LOST IN UNDERWATER PARADISE AT OLELE AND BOLAANG SELATAN, GORONTALO, INDONESIA
Diving has always been one of my all-time favorite activities.
Before leaving Indonesia to my next assignment in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to join a diving trip to Gorontalo, Sulawesi, Indonesia. Gorontalo is one of the provinces in Sulawesi or also known as Celebes Island. It used to be part of the North Sulawesi province, before becoming a separate province.
One of the main reasons why I wanted to dive in Gorontalo is because of the whale sharks that have been frequently spotted here. I have shared my encounter with these majestic creatures in my previous post about whale sharks in Gorontalo. Moreover, I would also like to share to lovely place as part of the #Gemsoftheworld #Connecttravelchallenge initiated by my dearest friend @KashifMisidia
So, as I flew from Jakarta with my Corona Diving Club (yes, yes, yes, that’s the name) buddies and some new friends, we planned to have 4-day trip of diving and 1 day land tour. Unfortunately, I could only join 3 days of dive trip and had enough and save interval before flying back to Jakarta again. So, my first day has been filled with my date with the whale sharks and diving around Botubarani, the favorite place for spotting whale sharks and more. We did 2 dives here, including one in Ukurei spot. You are of course welcomed to check out my previous post in Connect as well as this video I have uploaded.
On my second and third days of diving trip in Gorontalo, we were visiting the underwater garden called Olele, located at Bone bolanga area and Bolsel, short for Bolaang Selatan.
Besides whale sharks, other thing that makes Gorontalo a famous diving spot in Indonesia is the Salvador Dali sponge. Have you ever heard of it before? One of the unique underwater plants we can find in several diving spots in Gorontalo is the one-of-a-kind soft coral sponge famously called Salvador Dali sponge, because apparently, it really looks like one of Dali’s famous and unique paintings. I don’t know how to explain it but it looks intricate with curves, colors and textures that makes it distinct. Some of them have grown big as well, although sadly, the biggest one seemed to be broken due to the natural cause.
Besides, here in Olele and Bolaang Selatan, its pristine walls and soft corals are intact, providing comfy homes for various school of fish and underwater creatures.
So we drove from Amaris Hotel Gorontalo, our hotel, to Olele, for around 1 hour. The road was curvy yet beautiful as you can see the Bone river and the gulf of Tomini. Once we arrived, we were welcomed by the local fishermen who were offering their fresh catch of the day. We took some of the fish and asked our diving operator to prepare them for our lunch break later.
We went to spots called falling rock and muka kampung in Olele, while in Bolsel, there were three spots we explored, namely lion corner, silver tower and Bares. When I asked my dive master about the history of the names, they were not pretty sure either. But indeed, we had so much fun exploring these areas and had fun dives. I saw some Salvador Dali’s sponges; colourful school of fish including clown fish, butterfly fish, angel fish and lion fish; black tip sharks (even though from a far); various kinds of cephalopods (some of the squids and octopus were posing for us J), and many others. Beautiful and colourful soft corals were everywhere you looked. I’m not always successful in catching all these wonderful underwater sceneries on my camera but I truly enjoyed my dive here. Check out some of the photos I managed to have.
I was having a bit of decompression after all the dives I had. Frankly, I got a bit carried away with such a mesmerizing landscape we had down there. Not a good example so please plan your dives carefully as always. I managed to go to the chamber in Manado and got refreshed before heading back to Jakarta.
All in all, it was another unforgettable diving trip I had. Indeed I was lost in the underwater paradise here in Olele and Bolaang Selatan, Gorontalo, Indonesia.
