Morotai
MacArthur'S Staging Island For The Return To The Philippines, Where A Japanese Soldier Held Out In The Forest Until 1974 And The Wrecks Are Still In The Water · Daruba, North Maluku
In 1944 THE ALLIES TOOK THIS ISLAND AND TURNED IT INTO THE LAUNCHING PLATFORM FOR MACARTHUR'S RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES - airfields, tens of thousands of troops, a harbour full of shipping, on an island most people cannot find on a map. THE WRECKAGE IS STILL HERE: aircraft and landing craft in shallow water, runway concrete in the scrub, ordnance that still turns up. AND THERE IS TERUO NAKAMURA. A TAIWANESE-BORN SOLDIER OF THE JAPANESE ARMY, HE STAYED IN THE FOREST HERE AFTER THE WAR ENDED AND WAS NOT FOUND UNTIL 1974 - one of the last holdouts anywhere, twenty-nine years in the trees, on an island that had long since gone quiet. What visitors get now is WHITE SAND, EXCELLENT AND LARGELY UNVISITED DIVING, and a history that the island has only recently begun to sell. Some of what the war left is still live, so nothing is picked up, dug for or taken off a wreck, and getting here means three separate legs through Ternate and Tobelo with spare days built in for the weather.
Pulau Morotai, North Maluku, Daruba, North Maluku, Indonesia
REACHED VIA TERNATE, then a FLIGHT OR FERRY to TOBELO on Halmahera and a CROSSING TO DARUBA - all limited, all weather-dependent, so BUILD IN SPARE DAYS. Accommodation is simple and concentrated at DARUBA. BOATS AND DIVE TRIPS to the wrecks and the offshore islands are ARRANGED LOCALLY AND ON THE DAY; there is no booking infrastructure to speak of. WAR MATERIAL IS EVERYWHERE AND SOME OF IT IS LIVE - do not pick anything up, do not dig, and do not remove anything from a wreck. A small museum in Daruba covers the campaign and Nakamura. NORTH MALUKU IS STRONGLY MUSLIM: dress modestly and check for Ramadan. BRING CASH FROM TERNATE; banking here is minimal.