DIVING IN TANJUNG BIRA
First
stop, Makassar! The flight from Jakarta took me around 2 hours, at this point
of time you should note that the time zone is Central Indonesian Time (WITA),
GMT +8. The weather is the hottest in the middle of the year; make sure you are
on your shorts when you arrived.
To
get to Tanjung Bira, you need to ride a public transportation for 5 hours from
Terminal Malengkeri. From the airport to the terminal, you can follow this
route I took:
DAMRI Bus – Rp
23.000,00 (stop at Lapangan Karebosi)
Pete-pete, also known
as Angkot – Rp 5.000,00 (stop at Terminal Malengkeri)
You
can always take a faster route using a taxi, but it will cost you almost Rp
200.000,00, toll fee included, just to get there.
After
a few questions to the locals, I finally got there. As you walk inside the
terminal, a few drivers would call you out and offer their service. It takes
around Rp 80.000,00 per person for a ride to Bulukumba, which is somewhere in Tanjung
Bira. Expect yourself to reach Tanjung Bira by 11 PM as the cars will leave at
around 5 PM. You can talk to the driver, add some cash and he will drive you to
your booked guesthouse. In total, after a short bargain, I was charged Rp
100.000,00 for a ride from Terminal Malengkeri to Bira Dive Camp located in
Bara Beach, Tanjung Bira. After arriving, there was not much to do other than
resting to be ready for your dose of Vitamin Sea on the next day.
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| Comfortable hut! |
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| Cafetaria |
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| Backyard view. |
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| Comfortable hammock. |
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| Morning view from Tanjung Bira. |
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| Kambing Island. |
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| A little underwater selfie. |
After
finishing all the 3 dives at around 3 PM, we spent the rest of the day chilling
and exchanging stories in the well-decorated cafeteria. At this point of time,
you can choose to rent a motorcycle and tour the village. One site you can
visit is the Tanaberu ships production site around 30 minutes from Bara Beach.
I choose to do it the day after, as I wanted to enjoy the rest of the day with
the other tourists hearing their amazing stories.
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| Travel cruise boat in progress at Tanaberu. |
In
total, the whole Bira Dive Camp experience cost me 110USD. They only receive
cash and rupiah currency and the conversion is based on the rate on www.xe.com
on the day you pay the 50% down payment. For that amount I paid, I received 2
breakfasts, 1 lunch, 3 dives and 2 nights accommodation. They don’t have
packages for dinner, however the cafeteria ladies will cook for you according
to what you ask them, it will probably cost you an extra Rp 50.000,00. Other
options are hotel restaurants in Bara Beach. Get the full updated price on http://biradivecamp.com/.
Part 2 of my South Sulawesi experience is up! As of now, I gotta pause this whole writing as I need my sleep for a Flores adventure that starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!
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