12 days in Tomia, Wakatobi

October 1st 2010 is the first day that I took a real vacation, and what I’m dreaming for a long time. Backpacking to Sulawesi, with 4 of my friends.  It was a really fabulous time with my friends. I met some new friends there in Tomia, and some on the way I went to Tomia. The local people there are really warm and friendly.

The trip began from International Airport Soekarno-Hatta, Cengkareng, where I took a flight to Sultan Hasanuddin Airport, Makassar with Lion Air and then continued to Bau-Bau Airport with Wings Air plane. It cost me Rp 883.000 to fly to Bau-Bau with Makassar as a transit point. Then from Bau-Bau, I had to take a little ferry “KM Wisata Indah 2″ to Tomia for about 10 hours on the ocean. The ferry cost me Rp 130.000

But all the efforts were not a waste at all, Tomia is like heaven, the air is very clean, the scenery is terrific. It’s also a very good place for divers. The scenery under water is very good.

At Tomia, I and my friends met my friend Yudi which is a doctor. He also introduced us to 3 of his friends, Elisa, Nad, and Tyo. They are very friendly and accepted us like their family.

The journey in Tomia began after I arrived at Tomia harbor, and then take a little walk to Tomia Dive Center, a diving center which my friend Yudi established. Then he took us to Puskesmas in Onemay, Waha. We spent only the afternoon there, then we moved on to Usuku and spent a night there. The day after we moved to Onemay again because Yudi’s friend Elisa and Tyo just got back from Wanci island, and Yudi had to handle the Puskesmas in Onemay. So we moved to Onemay for the rest of the days in Tomia. Electricity in Tomia is only up at night. We have to prepare everything that uses electricity at night, so we can use them at days. Puskesmas Keliling car is our only free transportation. We can also rent an ojek to go to places.

There is only one restaurant in Onemay, Ayu Lestari. Ayu Lestari is our only source of food if we’re hungry and lazy to cook. The resto sells a lot of menus, like Nasi Ikan, Nasi Ayam, Soto Ayam, Nasi Goreng, Bakso, Kue Kacang, Es pisang ijo, Es sirop,  Es teh, etc. The chilly sauce is also very hot.The price for rice meal is around Rp 10.000 – 15.000. The price for beverages is around Rp 3.000-5.000. Thanks Ayu Lestari.

Tomia is divided into some areas, and I just visited Onemay/Waha, Waitii, and Usuku. There is still Kahayanga that I hadn’t visited yet. Each area has each own market place. Market place only opens on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday if I’m not mistaken.

There is also night market, market place that opens only at night. Night market sells cakes, and other ready to eat foods.

We went swimming almost every day. The beaches that we visited were, Hondue, Huntete. And the snorkling spots we visited were Roma, Table Coral, MariMabuk.

We also visited Wakatobi Dive Resort at Onemobaa island which is a 5 star resort for divers. Onemobaa is an island not far away from Tomia. It only takes 30 minutes for us to reach Onemobaa island by Koli-koli or a Pompong( Koli-koli is a boat slightly bigger than pompong). They have 12 resorts, a restaurant, beach, and its own electricity generator that can light up the whole island. To be able to enjoy all these facilities you will need to spend USD 3000 / week.

There is also Pemda Inn in Onemobaa which is an inn that has many rooms that you can rent for some price that I still don’t know yet.

That’s all the story, I went home on October 12th using the same route when we go. But this time we have to spend a night in the boat at Bau-Bau, because the boat arrived at night, on the other hand, the flight from Bau-bau to Makassar is only available in the afternoon 14.00 PM. We arrived at Jakarta on October 13th. It’s sad to be e_status_hidden=1

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