I had a trip to Manado for the first time during July 9th - 11th 2009. This is my first time being in Manado, North Sulawesi and my second time being in Sulawesi island, after Makassar few months ago. I traveled with my mother and also with my beloved siblings, Dito and Danti.
My trip to Manado started with a torturing very first morning flight. We woke up at 3 am, continued by check in at around 4 am, and finally the plane took off at around 5.15 am. For God's sake, this is the earliest flight i ever toke in my lifetime, so far. Flight to Manado takes about two hours and 50 minutes and we landed in Manado at around 10 am (Manado is GMT +8). On the first day of my stay in Manado, i prefer to stay in my hotel room. I did nothing except sleep and watching TV while saving energy to go to Bunaken the next day.
During the second day of my stay, we shuttled to Bunaken with a traditional wooden cataraman ship. The trip to Bunaken island took about 45 minutes from port of Manado. The water was relatively quite, a bit windy for sure, but in overall it was fine. After arrived in Bunaken island at around 10.45, we directly go to the stall that offering diving equipments. I put myself gearing up with wet suit and snorkel, as well as fin shoe. Since it was our very first time to snorkel, my mother hired two guides for the snorkeling. They are locals, named Juan and Rudolfo.
We continued finding a spot to go underwater. It was located east bound from the port, not so far. After comprehended the basics explanation by Juan and Rudolfo, i got into the water. That afternoon, the water felt quite warm. With relatively high salt, it gives perfect insight underwater. It only took sometimes for me to get used with the techniques. I can go solo discovering the reefs and its awesome creatures.
I found snorkeling at Bunaken very interesting. And it, for sure, would be more interesting to have scuba diving there. For the first time experience, my trip to Bunaken was real great ! As a diving spot, Bunaken has a lot to offer. As a tourism spot, Manado and North Sulawesi has even more to show. There are so many places around Manado that we can visit and enjoy. Minahasa tour would give us pictures of different image of Manado, for instance. Moreover, according to me, this city and province has a huge potentials that, not yet, well developed. There are still so many business opportunity opened that can significantly contribute to the income of the locals. Unlike Bali, Manado is still reasonably quite. There's no bustling tourists riding motorcycle around the city, at least yet. The beach is also still quite private. I hope the people could maintain and keep the water beautiful as it is right now in order to keep attracting tourists, both local and international tourist. If you are looking for some unusual, quite, and enjoyable vacation, i bet you can try Manado. At least for me, i still can enjoy a peaceful vacation without any bustling noises in Manado.
Last but not least, if you are budget travellers (like me), i considered Manado as "value for money" destination. Although some top star hotels in Manado are starting to charge its costumers in USD, there are still plenty of choice to stay. You can choose to stay on some hostel or even wooden cottages located in the island of Bunaken. They are offering more reasonably price to stay. Moreover, for snorkeling, you can expect to spend around IDR 200,000 - 250,000 (around USD 20) including equipments. But of course, there's additional fees for the shuttle boat and the underwater pictures taking service.
In conclusion, for those of you get bored with usual vacation spot like Bali, you should try this place, fellas !
