I went out with the dive boat yesterday. They dropped me off at the reef edge, with the instructions to just drift with the current and they will pick me up. The current was so strong that there is no way ever that this could be called ‘drifting.’ It was like flying. I barely had time to turn my camera and press the shutter as coral, fish, and turtles flashed by. In fact the current was so strong that it started turning me sideways while moving with it. It was stressful to say the least.

After 20 minutes I could see I was nearing the southern edge of Bunaken, which Willeke, the owner of the Happy Gecko, had warned me not to go because of the rip flow. I lifted my head out of the water and there was the dive boat, 20 yards away. They were monitoring my progress and had already come over to pick me up. I was more than happy to get out of the sea right then!

That experience is one of the reasons I always pull a yellow buoy behind me when snorkeling. (The other is so I don’t get run over by boats). I am sure the dive boat crew would have come for me anyway, but I am more than happy to make it easier for them, since this is my life we are talking about.

The advantage divers have is they can descend below the surface currents, although there can be other dangers in the deep. One of the worst is a downward current that prevents you from ascending. I asked Jimmy, the divemaster if he ever encountered one of those. He said yes, but only mild.

Our second spot was much better. In fact when I got into the water the current started shifting from southerly to back to the North. In that ebb tide the red Anthias fish rose up into schools, which is an amazingly beautiful thing to see. I hung around them for about 45 minutes when the current started moving faster North. At that point they all disappeared back under ledges of the reef. I started drifting north, but was pretty exhausted, so swam over to the dive boat and got on.

I am eternally grateful to the friendly New Zealand woman sitting next to me on a flight from Auckland to Niue Island in the South Pacific in 2018. She showed me the most amazing coral and fish images on her phone, and told me about Bunaken. I asked her to write down the name so I could search it later. Five years later I am on my third trip to Bunaken and will end up completing six weeks here total. There are no cars on the island so I walk and swim everywhere. The people are warm and kind, and there definitely has a home away from home feel for me here. My heart gets full multiple times of day with beauty I witness.

(Note: You can’t get to upset at the currents around Bunaken, because they bring nutrient rich water to the island which is the reason there are so many fish and healthy corals. (You just want to survive them).The reef edge is about 200 yards out, but the sea floor drops down to a mile deep just beyond it. (the blue). The rapid switch in the direction of current is also why there are so many fish here. Fish larvae get stuck around the island, and so just end up staying).