day one … and day two

There are 30 bungalows at Wakatobi, 60 person capacity … and 250 staff! No wonder we felt looked after.

Our Ocean Bungalow …

After acquainting ourselves with our front row accommodation and enjoying the meandering paths amongst the tropical gardens, it was time for lunch in the restaurant. Things only got better!

It was now time for a snorkel. 

The dive team, located near the Longhouse, fitted us both up with everything we needed. Well, only Neville really as I had taken all my own gear, bar a weight belt. Neville’s size 13 foot did have them guessing for a while. 

The whiteboard dive/snorkel ‘program’ for our week was explained (my first ever dive trip, so I only really understood all the ‘code’ a few days in!). I had booked a ‘snorkel light’ package which included two of the three boat snorkels for each of four days, so a total of eight boat trips and there was my name on the Dive Boat VI list.  A map of the dive sites was displayed, with a dive site allocated to each of the three dives/snorkels on each of the three boats. The dive site allocation was done around 4 pm each day, for the following day. Different colours meant different things too. Confused?  Me too!

But, everything was so well organised. I was allocated a box for my gear.  It would be placed on my boat for each of my snorkel trips. All washed and rinsed at the end of each day too.  With three snorkel trips per day on offer, the trick for me was to remember to mark the ones I DID NOT want to do. A ‘blank’ spot next to my name meant I was expected on board – 7.30 am, 9.30 am and 2.15 pm.

Follow? As I said, it took us a few days to really get in to the swing of things.

I squeezed in a short house reef snorkel late in the afternoon on day one. But we were tired! I had a day with the resident photographer booked for tomorrow, so I think we were in bed by 8 o’clock. 

It was all quite overwhelming really!

day two … the elephant

Dive Sites – Pockets and Tell Maya

I had booked a day with an underwater photographer when I booked this trip 3 years ago. Adrienne is now the resident photographer. I negotiated a later start with Adrienne with a theory session first, followed by two boat trip snorkels. I don’t know if she thought I was a dumbo or not, but I certainly felt like one. The info’ was not quite sinking in and I was sadly out of snorkeling practice. However, I managed to pick up several pointers and was actually pleased I did this at the beginning of my week, rather than later.

While I didn’t get any wonderful photos, this day was all about improving my close focus wide angle shots, and white balance and understanding both. Listening to Adrienne while huffing and puffing in between duck diving down for the best angles and also bobbing around in the waves, was challenging!  I was also nervous.

After one boat trip, I felt so much more on top of things. The dive boat’s routine was now so much clearer. The dive staff were fantastic. We had ten staff to nine divers/snorkelers. Great attention to detail. Everyone is given a water bottle (which we keep) and after a snorkel, a hot face towel, a towel, snacks and I even got a cup of tea. Our masks are washed with soap and fresh water before entering the water, my cameras then passed to me in the water and everyone has a guide.  The max’ I saw in a group with one guide was four persons. Snorkelers are last in the water and consequently last out, so we usually had around 70 mins. In the water. I was lucky enough to enjoy all my snorkels with a guide to myself. Yes, there were so many more divers than snorkelers.

The day became complete with a sunset drink at the Sunset Bar on the Wakatobi jetty, followed by Welcome drinks at the restaurant, then the best spread of buffet food you can imagine at the restaurant. I think I was in paradise!

The elephant?  Each day when our bed was made up, a ‘towel animal’ was left at the foot of the bed.