North Sulawesi

Happy New Year, dear friends and family!

New Year’s Resolution #1: Catch up on blog posts.

Let’s rewind back to mid-December, when I spent ten days in North Sulawesi for work.

You might recall that Mt Agung was being quite feisty in late November / December (and still continues to churn out ash clouds every once in a while); so as a result, MDPI management decided to host our annual workplanning meeting away from our main office in Bali. There were staff flying in to the meeting from all over the country and it made sense to try to avoid volcano complications. A few of us were already in Manado for other meetings, so it was decided that the rest of the staff would join us there.

All in all, of the ten days I spent in North Sulawesi, I only spent a half day doing non-work related activities (but still spent it with my coworkers). As a result, I don’t have that many insights into what life is like in Manado, or funny stories to tell. But I DO have a lot of hilarious photos (my coworkers love to take pictures), and memories of eating every kind of fish you can possibly imagine!

One thing I can confidently say about Manado: they are SUPER into Christmas decorations.

When your work life revolves around tuna, you gotta go to the best tuna restaurant in town... 

Teguh and Huda choosing their dinner.

The view over Manado from the top floor of the hotel where I spent nine days in meetings.

Trying out "dabu dabu" - kind of like a fresh salsa - that goes on top of fish (no, I did not actually eat this giant spoonful). It is very delicious though!

Dinner time!!

My one (half) day off was spent in Bunaken National Park, a phenomenal marine park with some of the best wall diving in the world. I didn’t have the chance to dive, unfortunately, but I did do a half day excursion with my coworkers. Our team rented a boat that took us from Manado into Bunaken (about an hour away), where we stopped at a small island to pay our park entrance fees (which were thirty times higher for foreigners, woo). We then geared up to go snorkelling and were taken to a beautiful spot where there were shallows for people less-comfortable being in the water, and gorgeous walls for those of us that are secretly fish!!

One of the coolest parts of the day (and one that I erroneously anticipated would be totally hokey) was the “glass bottom” of the boat. As we approached Bunaken, for a precious 15 minutes the crew lowered the glass viewing panes and we were treated to views of some of the most incredible reefs I’ve ever seen, and TONS of fish. We even saw a turtle go by!! Everyone was glued to the windows, giddy as children.

The short ocean adventure was over all too soon, however, and it was back to work. Luckily I work with a hilarious and wonderful group of people so even though I spent wayyy more time in meeting rooms than I would have liked to, it was with a great team.

The Fisheries Improvement Department - one of these things is not like the otherrrsss... 

Another beautiful view from the hotel!