In late November of 2021, I had the pleasure of being able to visit a brand new snorkel and dive resort in Indonesia called Kusu Island Resort in southern Halmahera. Halmahera, if you're wondering, is the large odd-shaped island just west of the Raja Ampat area. I was visiting Kusu Island Resort for two reasons, the first was to check it out as a potential resort to run our snorkeling safaris through, and the second was to produce some promotional content for the new resort. As Kusu Island Resort is not 100% open to the public yet because of the seriously annoying restrictions to still in place for foreigners visiting Indonesia, I was the only “guest” and had the whole place to myself for two full weeks. Yes, my job has some serious perks! Anyway, my time was not spent lounging around, quite the opposite actually. I used every bit of daylight and a good portion of the night to explore as much of the reefs and resort as possible to make sure everything is “up to snuff.” Here's what I found. The Resort Upon landing at the Labuha airport on the island of Bacan (pronounced Bachan), just off the southwest corner of Halmahera you'll be met by a member of the Kusu Island Resort team and taken to the nearby port where you'll jump into the resort's comfortable speedboat and driven about thirty minutes to Kusu Island, where the resort is, obviously. The resort has been incorporated into the island in a very natural way and the only evidence you'll see of the resort, in the beginning, is a long—beautifully built pier that extends from the mangroves and ends where the reef drops off into the blue. It's only when the boat is parking on the wooden pier that
In late November of 2021, I had the pleasure of being able to visit a brand new snorkel and dive resort in Indonesia called Kusu Island Resort in southern Halmahera. Halmahera, if you’re wondering, is the large odd-shaped island just west of the Raja Ampat area. I was visiting Kusu Island Resort for two reasons,
If you've ever had seasickness or any sort of motion sickness for that matter, it is the opposite of pleasant and can really ruin even the most thrilling of moments. For some people, motion sickness hits them like a wall of nausea the moment their foot makes contact with a boat and won't abate until both feet are planted firmly on terra firma. For other people, nausea slowly starts to creep up on them but is easily controlled by putting down the book or just getting a bit of fresh air. Then there are those annoying people who could happily eat a heaping plate of biscuits and gravy with a side of greasy bacon while reading a book in a windowless cabin aboard a small boat in the rolliest of seas. For those of you that do not fit this last description, this blog is for you. Sea-Bands If you already know you are prone to seasickness, the best thing you can do before you join a snorkeling safari is to grab a pair of these pressure point bands that go around your wrist. They begin working minutes after you put them on and can be worn throughout the trip. Motion Sickness Tablets and or Patches Most liveaboards will have a stash of motion sickness tablets, but there are quite a few brands of different compositions out there, some of which you may be allergic to or overly drowsy. For this reason it's a good idea to grab the ones you know will agree with you before you travel. It's really important to take the requested dosage about an hour before you join the vessel, otherwise, they may not work. Again, there are lots of different options in pill form or patches that go behind your ear, some of which
If you’ve ever had seasickness or any sort of motion sickness for that matter, it is the opposite of pleasant and can really ruin even the most thrilling of moments. For some people, motion sickness hits them like a wall of nausea the moment their foot makes contact with a boat and won’t abate until
