A dominating volcanic landscape creates a unique backdrop for you to discover North Sulawesi - one of the world's best, yet least known dive destinations. The year-round diving here is all about amazing variety and exotic surroundings. The deep seas give excellent average of 25m visibility. They are also home to many unusual species, for example the prehistoric fish "coelacanth" also known as 'ikan raja'. Turtles, reef-shark, eagle rays, napoleon wrasse, even dugong and pilot whales are some of the pelagics you see here! The majority of sites are conveniently accessed within one hour from your hotel and yet North Sulawesi's remote location means that the sites are never crowded with too many divers.

There are three main dive areas to choose from. The first area is the clear waters of the Bunaken National Marine Park, voted the Global Winner of the ‘British Airways Tourism for Tomorrow’ Award in 2003. The amazing walls of the park teams with thousands of different fish species, with huge sponges and beautiful hard corals and countless number of fascinating critters.

Bunaken diving is very popular with fun divers and marine biologists both of whom can take great pleasure from the diversity of coral and fish found here. You will surely encounter marine life that you have not come across elsewhere.

Diving in the deep waters of the Bunaken Island National Marine Park promises some of world highest levels of biodiversity, with an outstanding variety of fish and world-class wall diving. The breathtaking walls are covered in absolutely vibrant soft corals and over 70% of all fish species known to the Indo-western Pacific are found here.

The second area on the other side of the mainland is Lembeh Strait. It is reknowned as the world’s best ‘muck-diving’ site. These waters are full of extraordinary marine critters, many of which are the masters of camouflage. If you've ever watched a National Geographic documentary on some strange underwater creature and wondered where it was filmed, chances are high that it was probably filmed there!

Lastly, Bangka Island with colourful soft corals and sloping reefs compliment the steep walls of Bunaken. The underwater topography consists of pinnacles and white sandy bottom. Comet fish, flying gurnard, etc. have found their way to these reefs. Abundant hard and soft corals cover the pinnacles ranging from 5m to 35 meters. You will also find a variety of unusual decorator crabs roaming the reef during night dives. There can be strong currents and a surge at shallower depths. Highlights include big table corals - often with sharks resting under them, an abundance of green and purple soft corals and a multitude of fish, including schools of jacks, dogtooth tuna, barracudas, midnight blue triggerfish and manta rays.

Diving Season

You can dive at Sulawesi all year round. Overall, conditions are best between August and June. The best conditions for visibility in the Manado area are recorded from November through till the end of January.

Destinations in Indonesia, South Africa and Mexico won the top spots on Conde Nast Traveler magazine's annual "Green List", which names the best ecotourism experience around the world. The magazine's top three were Bunaken National Marine Park in Indonesia, Shangana Culture Village in South Africa, and Sian Ka'an Biosphere Reserve in Mexico. The winners were chosen based on their environmental preservation efforts, their contributions to local culture, and the quality of the experience.

...Back to the Top