We while away the days in the Togian Islands.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0650-1024x683.jpg)
After a two-day drive through the mountains from Rantepao, it’s another full day journey on the water from Ampala to the Sandy Bay Resort, on the island of Malenge.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0537-1024x683.jpg)
We have to thank Soufiane and Jessica once more for this experience: we share a car and driver with them for the journey to Ampana. They plan to stay in the Sandy Bay Resort, so we tag along.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0538-1024x683.jpg)
It’s a short boat trip further to arrive at the resort.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0545-1024x683.jpg)
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0550-1024x683.jpg)
It’s pretty nice, I must say. Even snorkeling in the bay is like a mini Great Barrier Reef.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0555-1024x683.jpg)
It’s about $CAD70.00 per day, three meals included (for two people).
The small boats are how we get around.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0626-1024x683.jpg)
But it’s hard to get here. And once you’re here, it’s hard to get around: boat schedules and availability of accommodation are difficult to verify without internet service.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0557-1024x683.jpg)
A noteworthy day trip is to the jellyfish lagoon. In fact, this is one of the more remarkable places we’ve seen so far. In a lagoon cut off from the sea, we drift in bathwater-temperature water for an hour among serenely floating sting-less jellyfish. It’s like ‘floating among corpuscles in a blood vessel’, or ‘floating among souls in purgatory’; pick your own analogy.
We set out for another expedition to several offshore reefs.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0619-1024x682.jpg)
In the front are Frans, from the Netherlands, and Alina and Dominick, from Germany.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0566-1024x682.jpg)
In the rear (or ‘abaft’ is the nautical term), Soufiane, Jessica, Maria, and a pale-looking me.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0568-1024x683.jpg)
Snorkeling on these reefs is like swimming in an aquarium.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0621-1024x683.jpg)
We’ve never seen such crystal-clear water.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0595-1024x683.jpg)
And the sunsets are superb.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0655-1024x682.jpg)
Something to keep in mind: there is no cellphone or internet service, electricity is limited to a few hours of generator-supplied juice per day, and you’d better like fish, because that’s the main dish for most meals. Freshness guaranteed.
Sight or Insight of the Day – Togian Islands
We make an excursion to the Bajau village in Pulau Papan to see how the sea gypsy people live.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0624-1024x683.jpg)
Like many countries in this part of the world, the government encourages the ‘Sea People’ to settle in permanent villages.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0634-1024x683.jpg)
They have live lobster for sale, but no one has the heart to transport them home to meet a turbulent fate in the pot.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0643-1024x683.jpg)
We’re a source of amusement for the locals.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0647-1024x683.jpg)
The village at the end of the boardwalk.
![Togian Islands](https://randomrambles.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/IMG_0651-1024x683.jpg)