Togean Islands - Sea Gypsies and the Blue Lagoon

The Togean or Togian Islands are in the north of Sulawesi.

If I would ever call anything tropical paradise with all the romantic stereotypes and ideas attached to the word
- THE TOGIANS ARE EXACTLY THAT.

Though for this one needs to travel quite a bit. By plain (lion air) to either Gorontalo in the north or Luwuk or Poso in the south.
From Gorontalo it is a 16 h boat/ ferry trip to Wakai. The biggest village "town" on the Togeans. From there you have several options.
I hired a small fishing boat and cruised to several islands. My favorite was Melenge. And the by far best place to stay is Lestari Homestay. All the images below are from Lestari. Maybe the most beautiful beach place I have ever been too. Actually not maybe - for sure.

Melenge is about 3 hours from Wakai. If the sea is rough this can be an adventure. I once had to go back to Wakai to catch a ferry to catch a flight in Gorontalo. Nobody wanted to take me as the waves were too high for the small fishing boats. A "sea gypsy" with apparently the best boat on the island's took me in the end. He had a 6 or maybe even 8 meter long dugout. 1 meter wide and a meter deep. One single tree with two engines! Amazing and we made it - not quite dry but made it.

Anyway, Lestari is the place. It is has two water fronts. One is a a blue lagoon. A perfect pool for swimming with a small pier to jump in from right after waking up and the other side faces a very shallow pool. Right in front is a village on the water. They call the villagers sea gypsies as they are out on the sea for months a times to fish. The village is connected by a one kilometer long wooden bridge to the main land. THis was made for the children so that they can go to school in Melenge. I visited to school several times to play football and fool around with these great Island kids...

I cannot describe how incredible this place is. See for your self or never find out!

Lestari charges between 100.000 and 150.000 for a bungalow. Some with shared toilet some with "deluxe" facilities. The prices includes 3 meals per day (catch of the day for lunch and dinner).

more info can be found here - WIKI TRAVEL
Lukas