a_tar » 27 янв 2020, 13:47
Тогеанские острова- Паромы, расписания и советы по самостоятельному посещению без гидов и отелей , январь 2020.
from Andrey Tarchevskiy to next travelers :)
1. There are 2 main places to go by ferry to Togean islands- Gorontalo (maybe there are flights to Gorontalo) (with 2-3 days a week big ferry to Wakai nighttime, good, cheap) and Ampana with few ferries to islands every morning (at 9-10 am)
There is also Toboli with once a week ferry.
Ferries may not follow schedule or delay or even be many hours ahead of time.
2. There are NO schedules at ferry places, and what you have on the Internet may be changed, you have to find officers (or people in local villages if you are at the island) and try to ask. I am sorry for not normal schedule but just pieces of information which I collected from locals and my experience while travel, but it is the best that I have :)
3. Prices for big slow ferry from Gorontalo (8-12 hours) is around Rp 70 000- 120 000. I think, no big difference for the price to Ampana. They have sleeping places (tatami) which is recommended, people with "sitting places" sleep everywhere on the floor, it is a little cheaper, not comfortable, not clean and very crowd.
OFFICIAL FERRY SCHEDULE 2020 (again- check it before!!! It can change every day.)
Gorontalo- Wakai- Ampana
17.00 (Sun, Tues, Frid) - 4.00 (Sat, Mon, Wed)- arrives 11.00
Ampana- Wakai- Gorontalo
13.00 (Sat, Mon) 10.00(Thur) - 19.00 (Sat, Mon) 16.00(Thur) - arrives 6.00 or 3.00 next day
there is also funny ferry once a week
Wakai- Toboli (Sunday) 8-00- arrives at 22.00
and Toboli- Wakai (Sunday)22.00 - (arrives Monday) 14.00
4. There is also ferry Gorontalo to Pagimana - (suppose dates1,3,5,7,9 etc in the morning) and back (2,4,6,8,.. Around midnight) around 9 hours, "tatami" ticket was Rp 100 000. Again -everything can change last moment- I spend 24 hours at ferry place waiting :(
What to do in Pagimana? There is nice city Luwuk (1.5 hours, shared taxi Rp 50 000, they meet ferry), and 3-4 hours by road to Ampana to frequent boats to Togeans.
5. Tickets to big ferry you suppose to buy at the ticket office and it takes time and there can be a line (actually crowd), and "tatami" tickets can finish before you buy it.
6. Government officials charge foreigners Rp 200 000 (Jan.2020) extra to go islands, and I experienced it in Ampana, there are at least five people and office to sell you this nothing. (There are NO garbage collection or something else they do for islands, as I feel). You probably will not be able to hide there or to negotiate them, and they will not let you to ferry place without paying this extra money. No one care do you have this ticket or not on ferry and also in Wakai or somewhere else in Togeans. It may be cheap solution if you buy ticket to Gorontalo for big ferry (3 times a week afternoon, may be), pretending that you will not land at islands, but really you do :) But it takes time and you arrive Wakai evening, and Wakai is not interesting village. You also may try to go ferry before they open their office in the morning (around 7.30-8am ), but probably it will not work, everyone knows there is a foreigner at ferry place... If you go from Gorontalo, check, I think they do not charge extra, if they do, just buy your ticket to Ampana and land in Wakai.
7 The important secret number of the officer in Gorontalo ferry place, his name is Chan, he speaks English, and he is a good man :) +62 8 two two 939 zero 7237 , try to check everything through WhatsApp.
8. From Ampana to islands.
Ferry place is in the center if Ampana.
Ampana is the main place to go islands, you can expect fast boat (around 1.5 hours to Wakai) daily at 9 am, (I think it goes from Wakai to Ampana around 7 am), Rp 130 000
and some days (I feel every day morning, around 10am, but may be not) there is a boat Ampana- Wakai- Katupat- Malenge-Pulau Papan - Popolii-Dolong actually with many stops (!)on the way in villages on islands after Wakai (No stop at Kadidiry - there is no village), around Rp 100 000.
I went by Kapia Touna (it is big wooden slow boat with tatami sleeping places) which started at 10 am arrived Wakai around 1 pm, continued at 3 pm and arrived Malenge around 7 pm.
I feel they do not charge for a short distances between villages, and generally local people are great.
9 Ampana to Bomba : There is also speed boat to Bomba (south of islands) around Rp 130 000 9.00 (Sun, Fri) and place can be good, and you can manage (maybe) continue from there to Wakai by boat (no idea is there or not, regular boats from Wakai do not stop in Bomba), and there is also long bad quality road, may be 3 hours by motorbike , around Rp 200 000, you may also try to hitchhike, but I do not know will it work or no).
Wakai to UnaUna
if you are lucky, it is at 8.00 (arrives 11.00) ( Sun, Fri), around Rp 150 000
From UnaUna to Wakai at 7.00 Sat and Mon.
10 Go Back to Ampana
As I have seen, there are daily quite fast boats through Pulau Papan or Malenge to many places on the way to Wakai and these boats finish in Ampana around 2 pm. around 7am.-8am. Normally two morning time boats a day. Rp. 100 000. It also can happen slow boat early morning the same route. Ask locals. Ask few differnt people.
11 Schedules in the internet
The best I found are pictures for the request
" boat schedule togian islands weeblo "
Note- everything can change. Also, there are more stops than they show.
11 Where to travel?
It is not interesting to stay in Wakai.
I got to Malende and Papan island to see Bajo willage and spend 3 nights on islands. Good.
You can check by map and land one small place on the way, next day continue with a boat to next place etc. Do not miss Pulau papan, next stop after Malenge , place is great. Snorkeling is ok. They tell it is excellent coral reef (one of the best) at northen beaches of Malenge island with excellent snorkeling (I failed- waves and it was not transparent) , and it is possible by trail from Malenge village (not that easy trail along the northen beach- ups and downs- it took half day walking with a bag through all researts there) . Do not relay on other trails that you see on the map on islands - in Malenge there are jungles, people use boats. Regular price for a "charter" boat if you hire it for a small distance is 200 000. May be 100 000 or 50 000 (depending of size and waves) if it is on their way. Hitchhiking with boats is not easy because there are not many boats, and they go from different places, so you may hire a boat or relay on public boats between big villages.
People in every village will suggest bringing you some good places to snorkel, to be on good beach, starting from 200 000 a day if you negotiate. You also may camp some good place ( and ask to organize a tent if rain) and maybe they will bring you back from there. I did not do this, I was sleeping free or almost free) in villages under the roof in my tent.
"Home stay" in the village with food can start from 100 000 (they really suggested this price after they recognized that I do not behave as a tourist:) - 200 000 a day.
Of course there are fruits, coconuts and a lot of free mangoes growing on the islands, there are also small shops with some basic food. In Wakai there is a market, some shops and eating places, not many of them, prices are normal. It is good to bring some food from the town, if you need.
You may ask to refill bottle by boiled water (free or cheap) or buy a bottled water for reasonable price.
