt like a seal team mission as the four of us guys walked down the beach at dusk and out into the water to the boat. The sea was choppy and we bounced around in the inky grey darkness pulling wet suits on and checking our gear. At first glance the reef seemed sound asleep. Then our eyes and minds adjusted and we saw a totally different commerce than we saw during the day. Shrimp were out in abundance. You could find them just like spiders in the lawn on a summer evening with a flashlight at eye level. The hard corals were out. Nudibranchs had gained the courage to show themselves. The whole reef was patrolled by red soldier fish. It was surreal to hover in the plankton laden blackness like astronauts. By now we had become a good team. Our guide and the four of us were breathing at similar rates and although we bumped into each other a bit we had a sort of unspoken comradery as we swam in formation. Okay, it was totally unspoken, but it is amazing how much communication can be had under water. We reached our goal of 60 minutes. I never want to forget what it was like to bob up and down in the rough ocean at night as we waited for the boat and chatted about the dive.

Our last day of diving had the best dives. We started by plunging to over 100 feet and playing with knob head and napoleon wrasse as big as ourselves. Even though we hit such a deep depth and stayed at 20-25 meters afterwards, most of us stayed down a full hour. Every dive we were better divers. It was fun to look up and see the other group occasionally above us about 10 meters. They had similar dive times but were not able to go as deep as we were. We saw big game fish and barracuda. Someone spotted a shark. Turtles were seen several times every single dive. The second dive our last day was great. Everyone went to the surface before I did. I ended 10 minutes later with air to spare. Not complaining about a 80 minute dive. I've learned a lot about how to dive over these last few days. I started as the heaviest breather. The other guys could have gone just as long, but they spent a lot of air filming with their go pro's.  The smallest things make a huge difference in your oxygen needs.

Dive number nine was our last dive. There is always something new to see and experience. Parts of the dive were quite comfortable and parts were difficult. We had some hard currents to manage. At one point we were being ripped off the wall and out to sea. Another time we were being pushed to the surface. Wall diving has its own unique set of challenges. On another dive the current was pushing us down. Sometimes we get caught between two currents. They are too strong to swim against so we bounce back and forth in between.

Friday morning dawned on a very sleepy group of travelers. Just because say was dawning didn't mean we had to get up. It is light here around 5:30. At our normal breakfast time of 7 we had a normal breakfast of spicy fried rice, fried eggs, banana crepes, and jungle fruit. We all drank in the last of our paradise view before getting back on the boat for Manado, and Klabat University.

I'll miss the "No shirt, no shoes, no wifi... No problems."

Indonesia - hiking Mount Klabat

Jungle paradises are hot and sticky. Our 4000 foot high trek up an ancient volcano was no exception. At the top guys were videoing themselves wringing sweat out of their shirts. It was a hard, steep hike. The heat and humidity really weighed heavy especially on the out of shape and ill prepared folks. We spent a lot of time catching bugs and counting epiphytes in trees. On the way down we spent time learning about the crops in the farming area at the base of the mountain. A lot of stuff is intercropped, or grown together. There were Coconuts, Taro, Tapioca, Coffee, Cinnamon, Banana, Corn, wild Cucumber and several others. I can hardly wait to get out on the Island tomorrow and go snorkeling. We will spend three days there and I should be able to dive twice a day. I hope to snorkel whenever I'm not diving.

Indonesia - Tangkoko Nature Preserve

After waiting and waiting and waiting for our Indonesian drivers to come, we loaded up the vans and headed across the island to the real jungle area. Along the way we stopped at a rice farm so our driver could take a picture with the "whities." Acres and acres of muddy rice paddies spread across the valley. The home area had large flat paved areas where the rice is dried. Then it is carried into a building I didn't see and the husk is removed somehow. The roads are crazy here. Traffic seems disorderly and chaotic but in reality it is well timed and flowing. People just take more risks. Sometimes it doesn't turn out so well, as we saw when we came across a truck on its side. People were a little more careful in the mountains where the roads were winding and steep. The drops off the side were very long, and the road was only one lane wide most of the time. The sides of the mountains were covered in coconut palms. I hear that half of the jungle in Indonesia has been destroyed for the cultivation of coconut oil to sell in America.

After two hours bumping, winding, and sweating we arrived at "Mama Roos" (meaning Rose) bungalows. We ate a traditional meal of rice, vegetables with quail eggs, tempeh and tofu, perkedel (basically a deep fried paddy made from potatoes and onions) and the strangest water bottles.

