Frequently
Asked Questions
Transportation - Recommendation
- Tickets - Animals - Currency - Money Change - Malaria - Tour Guides
- Hotels - Weather - Rent Cars - Electicity
To be continued....
How do I reach
Bunaken from Manado?
How can I get a recommendation from BUNAKEN-KLAUS
and is it really free?
Can you give me information where to get cheap
plane tickets ?
Are there poisonous or unpleasant animals e.g.
spiders, scorpions millepedes...on the island?
Which currency is accepted on Bunaken?
Where can one change or withdraw money?
How high is the danger to get malaria and shall
I have myself vaccinated against it?
About what should I be mindful in the case
of choosing a so-called "guide" or "tour guide"
?
Which hotels are cheap and recommendable in Manado?
Can one rent a car in Manado?
How is the weather like on Bunaken in the month
xxx?
What does it look like with electricity on Bunaken?
How
do I reach Bunaken from Manado?
If you have booked accomodation in a
recommended Resort, you are usually transported from the airport
(taxi) or the port of Manado (boat) to Bunaken depending on agreement.
As a backpacker you have two possibilities: You either reach the
PUBLIC Boat to Bunaken before departure (depending on tides daily
at about 14.00 h, apart from Sunday) - have a look at the map "Taxi
Boote" at the river on my web site http://www.bunaken-klaus.com/manado_e.htm.
Or you charter a private boat at the port (see the same map). This
will be more expensive, though. As third possibility you can look
for a reasonably priced hotel and spend a day in Manado and then
take the PUBLIC BOAT next day.
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How
can I get a recommendation from BUNAKEN-KLAUS and is it really free?
There are nine of at present approx.
18 Resorts/homestays, which I can recommend from my 9 years own
experience . Either I have lived and dived there myself. Or else
I have taken a close and thorough look at the resort and have myself
informed by the management about its services. Joined by experience
reports of guests, which I have got to know during my mostly 2-month
stay on Bunaken during the past 9 years. Since my last visit (Autumn
2009) many things have changed enormously within a year. Therefore
I update my information annually now.
My advice is free for you. The price
of your accommodation and the diving doesn't increase by my help
either. As a result the replies of many mails became too much for
me. Above all, if subsequent mails of the same inquirer arrived
again and again. Most often, because the special wishes were not
expressed sufficiently at the first time.
Therefore I offer 3
forms for filling out now, differentiated according to price
limits. You fill out one of this. Within the next days I do my best
to recommend you a (Dive-) Resort or homestay according to your
wishes and your budget. Including addresses and phone numbers. Some
vistors to my website regard me as an agency. But I myself am a
tourist and a diver who passes on his experiences. You can book
directly over the appropriate web site or by a recommended e-mail-adress
yourself.
I would like to make clear, though:
Subsequent e-mails with additional questions will not be answered
by me any more. Therefore consider your inquiry in the form quite
exactly.
Please don't write to me either: "Can you recommend me the
diveresort XY? I was so much impressed by its website". I won't
reply questions like this. I care for good relations to all of the
resort owners on this little island (also the less recommendable
ones). It should be like this also in the future.
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Can
you give me information where to get cheap plane tickets ?
No, to this I simply lack the experience.
Generally it is recommendable to book inland flights in Indonesia,
if possible. They are much cheaper than in the travel agency of
your country..
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Are
there poisonous or unpleasant animals e.g. spiders, scorpions millepedes...on
the island?
Primary note: My information is based
on my own experience inclusively what I know from conversations
with locals. I don't take over responsibility if you meet a dangerous
animal on Bunaken which I haven't mentioned. If e.g. you are consumed
by a boa.
There are poisonous animals, such as scorpions and millepedes, on
the island of Bunaken. They like to hide with pleasure in your clothes
or in the wetsuit overnight. Don't have hung any garments in the
bathroom. Examine always before you put on a garment, whether it
was selected by a perhaps poisonous animal as a hiding-place. Never
go barefootedly in the evening either. Neither the short routes
from your bungalow to the restaurant!
Besides of sea urgins you should pay attention to little luespotted
ribbontail rays which may have burrowed into the sand of the shallow
water. Therefore never go barefootedly into the water.
Hopefully you have learned in diving courses that one shall not
grasp anything sub-water. I would like to point particularly to
stonefish, all kinds of scorpion fish, coral catfishes, cone shells,
sea snakes, but also corals.
Uninvited guest on your balcony in the evening are often cockroaches
and flying ants.
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Which
currency is accepted on Bunaken?
