Bloody impressive!! I think I will sell all my gear and let others take the pictures!
I don't know where Gorontalo is ... but the marine life and the waters look very impressive. It seems to me the best diving is now in the more inaccessible places now
How did you get all your gear on board the plane (both on the budget and on the domestic flights)? Were the airlines very sticky about keeping to your weight limit? If so, how did you overcome this?
Makasaar (used to be called Ujong Pandang, I think?) is very "frontier town"-ish .. Think Singapore River 20 years ago, or old town Malacca. I remember visiting the wharves and it was filled with the very distinctive white Bugis trading vessels, which are still the main trading vessels for that part of Indonesia. Like many towns in that region, however, it is a bit run down. Nonetheless, it has a very rich history and culture - the Portuguese (or was it the Spanish? I forget) left behind a few forts, and there are many tribes around that area.
The photographs I took then belong to the organisation that sponsored the trip, but I am thinking of negotiating with them for limited use of those photos. Hoping .. *fingers crossed*.
Cheers, Jeff