I remembered the domestic carrier I was using (Garuda) had a 2:30 am flight, so my plan was to see if I could change to that flight. The very hard part was to find where the domestic gates were, in an huge airport that I had never been in before. It was mostly deserted, but I asked a couple of helpful workers, who told me to go way down and turn left at entrance 5. Next a security officer scanned my luggage and helped me to an elevator with instructions on which direction to head. I found the Garuda ticket office, and at 1:30 am and thanks to two Muslim employees (ladies) was able to transfer my ticket to a flight that was an hour from leaving. All the kindness and assistance I received in the middle of the night is consistent with my dealings with the Indonesian people, who I am very fond of on my third trip here. Maybe they see that this old man needs all the help he can get!

I sent a message to Willeke at the Happy Gecko about my flight change, and she had a ride to the dock and a boat set up within minutes of my arrival in Manado. Everyone seemed very happy to see me on my third trip to Bunaken Island. It is amazing that I have what feels like very good friends on the other side of the world, when I don’t have that many at home. Perhaps it is because they see how enthused I am about being on the island that is their home.

So I had two solo excursions snorkeling and freediving in the sea on my first day in Bunaken, for a total of almost 5 hours in the ocean. My sea fix was satisfied, and this night while sleeping I had intense dream after intense dream of swimming among the beautiful coral reefs and fish.

My adventure is just starting an I am going to enjoy every day and minute off it. I have an Airalo esim for my phone which was not available last time, so I have connectivity everywhere instead of just in the restaurant wifi. I use that to access several web cams at home so I can see the dogs. I call in via Skype to a laptop set up to auto answer, and talk through the speakers in real time to the pups. I see their barking and howling response to my voice from 8000 miles away! This is so important because I see they are ok; plus and I have someone very good who cares about them to feed the dogs and take them on walks. Checking in with them prevents me from getting homesick, which allows me to enjoy my time in the Coral Triangle that much more!