The last time Greg and I parted in Indonesia was in Lombok’s Gili Islands, full of snorkeling and scuba and travelers and beautiful white beaches. It only made sense, then, that we headed back to such a place at some point during this trip.
The Togean islands promised all of this, and delivered an island’s worth of cool travelers and an awesome Indonesian family running a superb homestay on the beach as well. We went with the intention of exploring two or three of the Togean’s islands for a couple of days each, and ended up spending all eight of our nights on Kadidiri and still not being quite ready to leave. Our dive master, and older French Swiss guy called Gonzaug, had been living on Kadidiri for most of an impressive number of years and felt the same way.
We managed two squeeze in two dives, daily snorkeling, a bit of hiking, and a lot of rounds of a Swiss board game called Brandi Dog and it still wasn’t enough. You know those places you say you’ll go back to, but worry that it could never be quite the same? Kadidiri in the Togeans is one of those.
Part of the joy of Kadidiri was having a huge tropical island to explore. From the path beside the bathroom, trails run across the island that would take days to explore to any great degree.
Full of the sounds (if not the sightings) of wildlife, the only animal I actually managed to take a picture of during out hiking was a single dragonfly.
No matter what we did during the day, though, our afternoons always ended on the beach around sunset. Usually with an overpriced and underchilled beer in hand.
Finally, sometime between ten and midnight, the power would go out and everyone would disperse to their various directions. Even then, though, the night sky was so clear that it seemed like a shame to call it a night.
Also important to the amazing time Greg and I had in the Togeans was the awesome crew of people we were with every day (at a homestay called Pondok Lestari, incidentally).
Though Greg absolutely refuses to engage in gaming of any sort, I spent an inordinate amount of time playing a game called Brandi Dog that a Swiss girl was traveling with.
We liked it so much, in fact, that the day the Swiss girl (J’ona) left, a couple of us banded together to make a pirate version out of discarded paper and bottle caps. And then we spent an inordinate amount of time playing it.
Though it was a great time, it wasn’t always exciting in the sense of constant stimulation. So, when Aka showed up one night with a coconut crab it caused quite a commotion. Indeed, the scramble for cameras was probably the fastest I saw the whole group move the entire time I was there.
One French girl, Lily, had gotten so close to the family that she came at least once a year to stay with them for months at a time. After only eight days there, wanting to stay much longer, I can certainly understand her reasoning.
The gateway to the Togean Islands is Wakai, the biggest town and only ferry stop. While the town is not the highlight of the Togeans, it does make for an interesting diversion. Surrounding the harbour are water villages of Indonesia’s Bugis minority.
As we showed up to Wakai, the daily fish market was in full swing so we walked around and explored for a while.
Finally, we headed on a boat to Kadidiri island and all the awesomeness it had in store. We did make it back once to Wakai for a hike up to a really nice 6-step waterfall, but fear for my camera overcame any desire for photography and so there are no pictures for you here.
