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Monthly Archives: January 2010

Bunaken Island

I was fortunate to have my first dive in over 20 years off the spectacular Bunaken Island. I tagged on a weekend after a work trip to a couple of mining sites that got me to Manado, which is 45 mins by boat to the famed national marine park. This series of dives is part of my mission to dive the top 5 sites in Indonesia this year.

Dives (Photos courtesy of Gloria Ngoi)

Novotel Manado

After sleeping at mine sites for 2 weeks, the luxury of a nice hotel room was a great way to spend the weekend. The Novotel in Manado is recommended. Quality accommodation at very affordable rates and very friendly, attentive staff.

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Posted by Health Watchman on January 26, 2010 in Diving, Sulawesi - Halmahera, Manado, Tomohon, Bunaken & Gorontalo, Travel for Fun

Tags: Bunaken Island, Diving, Expat, Indonesia, Manado, Scuba Diving

Nickel Mine Visit 2010

22 Jan

This was my 2nd trip to the same mine. See earlier post for the first trip.

After flying into Ternete from Gosowong where I was visiting a gold mine, I met with my colleague Dr Areswari, who was visiting local hospitals. Ternete is a town and island and was once the world’s single major producer of cloves. In the precolonial era, Ternate was the dominant political and economic power over most of the “Spice Islands” of Maluku.

As we had time before our chopper ride to WedaBay, we went for lunch at a great restaurant overlooking the sea and the cone shaped islands which are featured on the 1,000 rupiah note.

Lunch at Florida restaurant – A great view!

Our ride to Halmahera

Medical Team

Sunset at WedaBay

Gold Mine 2010 (Gosowong, Halmahera Island)

18 Jan

Here we go again. Air Fast Bell Chopper from Manado to Halmahera Island.

In progress –

Views from the Chopper

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Posted by Health Watchman on January 18, 2010 in Out in the Jungles

Tags: Gosowong, Halmahera Island

Kalimantan (First site visit for 2010)

17 Jan

Here we go! My first site visit for 2010. This time its to Kalimantan (the island of Borneo) to see a mining construction contractor in Sangatta and a number of other clients based in Balikpapan. Sangatta is on the east of the island and is the base for a large coal mining operation.

We get there by a Twin Otter plane from Balikpapan’s airport. The flight takes approx an hour and on this flight there happened to be a few too many ‘large’ passengers. This forced the airline to send our luggage on a separate flight as the plane was overweight.

Accommodation