BIRA, SULAWESI - BEACH AND SNORKEL - 3 TO 9 SEPTEMBER 2019

BIRA

COSTS

Makassar to Bira – car – 800 000R

Puri View Inn – great room 400 000R

Motorbike hire – 100 000R with a full tank of petrol

Boat snorkelling tour – 500 000R

Entry fee into Bira Beach area – a one off fee of 20 000r per person

THE ARRIVAL

It was a long drive from Makassar to Bira. Arus was a careful driver. The roads were good except for a section just after leaving Makassar.

We stopped in some town for lunch and coffee.

Ar Bira, we stopped at Riswan Homestay and met Riswan himself. The rooms were small, clean and basic. He also had another guesthouse ‘Puri View Inn’. We drove over to the other side of Bira to look at the rooms. It looked okay and finally he showed us one more room which was very large, tables and chairs, a good size balcony and a view over the ocean. The room itself was made entirely from varnished timber. It looked great so we took it and said our farewells to Arus.

On another day I checked out a couple of other4 hotels. They also had good rooms but they were twice the cost.

RISWAN

Riswan was the owner of the hotel. He had a dry sense of humour.

One day he told us that hundreds of his chickens just died. He also owned a chicken farm. The cause he feels was the stress from the latest weather extremes of cold nights and hot/dry days.

THE BEACHES

Bira Beach

I started most days with a stroll down to the beach and a swim. The water was a bit chilly and it was very quiet. I would stand on the beach watching the boats as the sun rose between the hills and buildings.

During the rest of the day, the beach could be quite crowded with Indonesian tourists from Makassar. They would swim fully clothed. I always use to think that later that would be so uncomfortable but they seemed to enjoy themselves so much.

Quite often people on the beach would ask if they could have a photo of you and them. The asking of the photo was amusing, It varied from very polite English and a prayer gesture with their hands to a grunt and a abrupt come here wave. So now I have so many ‘friends’.

The beach at Bira was white sand and very soft and fine. The waves were small and gently rolled towards the shore. There were many boats moored just off to beach which offered services to tourists.

We would walk along the beach and pick a quiet and secluded spot to sit. The beach at this end was lined with a 4 metre high limestone cliff. Jacinta would sit in the sun while I sat in the shade of the cliff. A nice spot, where it was good to wade through the water or sit and read.

Towards sunset, we would walk down to the beach. I would have a swim on the beach followed by a beer together while sitting on the sand watching the sun disappear below the horizon. Nice!

East Beach

This was a wide white sand beach. It was best at high tide. It was palm fringed with a few shaded spots but watch out for falling coconuts. We would either sit on the beach in the shade of the palms or on a  nice wooden platform when we ate food from Kaluku Cottages.

Bara Beach

This beach was on the other side of the bay visible from Bira Beach. Generally, I think it was a pretty beach though the road to the beach was very rough.

THE SNORKELING AT BIRA

It was an effort to get to the drop off of the reef from the beach as the water was fairly shallow during thee lowering tide. I maneuvered between coral outcrops and slight indentations in the rocks to get to deeper water. I was well rewarded once past the shallow waters with clear water, heaps of fish and coral, schools of fish and three turtles. I drifted along with the current then had a difficult time getting to shore as the water was even shallower. J

On another day, we had a snorkel off the beach. The tide was higher than previously so getting out to the drop off wasn’t as hard. We drifted with the current and saw heaps of fish and some pretty coral.

SNORKELING BOAT TOUR

We organised our gear for a snorkeling tour then set off for the beach to meet Oudin (the skipper of the boat) at 8am, He readied his boat and off we went. It was a hard trip to the uninhabited Goat Island. The wind was strong with a metre swell running against us. The boat bumped and heaved along for about ½ hour in the blustery conditions.

We moored on the sheltered side of the island. The water was crystal clear, calm with a slow drift current. Perfect. The corals were pristine and there was an enormous amount and variety of fish and no one else was there. It was one of the best snorkels I have had ever.

Oudin took us around to the wild, windy and wavy side of the island to show us a monument on the island.

Next, was Liuang Island, which is opposite Bira. He beached the boat and I walked up to the guesthouse on the edge of the beach to check it out. The rooms were good but it  a bit much at 500 000r plus 50 000r per person for meals and 300 000R for a boat drop off and pick up.

