Togean Island – Katupat village and magical beaches
This island is the second largest in The Togean Archipelago. I visited the main settlement, Katupat Village, which has a small market and a couple of shops. Around the large island are magical beaches, e.g. Carina beach which, perhaps, was the best beach I saw in The Togeans – and in all of Sulawesi.
This island is the second largest in The Togean Archipelago. I visited the main settlement, Katupat Village, which has a small market and a couple of shops. Around the large island are magical beaches, e.g. Carina beach which, perhaps, was the best beach I saw in The Togeans – and in all of Sulawesi.
Diving in the Togeans
Diving in the Togeans is, simply stated, amazing. I did 8 dives in five different locations during my stay there.
I did 4 dives in Taipi Wall approximately 300-400 meters off the coast of Taipi Island. The coral was quite good and in terms of fauna, there was a lot of bump heads and dolphins. The most amazing, though, was the 100 meter/300 feet visibility.
Furthermore, I did two dives off the coast of remote Una Una Island. I should mention that my effort to go there was due to rumours of people spotting hammerhead sharks some weeks before my arrival. So, obviously I hoped to come across the magnificent, big fish. Lamentably, I didn’t encounter any. However, the fist drift dive at Apollo Reef was great. The undercurrent was kind’ a crazy. When I jumped in and went down 5 meters/15 feet I was suddenly being pulled down to 30 meters/90 feet along an inclining sandy slope. At 45 meters/135 feet there were a lot of octopuses. The strong undertow made it hard and exhausting to reach the surface in the end of the dive. We had to keep on swimming alongside the sandy slope to find a gap in the downward-going current.
The second dive off the coast of Una Una Island was at The Pinnacle, one of the top sites and an island drop-off. The upper section of the pinnacle was mainly red and the lower section was mostly purple. The most amazing thing, though, was the huge school of dolphins comprising around 20-30 friendly and curious dolphins.
Three things in the Togeans, which I really loved…
Firstly, the stilt villages
In the first place, I fell in love with the small stilt villages and fishing huts you could see everywhere in small bays scattered around the Togeans. The locals living in these traditional huts were either fishermen or pearl divers. One day we paid a visit to a small stilt village across Kadidiri island and bought 4 kilos of freshly trapped red lobsters – we only had to pay 250 Rupiah! The cook at our place boiled them for us before dinner. Delicious.
Secondly, the sunsets and the atmosphere around nightfall
Secondly, I miss the laid-back, guitar playing, Indonesian love-song-singing islanders. On Fridays the young dive boys make a bonfire at the beach, go to Wakai for arac (the local booze) and start playing guitar and singing around sunset. And you are more than welcome to participate. Headache the following day is guaranteed.
Thirdly, the coconut crab
Thirdly, I was keen on the coconut crab, the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod. Once it lived on islands throughout the western Pacific Ocean, but now it’s unique to the Togeans. Most references give a weigh of 4 kg/9 lb, and a body length of 1 meter/3 feet. The front-most large claws are used to open coconuts, and the claws can lift objects up to 29 kg/64 lb in weight. One night a local fisher paid us a visit as he had captured a pretty large one in the jungle. Yes, they live exclusively on land in the jungle alone in underground burrows – they cannot swim and will drown in water. It was a kind of odd sight but very cool.
Diving in the Togeans is, simply stated, amazing. I did 8 dives in five different locations during my stay there.
I did 4 dives in Taipi Wall approximately 300-400 meters off the coast of Taipi Island. The coral was quite good and in terms of fauna, there was a lot of bump heads and dolphins. The most amazing, though, was the 100 meter/300 feet visibility.
Furthermore, I did two dives off the coast of remote Una Una Island. I should mention that my effort to go there was due to rumours of people spotting hammerhead sharks some weeks before my arrival. So, obviously I hoped to come across the magnificent, big fish. Lamentably, I didn’t encounter any. However, the fist drift dive at Apollo Reef was great. The undercurrent was kind’ a crazy. When I jumped in and went down 5 meters/15 feet I was suddenly being pulled down to 30 meters/90 feet along an inclining sandy slope. At 45 meters/135 feet there were a lot of octopuses. The strong undertow made it hard and exhausting to reach the surface in the end of the dive. We had to keep on swimming alongside the sandy slope to find a gap in the downward-going current.
The second dive off the coast of Una Una Island was at The Pinnacle, one of the top sites and an island drop-off. The upper section of the pinnacle was mainly red and the lower section was mostly purple. The most amazing thing, though, was the huge school of dolphins comprising around 20-30 friendly and curious dolphins.
Three things in the Togeans, which I really loved…
Firstly, the stilt villages
In the first place, I fell in love with the small stilt villages and fishing huts you could see everywhere in small bays scattered around the Togeans. The locals living in these traditional huts were either fishermen or pearl divers. One day we paid a visit to a small stilt village across Kadidiri island and bought 4 kilos of freshly trapped red lobsters – we only had to pay 250 Rupiah! The cook at our place boiled them for us before dinner. Delicious.
Secondly, the sunsets and the atmosphere around nightfall
Secondly, I miss the laid-back, guitar playing, Indonesian love-song-singing islanders. On Fridays the young dive boys make a bonfire at the beach, go to Wakai for arac (the local booze) and start playing guitar and singing around sunset. And you are more than welcome to participate. Headache the following day is guaranteed.
Thirdly, the coconut crab
Thirdly, I was keen on the coconut crab, the world’s largest terrestrial arthropod. Once it lived on islands throughout the western Pacific Ocean, but now it’s unique to the Togeans. Most references give a weigh of 4 kg/9 lb, and a body length of 1 meter/3 feet. The front-most large claws are used to open coconuts, and the claws can lift objects up to 29 kg/64 lb in weight. One night a local fisher paid us a visit as he had captured a pretty large one in the jungle. Yes, they live exclusively on land in the jungle alone in underground burrows – they cannot swim and will drown in water. It was a kind of odd sight but very cool.
