Selamat siat (good afternoon!) from Lembeh Resort & Manado!
We had a great travels this time and all flights arrived & departed on time. After a short stay at the beautiful Singapore Airport, our Silk Air flight whisked us to Indonesia across beautiful blue ocean, gorgeous islands and green landscapes.

We were greeted at the Manado Airport by officials wearing masks and asking us to fill out an H1N1 waiver...first time for everything I guess! Other than loads of folks on the plane with us heading to a conference here, the rest of the passengers were divers like us! The greetings in Manado were much more "showy" as well because of the conference. For this whole week in Manado, representatives from 40 countries are discussing our oceans and environment...this is the "World Ocean Conference" and the American Ambassador to Indonesia is among the guests. Of course, scientists and marine biologists and many news media are here for the conference as well. A band from the Minahasan region greeted us when we cleared baggage claim & Customs.

It's "interesting" to say the least to drive in Indonesia! Horn use is mandatory by all drivers, scooters and motorcycle weave in and around all the cars & lorries...it's best to ride with your eyes closed, we decided! We thanked "Mario Andretti" when we arrived at Police Pier at Bitung Port!

The Resort is beautiful as usual, we were exhausted so after a brief resort briefing, dive briefing and some gear unpacking it was dinner and off to bed!

Two dives were all most of our weary bodies could handle today....a few of the group made three, but we'll be up to snuff tomorrow with more updates and photos! Jumpa lagi (see you later)......