We awoke this morning to a beautiful rainbow over a small island in Wakatobi National Park, to the southeast of Sulawesi. After breakfast on the back deck, we geared up for a day of snorkeling and scuba diving. Snorkelers set out first and swam along a beautiful part of the reef where we saw magnificent corals, fish, and even a sea krait! Sea kraits are venomous, semi-aquatic snakes with beautiful black and white stripes along their body. Some watched a large female as she hunted along the reef looking for eels and small fish.
We boarded National Geographic Orion for lunch and repositioned south to another island in Wakatobi where we disembarked for more snorkeling and scuba diving. These operations were a true highlight of the trip so far. The coral reefs were some of the healthiest we have encountered, bursting with color and life. We saw turtles, stingrays, anemones and their resident clown fish, and thousands of other colorful fish dashing between healthy corals.
We finished the day with a special cocktail evening on the sun deck, drinking rum from fresh coconuts, soaking in a magnificent day on and in the water.
