INDONESIA - MOROTAI - D'ALOHA RESORT, DARUBA, RAJA, WAYABULA - 3 TO 5 FEBRUARY 2019

3 February 2019

At the airport at Manado, I met Nick, who was a Scottish surf guide for boats travelling through the Moluku Islands.

My flight was a propeller plane with Wings, which is the smaller company of Lion Air. The planes I think are better than Lion as they seem to have more leg room. On the flight, I chatted with a Morotai local named Nus.

At Morotai airport, it was all pretty simple. Get out of the plane , stand under the shade of the wing, get on the bus for the terminal, walk into a room to get your bag.

I had told Nus, I was going to stay at D'aloha Resort. In the carpark, he introduced me to Mizso who works at the resort and in a matter of moments I was in the resort van heading to my new lodgings. It was a bit overwhelming at this point as the van was filled with package visitors from Jakarta and Mizso had to deal with the greater number. So I saved my questions for later.

The resort was big and clean with a nice white sand beach. I settled into my room then had lunch and a swim and wandered along the beach.

Later, I sorted out my phone data top-up, organised a motorbike for tomorrow and had all my questions answered. A good start!

4 February 2019

DARUBA TO WAYABULA. 



I hired a motorbike and I rode around the the south coast and part of the west coast of Morotai. It was such a fun day full of surprises. 

I rode along the peninsula first. At the end, there were small glassy waves on the northern side. there was a bit of rubbish lying about being a weekend place to go but still the view was pretty.


The riding was easy with very little traffic, even in Daruba, the main town of Morotai. In Daruba, I walked around the docks and harbour. I had an interesting chat with a young fella who lived on one of the southern islands just off Daruba. He was waiting for the return boat in the afternoon … long wait.

After that, I stopped at a number of towns/villages along the way to Wayabula. I chatted with people, watched them dry fish in the sun and enjoyed the scenery. 

On my way back, I stopped at a village named Raja. It had a black sand beach and looked pretty, I was going to have a swim but a small crowd gathered and I was introduced to Veronica, who studied English literature in Manado and spoke excellent English. Before long, I was invited by Veronica's family to see the nearby waterfall. The falls were very pretty and there was a deep pool for swimming and jumping in from the top of the cascades. After the falls, I was invited to the family home for lunch. I was a bit hungry so I was more than happy to go. The lunch was great and we finished with a family photo shoot. 

They were such a kind and happy family. Veronica's dad is a pastor and farmer and he has taught his children to show heart felt love to others. How beautiful is that! Veronica's dad is the man with the massive smile.

5 February 2019

A good sleep but cold. Finally, worked out the air conditioner as I was leaving … turn it off! At breakfast, I met Norma, who I got to know better on my return. She works at the resort and has great English and is a lovely person. She organized the car for the next leg of my journey.