I had a snorkel while Jacinta warmed up and baked on the island beach. Once again the water was clear though there wasn’t as much coral or fish. Still, I saw a lot of clown fish.

We picked up Jaciinta from the beach and motored back to Bira Beach.

THE MOTORBIKE

I went looking for a motorbike to hire one morning but no luck. Everyone kept saying ‘tidak ada’, not have but try Warung Bamboo. Eventually, I got to Warung Bamboo but thee only bike they had looked very dodgy with bald tires and being dirty. I came back to the hotel empty handed. Haha!

We decided to walk to the Indomart just outside the main drag of Bira. Along the way, a friendly guy said hello so I asked him about hiring a bike. Yes he said with a choice of two. He hired his bike to us and we drove the rest of the way to the Indomart where we stocked up biscuits, fruit, etc. We were pretty lucky as I nearly didn’t ask him.

FOOD

The food at Bira is not good. Not that it is unclean, it is just that there is no where to eat. BUT there are heaps of warungs and restaurants all selling basically instant noodles. No fruit, no variety!

At first, we ate a lot at the Warung Bamboo. The food was okay but generally, it was a noisy place and the tables were always dirty.

There was another restaurant on stilts to the east of the beach. The cooking was done by a lady from Timor. The food was good and the servings were big. The place was clean and it had an excellent view. This was our favourite.

We also drove the motorbike to Kakulu Cottages at East Beach which had excellent meals and a great view over the beach.

There were a couple of larger hotels with restaurants but they always seemed to be closed as they were mainly dealing with packaged Indonesian tourist with a set buffet of dishes.

Why was the food so poor? Who knows?

We cooked our own breakfast at our hotel – weetbix, coffee and boiled eggs.

THE HIKE

I took the motor bike for a ride over to the start of a nature hike. It was a pleasant hike with lots of butterflies and calls from distant and well hidden birds. The lantana was thick along  the track edge making it difficult to walk. I got a number of scratches.  At one point,  there was a massive web across the track with a huge spider and a number of babies on it.

INDONESIA - SULAWESI - BIRA - 11 TO 13 JUNE 2014 - 'BIRA SELAMAT TINGGAL'

Info

Nusa Bira Indah Hotel – 081343636883 – 200 000R air con room

Eriq shanty – Salassa guest house - 08124265672 - salassaguesthouse@yahoo.com

The journey

After the boat ride from Palau Luikang Loe, I settled back into the Nusa Bira Hotel.

Later, I walked to the beach for a snorkel. It was great! The water was very clear with lots of coral and fish and even two sea turtles. The first sea turtle was amazing. I dived down and it didn’t swim off. It looked at me and kept grazing on the seaweed. I dove a number of times and even touch it. Finally, it surfaced and I surfaced with it side by side. It then swam slowly out to sea and I escorted it for part of the way. The best turtle experience I have ever had!

At sunset, I walked along the beach.

The next day, I had two snorkels off west beach and saw fish, coral and a turtle.

I made arrangements with Eric from Salassa guesthouse for a car/driver to Sengkang and Rantepao.

I met two nice German couples - Elka and Louis – Pascal and ?

Louis was a cook and they had cycled across most of Australia.

I woke to a beautiful morning.

 I said my goodbyes to ibu at Nusa Bira Indah and off Eric and I drove towards Sengkang. 

INDONESIA - SULAWESI - BIRA - 4 to 9 JUNE 2014 - 'DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER'

Info

Car/driver Makassar to Bira 800 000R

Bira entrance fee 20 000R

Hotel Anda –

Nusa Bira Indah Hotel – 081343636883 – 200 000R air con room

Motorbike hire - Bamboo Warung

The journey

I left Makassar with my driver/car towards Bira, the traffic wasn’t too bad and the roads were okay. The drive took about 4hours not six with a stop for lunch. The driver spoke very limited English and he was loud and a bit annoying with his constant chatter about nothing but he drove fast and furiously. Eventually, I told him to stop talking and drive only.

I paid the 20 000R entrance fee for Bira and checked out two hotels and chose the Anda Hotel. It was clean, aircon and quiet for 475 000R.

I wandered down the road and down the steps to the beach. Bira was a pretty white sand beach with sand similar to Byron Bay. The water was clean, light blue and very inviting. Warungs lined the beach with tourist/fishing/banana boats dotted along the beach and in the water. I met and chatted with a nice group of local school students back for the day from their high school at Makassar.