After lunch we prepared to hike through the jungle. We were instructed to wear long pants with socks over the ankles to keep out the bugs. I decided to try it in shorts and see what the difference was. We hiked over five hours in the jungle. It was a lot like some places in Florida, but the plants and animals are totally different. The heat and humidity was the same though. I love the warmth. We saw two troops of Macaque monkeys. They wandered all around us. The kids were playing in the little trees, bending them down and hanging from them. Further on we saw a red knobed hornbill. They have no micro hooks in the fibers of their feathers that allows the feather to interlock. That means that the air flows through a lot easier and they make a noisy whooshing sound when they fly. We also saw a rather shy marsupial called a Cuscus. It was like a big possum, very dark in color with hair on it's prehensile tail. The climax of our walk was a huge strangler fig tree. It had totally destroyed it's host and you could climb inside like a jungle gym. I climbed about 60 feet high on the inside of the tree. On the way back we hiked in the dark. At a certain tree we stopped and saw Tarsiers. Those little buggers are really small. Supper, worship, and a shower were all in order. The shower and toilet arrangement was quite strange. All the showers in Indonesia have a bucket with a scoop. In some situations it's so you can mix scalding hot water with cold water and then dip it over yourself. In the Tangkoko bungalows it was because there was often not enough water pressure to get water out of the shower head. So it came from a lower faucet into the bucket. The toilet was flushed by pouring water into it.

In the morning we woke up to roosters crowing and a massive critter banging around in the wall next to my bed. Ivan, Seth, and I started planning our next trip here as a way to wake up. At 6:30 we went for a bird walk and saw several different types of birds. All of them were unique and different than what I've seen before. We had to describe and ID at least 6 of these for our assignment here. I think I want some binoculars now. It's frustrating to share three pairs with 20 people. On our walk we met a local man and his two kids. He knew a lot of the birds in English and helped us ID them. Matthew Wilson gave the little boy, probably 4 years old, his binoculars to play with. The little guy loved it, and wouldn't give it back. We all laughed when he decided he needed to use the bathroom. He needed no privacy, and seemed quite proud of his show.

At breakfast I was pleasantly surprised to see that they fry eggs here the way I like to have them fried. I also figured out how to properly eat langsat fruit. For church we walked down to the beach. On the way we found a flying lizard, and we spent some time catching butterflys. The beach is black volcanic sand. There were dozens of boats out past the surf. They were platforms for night fishing. We saw them through the trees all lit up as we walked out of the jungle the night before. We sat together under the shade and several different people led out in discussions on the adult Sabbath school lesson. Even in outdoor church I had a hard time sitting still, so I analyzed the wave patterns and saw a rip current that was consistent enough to be worried about. When I got tired of that I noticed that the beach was alive with little hermit crabs. Ok, they wernt little, they were tiny. The smallest I saw were a few millimeters long. The discussion was rewarding, and the spiritual food filling, but as soon as we were done I raced for the water with my mask. Ivan was the only other one who had brought a mask. We were told that this beach was dead, and there would be nothing to see. As soon as I hit the water I saw an explosion of life. The sound of coral eating fish rang in my ears, and bright colored fish darted everywhere. The reef was incredibly shallow, and soon others in our group were stubbing toes and scraping their legs. With a mask on I could see what I was doing and avoid getting hurt, but when I took it off to loan it to a friend I kicked a coral and cut my ankle. After awhile we got moved down the beach to the place that had no coral. Dr. Snyder was surprised I had found a reef. I looked around at our new spot a few minutes walk down the beach and found the edge of the reef. So now the group could play in the water without getting hurt, and I could snorkel. I was pretty stoked. I shared my mask around with several people. It was way too cool to not let others see it. That way I was able to soak up some sun, and see some really cool fish. After while we came back on shore and built bible scenes from debris and then we went around and tried to guess what everyone else had done. After that I went for another swim and spent a lot more time under the water trying to interact with more fish.

We hiked back to the bungalows and on the way we walked through the troupe of black crested Macaques again. One little guy in a tree above us almost peed on one of the guys. After lunch we drove back to Klabat University.

Over all it has been a really good day, and the trees here are pretty sweet. I have a great daypack thanks to dad. Yes mom, I cleaned my cut with some betadine based antiseptic. I had no negative side effects of wearing shorts instead of long pants and socks. You just have to watch yourself so you don't get stung by anything. I was worried about chigger like bugs, but I didn't get any.