You can pay with Indonesian Rupiah and
Euros in most Resorts on Bunaken. Some also take U.S. $. But the
banknotes shouldn't be dirty or damaged and the print date not older
than in 2001, though. One can pay also by Visa or MasterCard in
"better" Resorts. (see the corresponding internet page.)
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Where
can one change or withdraw money?
Not on Bunaken up till now anyway. We
use to draw our money in Manado at the cashpoint of the Bank of
Asia (BCA) by our VISA card in Indonesian currency before our transfer
to the island. This is free of charge. Have al look at the internet
page of your bank and ask about the conditions or partner banks
worldwide.
You can usually exchange cash (U.S. $ or euro) very favourably at
money changers into IR. Examples:
- Stenly (see here
or photo here
), 1°29'36.34"N; 124°50'28.95"E ; near harbour
- A Chinese rice merchant and money changer, 1°29'40.20"N;
124°50'31.17"E; near harbour
- BT Manado Inter Moneey Changer, 1°27'44.39"N;
124°49'34.18"E; Manado South
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How
high is the danger to get malaria and shall I have myself vaccinated
against it?
The danger of infection is generally
evaluated as low in North Sulawesi . Mosquitos more frequently appear
during the rainy seasons. I myself have no more taken prophylaxis
within the last 8 years. Instead I had stand-by medicine with me
for the case my travel destinations is remote of Manado, where medical
care may not be available. However, I had never to use these.
In any case I advise you, to consult your GP. He knows your medical
history and has access to the current information about the risks
at your vacation spot. Don't forget to mention that you are a diver
during the diskussion about the medicine.
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Which hotels are cheap and recommendable
in Manado?
Can
one rent a car in Manado?
In Manado city it is hard to rent a
car for driving yourself. Mostly all the car owners will include
a driver. But everywhere you can easily get motorbikes to rent.
Only at the airport Sam Ratulangi you can find some rental car companies.
If travelers ask me about rent a car in Indonesia, I always advise
them to take a car with driver because of the risk. In case of an
accident your driver is responsible. If you have been driving ,
you have to pay, no matter if you are at fault or not.
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How
is the weather like on Bunaken in the month xxx?
"What is the weather like in Paris
in June?" - A similar ...question.
One can say generally that you can dive on Bunaken all over the
year, though. The water always has a temperature of 28-30 °.
In the rainy season (November - end of March ), as the word already
says, it rains more frequently than in the dry season. The NW monsoon
winds can then blow quite intensely and occasionally bring rain
for days . There nevertheless are periods of sunshine now and then,
too. Usually you never feel cold. I myself have often felt the cooling
winds and the rain as a release from the tropical heat. If you come
back on the boat after 80 minutes diving time, though, you often
cannot be warmed up by the sun. Then you must get dressed warmly
(don't forget to protect your ears!).
You need not be afraid either that the rains soil the water around
the island how this is often the case nearby rivers at the mainland.
Often the island is spared from dark rain clouds, while a look to
Manado shows that it rains intensely there.
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What does
it look like with electricity on Bunaken?
About
what should I be mindful in the case of choosing a so-called "guide"
or "tour guide" ?
Besides some travel agencies in Manado
there are many Indonesians who offer guided tours not only to the
North Sulawesi area, but also to the Togian Islands, Tana Toraja
and even to Flores, Komodo and Bali. Since everybody can call himself
a "tour guide", with or without a special qualification
one should already take care to whom one entrusts himself.
It is primarily an important prerequisite that he masters the English
language well. Detailed knowledge should be included over the regions,
the people of Minahasa and their culture, as well as the fauna and
flora. At best you have recommended somebody by your Resort. The
dive instructors are good contact persons in this matter, either
from own experience or due to reports of their guests. Anyhow you
should make conversation with your guide before and test his qualification.
Not least also liking and confidence are an important issue.
An important topic is also the price. Make clear before what's included
and how much you must pay extra (e.g. ask about transportation,
full board, entrance, guide, overnight stay).On stopovers one also
expects that you buy for your guide as well as the driver a simple
drink and meal.
Due to my experiences and reports of travellers I must advise you:
Always pay only at the end of your tour. If you already plan the
tour from your country, of course a cash in advance is required
for large tours for booking hotels and flights in time. The remaining
payments then can be carried out step by step. To not let become
your tour an incalculable
financial adventure, you shouldn't transfer your cash in advance
to a dubious Indonesian private account. I know a confindetial person
(European) living in Manado to whom I transfer my advance payment
and then he pays out the necessary money step by step.
To prevent misunderstandings, it is also advisable to fix the course
of the planned tour including all services in note form and have
confirmed the price by signature.
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