Bunaken & Manado Underwater Photos

Some more Photos

Bunaken & Manado Underwater Photos

Orangutan crab photos taken on 9th September 2009 at Bunaken

"A Bad Hair Day"

Bunaken Birthday Girl "Emi Chan"

A few photos of our birthday girl " Emiko"

Amazing Bunaken National Marine Park

Well we have now celebrated 10 years on Bunaken.....one day I will have to tell the story, in the mean time here are few more of my better photos so far this year

Bat Fish at Fukui Point

Cuttlefish on Night Dive

"It was me...." Clown Fish

Total Solar Eclipse from Bunaken 26th January 2009

Here are some photos taken of the Solar Eclipse on 26th January 2009.

The Total Eclipse was at 18.00, which was the same time as the setting sun.

So Long

Agh...... its been so long since I updated our blog, now so much to tell, so where to begin?

Ok new arrivals...May last year saw the arrival of Chiko to Cha Cha, well here is a series of updates of her during the last year.

Chiko

Another hard day

Friends

Snorkeling Pontoon

Here is a photo of the New Snorkeling Pontoon in front of Cha Cha.

Ideal for having a rest while snorkeling on Cha Cha House Reef or just

relax and catch the last afternoon sun rays.

More Pictures from Diving at Bunaken

Here are some more Photos taken recently in and around Bunaken

Blue Ribbon Eel

Garden Eel

Goby and Shrimp

Ghost Pipefish

Another Critter from Bunaken

Here is something for the Lovers of "Macro"

Espresso and Cappuccino lands on Bunaken

Ok so we may not be so sophisticated as the Nespresso Cafe

but who cares......the important thing is that now you can have

a great espresso or cappuccino on Bunaken too and hey George...

"the young ladies were talking about Cha Cha not you or the coffee!!!"

Back On Line

Apologies to every body that has been trying to contact us at Cha

Cha for the last 7 days, Unfortunately our Internet relay on Siladen 

was cut off last week and left us without any internet connection 

(cheers guys...nice move). Well in the meantime our staff at ChaCha 

has been hard at work erecting our new tower and we now can enjoy 

uninterrupted Internet directly to/from Manado, a special thanks to 

Richard of Kawanua Net in Manado who immediately came over to us 

to fit the new antenna, once the tower was finished.

Anyway here are a few more photos taken in the last few days

Not a fish but...

Junko Back again for a holiday

A few Underwater Photos from Bunaken

A few Arty Underwater Photos from Bunaken, I particularly like the last one, seems that something bit of one of the sea stars arms (see bottom of photo) and then spat it out and left it there, or you can forget about the arm and the sea star looks like running away...hehe

Enjoy

Now which dive guide would YOU CHOOSE ?

Now Which Dive Guides would you Choose?

The "Three Divas".......

OR

The Bunaken "Water Hog" ?

Amongst Friends but Boring all the Same

Again Pics of "George" the moray eel.

With 2 friends

Just bored? or did he eat one?

Sunrise from Bunaken Island

Sunrise at 05.23 and 05.28, view from Cha Cha Balcony

More Canon G9 photos

Here are more Photos taken with Canon G9, during Tuesdays dive at Molas (Manado)

Bunaken Cha Cha "New Arrival"

Here is our New Arrival at Cha Cha ....Chico  ...our new Great Dane puppy

She is 9 weeks old now and has already made good friends with our other

dogs.

My New Camera Canon G9

3 months after buying my new Canon G9, I had the first chance to try it out, these were a couple of results

Indonesia -Bunaken Bugs-

Most people that have stayed on Bunaken have had some sort of encounter
with the various bugs that live on the Island...yes we have spiders, not the
man eating type, scorpions...yes but again not the type that ambush you.
Ants, now I never knew till I arrived on Bunaken that there could be so many
ants in one area....and of so many different types, I often wonder what the
total population of ants could be in the world at any one time??...the mind
boggles.
After 9 years, you would think that we, at Cha Cha, would have seen all that
are available on Bunaken....but no, we still see new ones, every time the same
story....... new bug, you think of "new species" and " can we call it the Cha Cha
bug" but then we find that its actually quite common.......

Here is the latest that created quite a stir at Cha Cha the other morning,
its actually a "Tortoise Beetle" about 15mm long and gold...have a look.

"Thank You Junko" - Bunaken Cha Cha

It was with great sadness that we said goodbye to, most probably our most important collaborator " Junko san" in February 2008. Junko started working at Cha Cha in April 2006 together with her boyfriend (Nyoman), she had just recently acquired her Instructor license and had approx.. 200 dives total, so still rather "green" to the world of Diving, Teaching and Diving Resort Management.
Things did not work out with Nyoman and within a couple of months he left to return to Bali, luckily for us Junko decided to remain at Cha Cha and so began our two year work relationship with her.
Up to that moment I had been very protective of all my diving guests, rarely would I allow them to be guided by any body else other than me, but slowly Junko proved that I could trust her, I often explained that guiding is guiding and teaching is teaching you can have good guides and good Instructors, but the key to success was to be good at both.
Over time Junko did become that person both attentive and sharp eyed at guiding and a patient and methodical Instructor, in this way she gained respect from us at Cha Cha and also from her "Fans"...our guests.
Now that she has left, there is definitely an empty feeling in Cha Cha from time to time, though I can joke with almost anybody, the "connection" we had with Junko was very special.....a friend that we could totally trust, joke and laugh with.

So we wish Junko all the best for her future, we miss her and I hope she knows and understand that Reiko & I are always here should she ever need anything and that our "small paradise" is always her home too.

Here is a little tribute to her....our good friend.