Turtle city would be a pretty accurate name to describe Bunaken island and if we had to rename the island this would be it. It is truly astonishing just how many turtles we see here. I believe that throughout the 2018 dive season there has not been one guest that stayed with us, that did not see a single turtle on their dives.
A lot of guests are wondering why there are so many around, and though we have a theory about it, hard facts are not available as no scientific studies have been conducted. The locals witnessed the turtle population declining and decided it was time to save the turtle population around their islands.
Turtle hatchlings were supposedly kept in large tubs and looked after until they were big enough to survive on the local reefs. As you may be aware a baby turtle hatchling has a pretty tough start in life, as only an estimated 1 in 1000 makes into adulthood. No matter how exactly they did it, it certainly has turned Bunaken into Turtle city.
Today we can see two different species of turtle, namely the Hawksbill and the Green turtle. The Hawksbill have a very pointy beak and their carapace (shell) is often covered in a redish algea. The green turtle is the bigger one of the two, and some of them can be the size of a diver!
This week has flown by and though we had a little bit of rain at the start of the week, the weekend has been dry and sunny. We have had Charlene and Joel diving with us. They are from Canada and were recommended to visit us by their daughter who completed her dive master training on Bunaken last year!
What a blast they’ve had and they will continue their Indonesia adventure with Two Fish Divers in Lembeh. We also have Iwona and her husband Cezary here from Poland. They have visited Bunaken 11 years ago and she has assured me that there were no where near as many turtles back then!
We want to congratulate Thijs from the Netherlands on completing his PADI open water diver course. He will be continuing for the advanced license with our instructor Ilse. He was supervised by our latest divemaster trainee Vilia from Jakarta, who will be with us for the next two weeks whilst she completed her divemaster course.
All in all another fantastic week here in Turtle city! Why don’t you come and check it out…we look forward to welcoming you!