Captivating Tangkoko Mangrove - Day 2 Part 3 (Post 9)

We so far spotted three kingfishers, but there’s still one tricky one left to find—the Great-billed Kingfisher, which can only seen around here. 

The best way to track them down is by boat, so we headed to a fishing village to hop on a traditional fishing boat called a Jukung.

This area has black sand beaches, sign that we are at active volcanoes zone. When lava flows into the ocean, it hardens and breaks into small fragments that form black sand.

I’ve done a bunch of shore dives around here and Bali, and I knew getting to the boat without getting wet would be a challenge because of the waves.

Thankfully, our experienced boatman and his crew helped us get on without totally soaking ourselves—just a little wet feet! Our cameras are still dry even without putting on rain cover.

The boatman timed it perfectly with the waves, waiting for the high ones to help push the boat closer to shore so we could jump on board before the next big wave hit.

Once we were out on the water, we could see the giant waves crashing against the beach, and the current was super strong around the rocky spots—some waves were even three meters high!

After about 40 minutes, we finally made it to the river mouth near Tangkoko Forest.

There was an abandoned floating fish farm there, just waiting for some restoration work.

And guess what? We finally spotted the elusive Great-billed Kingfisher!

On our way back, we took a little detour to a small island called Pulau Ponteng.

The current was so strong that our boat was wobbling all over the place! I just kept snapping photos in hopes of getting a clear shot of the Pied Imperial Pigeon that hangs out there.

We also spotted a White-bellied Sea Eagle, but the sea conditions didn’t let me get a good picture of that one.

Before heading back to our homestay, I grabbed some black sand from the beach to check out under the microscope.

It turns out that the black sand comes from eroded volcanic materials like lava and basalt rocks. Under the microscope, the black sand looks super cool, almost like asteroids from space with a porous surface!