On Mar 12, 2024 we docked at Bitung, Indonesia, which is located in the North Sulawesi region of the island of Sulawesi. Bitung is a large port in the southeastern section of North Sulawesi which serves Manado, a city of 480,000 people (1.4 million in the metropolitan area) located in the western side of North Sulawesi.

We left Bitung on an excursion headed to Manado. It was the first time that we experienced a large populated Indonesian area, and it was quite different from the small towns of Banda Neira and Ambon with their narrow streets and generally less maintained areas. Manado was very clean with trees and flowers on many streets and many stores, shops and restaurants in the city center. It is a popular tourist destination because of the many places for diving in the waters of the nearby Savu Sea.

Our first stop in Manado was a Chinese temple, the oldest in Indonesia. We were were greeted by a Chinese dragon and some dancers, and then able to go inside to see the various altars . This particular temple was dedicated to the God of the Sea, and the people practice a combination of Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism.

We then drove on through other areas of the city and saw a church and a monument to fallen soldiers of World War II.

We then visited a North Sulawesi government complex and a park with a statue of Christ Blessing. It is one of the tallest statues of Christ in the world at 130 ft. (40 m.).

That concluded our visit to Manado and our excursion headed back to our ship in Bitung. We were greeted by hundreds of residents of the city to say farewell to us, and many asked to be photographed with us. That night as we sailed away we saw another beautiful sunset.