Wakatobi: Heaven Above Heaven Below

Have you heard of a place that is both "heaven above and heaven below"? Welcome to Wakatobi in South East Sulawesi. Also known as Tukang Besi Islands, it covers an area of 1.39 million hectares, 97% of which is sea, and has a population of around 100,000. Of the 850 species of coral known to man, these waters are home to 750 of them. Even the Red Sea contains only around 200 species, and in the whole of the Caribbean you find only 70 different kinds of coral. The diversity is such that, as a diver, you can see an incredible number of species without having to travel very far.

I witnessed firsthand the "heaven below" when I was diving around Tomia and Hoga Islands. In fact, the water was so clear you didn't even need to be underwater to see the coral clearly from the boat. But, when you do get in, you got to witness just how dense, lush and healthy the coral here really was. I don't think we paid very much attention to the landscape around us. We were more interested in the corals shaped like a brain, a cauliflower or a giant rose, some in the shape of a bulb, another was flat like a table. And this before we even thought about the soft corals which were like tiny flowers, trees, mushrooms and brightly coloured sea fans.

There was an astonishing number of fish. They were not very big because this was not deep water, but there were turtles, lion fish, lobsters, bumphead parrot fish, sea snakes, moray eels, as well as smaller forms of life like the nudibranch in its many shapes and sizes. There were huge numbers of clownfish, and not just the orange and white kind but also some that were purple and some blue. At Table Coral City I found myself in the middle of a school of razor sharp barracuda over a metre long!
Another time I got up 6:00 a.m. to go diving and witness Ali reef's equivalent of rush hour.

Incredible! It was dizzying to see these huge groups of fish swimming at such high speed, darting right and left from every direction. A hundred blue fish passed me from the right as a group of yellow fish darted the other way, white fish swam upwards and black fish shot down to the bottom... and right in front of me a hundred giant trevally, half a metre long, blocked my view beyond them. Wow!
Visibility was up to thirty metres, and the water was so clear that the bright blue of the light was actually dazzling. The underwater landscape was incredibly diverse, sometimes flat, sometimes sloping, there were pinnacles and even whole walls of coral there was no chance of ever getting bored of the view. The current was pretty strong though, but that was the key: the stronger the current, the more fish there are.

So, what about the "Heaven above"? Wakatobi is part of Eastern Indonesia with clear blue skies in the afternoon and countless stars at night. As the airplane approached, the view from above was nothing short of breathtaking: green islands, white sands, atolls, and the sea in bands of blues that grow gradually lighter as they near the shore. Aside from its 39 islands there were also a number of sandy atolls in Wakatobi. Karang Kaledupa is actually the longest in the world at 48 kilometres. In the Great Barrier Reef, a collection of atolls joined together stretches 3,600 kilometres, but the longest single atoll is found in Wakatobi.

Even the harbour at Wanci was clean. There was none of the usual trash floating around or oil leaks to spoil the clarity of the water. The most amazing location was the luxury resort on Tomia Island. Its western owner really made sure the beaches were properly maintained and kept absolutely spotless. Only guests were allowed in the sea in front. I guess I can put up with this exclusivity for the sake of preserving the environment. We were not doing so badly ourselves staying at the Tomia Dive Center bungalow. We might not have had a sandy beach but we were right next to the water.

When we moved to Hoga Island I could finally sunbathe on white sands. Instead of the usual palms, Hoga's vegetation was mostly tall pine trees. Beautiful! It also acted as the centre for Operation Wallacea, a British NGO studying coral reefs and fish stocks. Every July and August, 600 westerners came here to research Wakatobi's incredible diversity the most diverse sea fauna anywhere in the world. The most beautiful island was Pulau Nda'a. This uninhabited island, an hour away from Tomia by speedboat, offered white sands, sparse vegetation and crystal clear waters miles from anyone.

The only thing to spoil this heaven was the lack of fresh water and electricity. We were waiting for our flight back to Makassar discussing this so Imin invited us to check out the Patuno Resort, just ten minutes away from Wanci airport. A midlevel resort with white sands and both water and electricity available 24 hours a day! The resort had only been open a few months and we were told it was owned by the local Bupatii50. So now you have a full range of choices when you take a holiday in Wakatobi, from backpacker class on Hoga to deluxe resort on Tomia and now a midlevel hotel in Wanci. After a week of no proper toilets and rationed water... I can assure you I took full advantage of the Bupati's facilities!

Wakatobi: Heaven Above Heaven Below 2014-02-24T21:00:00+07:00 Rating: 4.5 Diposkan Oleh: Vera