WHERE WE BRING YOU FOR DIVING
Bunaken Marine Park
Bunaken Island is one of 5 islands that make up the Bunaken Marine Park. The seas around the islands are very deep, in some places more than 600m deep, and the islands are “pinnacles” that reach the surface. Think of them as a submerged mountain range!
The dive sites around Bunaken have dramatic drop-offs mixed with sloping areas and beautiful coral gardens at the tops of the reef. There is a huge variety of soft and hard corals that offer a home to an abundance of reef fish and critters.
There are lots of fusiliers, butterflyfish, sweetlips, cardinal fish, and damsel fish everywhere. Lots of green and hawksbill turtles are seen swimming and sleeping on the reef walls. Bigger things like tuna, humphead parrotfish, wahoo, barracuda, and reef sharks are often seen swimming past the reef. Hiding on the wall there are lots of smaller critters such as scorpion fish, shrimps, nudibranchs, lionfish, and seahorses hidden on the walls.
Bunaken is a destination suitable for all levels of divers but the steep wall going down to the abyss offers a great opportunity to dive deeper and it is better to be an advanced diver to fully enjoy the dive sites.
On the shallow part of the reef, you will always find a superb and colorful coral garden around 4 meters deep and it is a great way to make your safety stop and get last underwater shots. These coral gardens are regarded as the best in the world making it a great playground for snorkelers too.
Bangka Archipelago
Diving around Bangka is a combination of both wall diving in Bunaken and muck diving in Lembeh Strait. There are more than 40 dive sites around Bangka Archipelago including some muck diving at the mainland which will take you from 5 to 15 minutes boat ride and up to 30 minutes for further distance from Bastianos Bangka Dive Resort. Our house reef is popular as one of the best dive sites in the area with a long reef and good for drifting dives.
We will dive mostly dive sites around Bangka Island first and some mainland sites that are not far from our location for people who are staying longer, we offer some excursions to Talise Island because there are some dive sites there that are not so often to visit but we do trips going there.
You will experience healthy reefs both soft and hard corals, amazing underwater pinnacles, walls, caves, sea grass bottom or sandy bays, and muck diving with a high diversity of marine life. Dugongs are also sometimes spotted in the area.
In addition to the great diversity of corals and marine life with the natural talented of our local dive guides, you
Diving around the Bangka Archipelago is available all year round, and the conditions do vary. From March to June is the dry season but sometimes we still have some days with rain. November to February is generally wet because this is the rainy season in Indonesia, and July to October is windy.
Lembeh Strait
Lembeh Island lies directly opposite the port city of Bitung, which is the 2nd largest city in Northern Sulawesi after Manado. Between Bitung and Lembeh Island, you find the Lembeh Strait, internationally famous for its amazing muck diving conditions. Lembeh Strait is a dive area rich with life. You can see more macro subjects here than you ever dreamed possible. The area of Lembeh is rich in dark volcanic sand, which is partially responsible for the rich marine life.
Larry Smith pioneered diving in Lembeh Strait in the early/mid-1990s and he is the one who introduced the magnificence of muck diving to everyone he claimed that Lembeh Strait is one of the best muck diving destinations in the world.
Diving around Lembeh Strait is mild, easy, and shallow. Most of the dive sites here are in 15 meters and the maximum depth is around 25 meters.
Lembeh’s low surge and mild currents make it ideal for macro and super-macro photography. Visibility is usually never great but is always good enough for macro. While most famous for macro, Lembeh also has a decent number of wrecks and a couple of wide-angle spots to the north. Although finding rare critters is easier in Lembeh than in most other dive destinations, the Lembeh Strait is much more than just the renowned muck-diving capital of the world.
Booking Office in Manado
Mobile:
+62 811 435 176 (Rini)
+62 811 435 6911 (Gina)
+62 811 434 666 (Donny)
+62 811 434 5225 (Andrew)
Email: info@bastianos.com
WhatsApp us for a quick chat or to check availability!Specializes in organizing dive trips from Manado to Bunaken Marine Park, the Bangka Archipelago, and the Lembeh Strait
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