How to get there ?
From Gorontalo, there is 1 ways to get there:
- The boat leaving every Friday evening directly to the togians no longer exists (2/2002).
- There's a boat leaving every other night around 9 to 10 pm in the evening arriving in the morning in Pagimana, then you have to take a bus to Ampana, and then take a boat to Bomba. you can rent a mattress to sleep.
- From Ampana there are boats to Bomba ( 2 km out off the city ) in the morning at around 10 am - 10000 Rp. Also boats to Wakai 20000 Rp or the boat of the Kadidiri Paradise goes direct to Kadidiri. There is an new ferry in Ampana but still not in use and nobody nows when it will start to operate. At the moment it`s possible to charge the big dive-boat off Black Marlin Dive. ( 1 000 000 000 Rp for 10 person, every aditionally person 100000 Rp ) (Update 4/2002 by Egon Amann).
Coming from Poso, you can either take the boat to Ampana which leaves at 10 pm, or you can go by road. I had mixed reports about the boat though. Arriving in Ampana, you can have breakfast before it leaves for the Togians at around 9 am. Make sure you have some food and plenty of drinks, it can get very hot on the boat and there's nothing for sale. Best place is on the roof, but have sunscreen and sarong for protection. The boat arrives at 2 or 3 pm in Wakai.
The Pandan Sari’s weekly schedule (11/98):
- Leaves Poso Monday night
- Arrives / leaves Ampana Tuesday AM
- Arrives Wakai Tuesday evening
- Makes four more stops in the Togians overnight: Katupat, Malenge, and Dolong
- Arrives in Gorontalo Wednesday afternoon
- Begins the return trip from Gorontalo to Poso Fridays at midnight (would arrive in Poso Sunday afternoon or evening)
Boattrips from Ampana to Togians
Schedule as posted in Ampana 12/98, no guarantee these boats do actually run!
- The "Petasia Indah" leaves Ampana for Dolong (VIA Wakai, Katupat, and Malenge) Sundays at 10:00 AM, and starts the return trip Wednesdays at 10:00 AM
- The "Wana Bhakti" Leaves Ampana for Malenge via Wakai and Katupat Mondays Wednesdays, and Fridays at 10:00 AM, starting the return trip Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at 6:30 AM The "Duta Balari" leaves Ampana to Bomba, Wakai, and Katupat, Tuesdays and Saturdays at 10:00 AM and starts the return trip Wednesday at 10:00 AM and Monday at 7:30 AM.
- The "Duta Laut" leaves Ampana for Wakai Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 10:00 AM, and begins the return trips Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Mondays at 10:00 AM
Where to stay
In Bomba there are good places to stay with hotels on stilts.
Update 3/99 (P. Blumtritt): a new more upmarket resort called Island Retreat has opened in Bomba. They charge about 10 to 15 US$ pp including full board, and they have a diving center (55 US$ for 2 dives including equipment). It is owned by Sylvie Manley, an American lady who owns the Island Café in Rantepao. They also have a website at www.togian-island-retreat.com
Comment from Leo Hutter (2/2000):
- It's brand new, not as cheap as the others (which are very cheap), but it's definitely very good value. The cottages are new, clean and most of them are with a seaview. When we where there, there was still no running water, but there is a mandi with fresh water (some other places only have seawater).
- The snorkeling is good and the food is very good, especially when you like fish. We stayed there longer then we expected and had a very good time.
- It's not difficult to go there. A boat from Ampana to Wakai or Bomba can drop you there (although they are not familliar with that) or can call a boat from the shore to pick you up. You have to get off before you reach Bomba.
- A boat to Wakai leaves every morning at about 10 am from the harbour. A boat from Ampana to Bomba leaves every day at about 10 am. It leaves not at the 'big' harbour where the boat to Wakai leaves, but about 2 km to the east. It takes 2 hours to go to Bomba and should not cost more then 1 USD. To Wakai/Kadiri it's 4 hours and 2 USD.
Arriving in Wakai, you could go to Kadidiri. If you want to go to Wakai Cottages, ask for Mr. Onyx, he will bring you there by boat. Otherwise just tell people you want to go Kadidiri Paradise, and they will tell you who can bring you there. There are 3 homestays in fierce competition with each other:
- Apparently Wakai Kadidiri Paradise is a great place to stay, but I got several reports from people saying the owners don't worry too much about environment. They still serve coconut crab which is an endangered species. Tell the owners you don't appreciate this. However, they do have a diving school. The Wakai Cottages in Kadidiri changed their name in Black Marlin Dive. The bungalows are all brand new now, but the ventilation is bad so they can get very hot. (4/2002).
I got this e-mail from a traveller in july 2000.
"I just want to tell you something about Paradise Bungalows in Togian islands because we had very big problems with the owner called Huntje. We were 9 tourists and we asked her to charter a regular safety boat from Wakai to Marisa. Paradise was just supposed to make the link with the Wakai's boat. Finally she wanted to keep the money and we discovered the morning we were supposed to leave that she gave us a small diving boat from the diving club "Paradise" which is not able to go for a 7 hours trip. We accepted because some of us had a flight to take in Manado and they told us that the boat was safe enough. After 4 or 5 hours trip the boat began to break and we had just enough time to get closer to the coast (close to Timur village). And finally we sank.We swam to the coast wich was about 500 m from the boat . If this had happened 1/2 hours before we would have died (9 tourists and 5 Indonesians). Because of the stupidity and irresponsability of Paradise's owner 14 people's lives were seriously in danger. I don't want it to happen again. That is the reason why I want to tell to every body (there were articles in Manado and Jakarta news papers) and I send e-mail to traveller sites."
- The place next door is "Wakai Cottages". They are much more aware of environment, using f.i. bamboo roofs instead of iron. You can also dive, but their diving gear is a bit dodgy. This might change in the future. Price for a bungalow and 3 meals is 20.000 Rp (4/98) or 25.000 Rp with mandi.
- Another good and new place to stay is Tai Pi(?) near Kadiri. It's on a small island just in front of Kadiri and because it's from the same owner of the Wakai Kadiri Paradise people from there will bring you for free. The snorkeling and accomodation is better then on Kadiri, but there is not much more to do then hanging around, laying on the beach and snorkeling. Go there if you want to relax. There is no fresh water in the mandi but the food is good and it only costs 5 USD (like all the other accomodation at Kadiri), including accomodation and 3 meals.
There's a third smaller homestay, the Pondok Lestari, which also gets very good reports from all travellers (10/98)..
All of these places are basic with mandy, but no electricity and just the beach in front and the jungle behind, but that's part of the charm.
WARNING
Peter Blumtritt has gotten several reports from travellers saying there were problems at the Togians with reef being destroyed, but also mini-clashes between the owners of Kadidiri Paradise and Wakai Cottages. There were also lots of thefts at those places (7/99).
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