I spent the late afternoon on the beach, enjoying the sunset, having a few local and Makassar conversations and a couple of cold beers.

That night I had dinner at the Bamboo Warung. It was cheap and tasty had a number of chats with expats, locals and the staff of the warung. It was a great eatery for information.

In the morning, I decided to change hotels. The room was good but the price too high for what I was getting plus it was boring and the staff unhelpful. After breakfast, I moved hotels to Nusa Bira Indah Hotel – 081343636883. The owner was very short and small but she was so sweet and nice. The rooms were spaced well apart on stilts. The room was large with wooden walls and floor. It had a comfortable large bed, air con and bathroom. All for 200 000R and breakfast.

Once settled, I went for a walk west along the beach. It was very pretty with small waves and a backdrop of a long limestone cliff which was eroded at the base by sea and salt action. Along the way, there were a number of steps up the cliff face heading to nowhere or starting 3 to 4 metres above the beach. There were also a number of small shallow caves.

On my return, I had a really tasty lunch at the Bira Beach Hotel. I ate lunch here a number of times has it had a cool breeze, good food and a nice view over the beach.

Later, I went for a snorkel off the beach. There was a drop about 200m out that had heaps of fish and some corals. The current was reasonably strong and heading in the wrong direction to where I wanted to drift so I only snorkel there for a short time.

I had dinner again at the Bamboo Warung, met a few locals and expats from New Caledonia who were repairing a boat. Udi (I think) from Makassar was playing guitar. It was all a lot of fun with some singing.

The next day, I went for a long hike after breakfast up the nearby hill of Pua Janggo. It had a nice view of Bira and the harbour. I backtracked down the hill then continued along the road and down the turn off to Kaluku Cottages at East Beach. It was a long, pretty white sanded beach but the off shore winds made it uninviting for a swim. At the northern end of the beach was a boat building area. The boats being constructed there were massive and heavy wooden structures. I think it would be very hard to get them onto the water.

I retraced my steps and stopped at Kukulu Cottages for a lime juice. The accommodation was pretty and well maintained but isolated beach feel.

I continued along further south to the harbour. The beach here was rocky and covered in flotsam. The harbour was interesting with a few large boats.  I walked out of the harbour area and back to Bira.

Back at Bira, I had a sunset swim down the beach, starred in many local photos and drank a couple of beers. At dinner, I met a nice couple, Colin (Irish) and Rachelle (English), who were dive instructors in Thailand.

It was a noisy sleep with a large group of students arriving early morning and talking till 4am.

In the morning, I organised a boat to snorkel the reefs off Pulau Liukang. The boat trip was short and fun. At the island, the snorkelling was good with pretty coral and lots of different types of fish. Later, the boat landed on the island and I wandered around the beach and village. I t was very interesting and pretty but the camera batteries went dead. I had a great fish and rice lunch at the homestay at one end of the beach. The homestay had a separate room for 250 000R fan and 350 000R air con. It looked very nice and was located right on the beach.

Back at Bira, I had a lazy afternoon with beers and a swim at sunset on West Beach. I met a number of people such as a group of Indo bike riders from Makassar who spoke very good English and two university students who recorded an interview with myself.

Today was exploring the area by motor bike day. It started off a bit slow but to cut the story short there was no bike from the hotel. I walked up the road and got one from the Bamboo Warung. That took about 20 minutes.

I just drove all over the place, I had no map but I had a great time driving through towns, villages and to various beaches. It rained a lot so I had some rest/ talk sessions in sheltered areas until the skies cleared. In one of the stops, I was invited onto the family veranda for a chat and was offered water and biscuits. The biscuits tasty so well. It was a fun ride!

Back to the hotel, rest, late lunch, a couple of beers down the beach and a twilight walk along the beach. I got the phone number – 08114211418 - for the home stay on Pulau Luihukan and booked a room for two nights.

My lesson today was to organise things the day before I go anywhere or if not wait patiently. I went down the beach to organise a boat to the island with the guy who got the homestay number for me but he wanted 600 000R. The next guy I got down to 150 000R. I went back to the hotel and tried ringing the island homestay. At last, I got an answer and the boat was 100 000R and he would meet me at my hotel. It just got better from then… he carried my bag to the boat, sent a guy (who couldn’t swim well) overboard when my hat blew into the water. My parting vision of Bira were waves on the beach which looked bodysurf able.