Yaaay, diving again! Tanjung Karang is a village in Donggala County, approximately one hour from Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi. It is not as famous as many other diving destinations in Indonesia such as Rajaampat, Komodo or Bali. But I believe there are many, many beautiful spots that are yet to be discovered (probably it’s better be this way. Indonesia is renowned to spoil its originally beautiful and pristine natural sites).
So, we flew to Palu via Balikpapan with Sriwijaya Air. If you haven’t heard about the airline, have no worries. We survived. The dive operator company called Prince John (www.princejohndiveresort) arranged three cars with drivers to pick us up at the airport. The bosses, Alex and Gaby (both Germans), which we later met at the resort, ran the dive center since 12 years ago.
I found Palu very clean and, well, empty. But it was as expected. That’s what you will find going to non-touristic destinations in Indonesia.
The humble resort where we stayed wasn’t so bad though. Prince John resort was right next to its beautiful beach. The trip was affordable too. We spent around Rp 6.7 million for 5 nights and air tickets. It’s PADI-certified dive centre also had good guides and the staff were very nice! They liked to laugh and were never out of jokes. So were we! There were 8 of us: Rina Tambunan, Jeffrey and Regina Wirianta, Meta Rostiawati, Adrijani Lim, Joseph Liemonta, Ayodhya Glenardi (Glen) and myself. Many thanks to Rina and Adri who arranged most of the things for us.
You know what is the best thing about a diving trip? Meal times! The food served by the resort was reasonable, but nothing really tickled my refined taste buds ;). I always feel tremendously hungry after diving, and always find the food good enough even though we maybe on a rocky boat and the others are throwing up.
I will tell you my overall impression about our Tanjung Karang trip. The diving was ok. Nothing spectacular, but I still recommend it. The resort was ok too, but expect nothing fancy, and be prepared with your mosquito repellent. The bugs and mosquitoes were quite a challenge for me. I loved the local people. They were fun! So I suggest you go there with your best buddies, as you can’t do anything after diving but to have beers, share jokes and eat snacks (which you have to bring from home).
I will let the photos continue the story.
