Dream Team @ Pulau Weh
After two eventful years, we finally made it to Pulau Weh. As with all hidden paradises on earth, the journey there was a story in itself. We started off bright and early from the LCCT terminal to catch the one-hour AirAsia flight to Medan. Then it was a few hours of waiting at the Medan Airport for the connecting one-hour Sriwijaya flight to Banda Aceh.
At Banda Aceh, our dear friend Udi took us to a famous local restaurant for a sumptious lunch - with the Ayam Tangkap "Caught Chicken" dish taking centrestage.
From there, we proceeded to the jetty board the fast ferry to Balohan on Pulau Weh, before embarking on a bone-rattling drive through about 20km of the island's pot-holed roads to finally reach the shores of Gapang at close to 7pm.
But everyone can attest to the fact that all the travel aches were worth it the moment Gapang worked its charms on us. It truly feels, as Tom so succinctly puts it, like you had travelled to the end of the civilised world and beyond. It was good to be able to see Ton, Marjan, Sunny, Lisa, Debbie, Kolet, Aris, Mama Donut and everyone else again, and good to also meet the new faces who had stopped over at Lumbalumba.
The dives of course fantastic (although the cold water took some getting used to for those of us who are used to the warm currents of the South China Sea). The usual suspects greeted us - great schools of mating jacks, barracuda, a myriad nudibranchs, swaying carpets of garden eels just in front of the diveshop, octopus, harlequin ghost pipefish, mantis shrimp, many many species of moray eels, ribbon eels. My personal favourites - fire dartfish and elegant dartfish were also in abundance, as were throngs of red-toothed triggerfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, snappers and anthias, anthias everywhere!
We could not think of a better way to welcome 2007!
It goes without saying that another trip is being planned to revisit Weh's wonders soon. Email us at divedreamer@gmail.com for details.
At Banda Aceh, our dear friend Udi took us to a famous local restaurant for a sumptious lunch - with the Ayam Tangkap "Caught Chicken" dish taking centrestage.
From there, we proceeded to the jetty board the fast ferry to Balohan on Pulau Weh, before embarking on a bone-rattling drive through about 20km of the island's pot-holed roads to finally reach the shores of Gapang at close to 7pm.
But everyone can attest to the fact that all the travel aches were worth it the moment Gapang worked its charms on us. It truly feels, as Tom so succinctly puts it, like you had travelled to the end of the civilised world and beyond. It was good to be able to see Ton, Marjan, Sunny, Lisa, Debbie, Kolet, Aris, Mama Donut and everyone else again, and good to also meet the new faces who had stopped over at Lumbalumba.
The dives of course fantastic (although the cold water took some getting used to for those of us who are used to the warm currents of the South China Sea). The usual suspects greeted us - great schools of mating jacks, barracuda, a myriad nudibranchs, swaying carpets of garden eels just in front of the diveshop, octopus, harlequin ghost pipefish, mantis shrimp, many many species of moray eels, ribbon eels. My personal favourites - fire dartfish and elegant dartfish were also in abundance, as were throngs of red-toothed triggerfish, butterflyfish, angelfish, snappers and anthias, anthias everywhere!
We could not think of a better way to welcome 2007!
It goes without saying that another trip is being planned to revisit Weh's wonders soon. Email us at divedreamer@gmail.com for details.
posted by divedreamer at 3:33 PM
