Jimmy the divemaster at the Happy Gecko told me four years ago that when there is a current don’t try to swim against it, just drift and they will come get me. I once again took that to heart yesterday and twice drifted halfway to the next island to the North, Manado Tua. At our second spot the current eventually pulled me off the reef into the deep blue. I tried swimming back to it but quickly realized that was futile. So I just stayed at the surface and held onto the rope on both sides of the buoy. The crew realized I was not snorkeling any longer and came over to pick me up.

In 2019 when I was carried over the mile deep sea with the unknown below me, I felt somewhat panicked, not knowing what might appear from the blue and latch on to my feet. (Jaws). This time I was totally relaxed, which is what experience can do for you. (or naive ignorance?).

On my first afternoon (Wednesday), I returned from a snorkel north of Liang Beach right next to the Mangroves, which is an area I had never visited before and have never seen anyone else snorkel at. The Mangroves are beautiful and mysterious, and for some reason when I passed beneath some of their shadows on the water my mind drifted to the story from some years back of a snorkeler killed by a saltwater crocodile in Indonesia (Raja Ampat). I have never heard of a crocodile around Bunaken, but I was still a little unsettled as I swam along the edge of the Mangrove forest for several hundred yards, alone.

Right now there are seven other people at the resort where I am staying (Happy Gecko), all from Europe. After dinner I showed them some of my videos on my tablet from the last few days, and of course photos of my anjings (dogs) on my journeywest.com blog. They were impressed to the point of making me feel embarrassed. I was happy to say goodnight and go up for some alone time in my cottage, along with checking in with Beau, Hayley, and Jess and telling them good morning.

I am trying very hard to maintain my health so I can enjoy every day here with nothing to dampen my spirits. That includes flushing the seawater out of my eyes and ears everytime out of the ocean, along with lots of eyedrops and an ear wash with a vinegar and olive oil combo. Mild pain relief meds are my friend right now, to take the edge of sore muscles from hours of swimming each day. I am the only one that goes back out in the afternoon after a morning on the boat. It is hard to get motivated at first after my noon thirty nap, but as soon as i get in the water and begin the swim over the lagoon to the reef edge, all that tiredness is exchanged with anticipation about what I might see in the soft evening light falling on the fish and coral.