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Indonesia Togian Islands (by David Cumber) 
The Togian islands, lie in a huge bay in the north of Sulawasi. Several islands exist in this chain. Traveling there can be a nightmare. Unlike Manado, you can't fly directly here. There are some smaller airports, which Indonesia's airlines service, closer to these islands than Manado. But a lengthy car journey is still required (and the roads aren't great). Followed by the slowest boat journey I've been on, to the actual islands. But, don't let me put you off. This is a great location for diving. The accommodation is basic, little huts set on the beach, food is included in the room price (you will get sick of fish in the end). There are few dive centers here, so it doesn't get very busy. The lack of transportation, and the distances involved keep people away....and therefore not many dive shops. This place will take off in a few years, when this is sorted out. At the moment, it is somewhere that is unspoiled and special. As your hut is on the beach, you can snorkel whenever. Each guesthouse will have it's own house reef. On the one I was staying I saw: crocodile fish, flounders, juvenile trigger fish, octopus, pristine pink table coral, staghorn just while snorkeling 20M of the beach in 3M of water. The dive sites are spread all over the island, and the island chain is quite large (there must be hundreds of possible dive sites here). So boats trips from 5 mins to anything over an hour are possible. Visibility 10-30M, depending which island you are close to (there are mangrove swamps here and vis can really be cut down in this areas and the bottom can be stirred up). Water temperature 25-30C. A B-24 Bomber, crashed landed in the sea around these islands during the second world war. The crew survived and were later captured by the Japanese. The incident was well known about as the plane was afloat on the water before it sank, so its location is well known. It happened to land in a spot that hasn't got the best visibility, but as it sunk slowly it is in really good condition. The bottom is on 20M, so good bottom time available, lying on its belly. The engine's were damaged on landing, but some of the propellers are still attached although a bit bent. A lot of the glass on the cockpit survived, and a lot of the guns are still attached. You can get a look inside from some hole in the side. Now obviously this is quite interesting in itself, but to just add a little more, a very large group of jacks use this as home. You are constantly surrounded by these as you explore the wreck. Cracking dive. The Crack,
has very funny topography. In some places it's a steep wall, with vertical
gully's and canyons. These form really nice swim through, covered in huge
gorgonians. In some places it's a gentle slope, which then flatten out
to give a nice shallow reef. A large dive site, where you can cover a
large area. As the depth varies, multi level dives are perfect here. But
you really need a guide here who can plan the dive to get the best out
of it. Coral excellent, fish life varied. I saw large barracuda swimming
about, although generally by themselves. Turtle's and some great nudibranches.
The local fisherman do use dynamite for fishing, and I saw hundreds of
dead fish on one dive, the fishermen must have just left. As there are
so little divers here, there's not much pressure on them to stop. The
Gap, is very similar. Steep slope at the start, which flattens out.
This flattens out at around 12M, so you could just dive the shallow bit,
and have a long dive. This is also the best bit of the reef, schools of
fish. The coral was the best I've seen. Particularly the table coral...up
to 2.5M in diameter and bright pink. Hard place to get to but worth it.
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