All the islands feature spectacular coral gardens which turn into steep walls that drop from just below the surface to unattainable depths. There's a huge variety of soft and hard corals and masses of reef creatures – fusiliers, butterflies, angels, sweetlips, cardinals and damselfish, moray eels, crabs and shrimp – while turtles and sharks make occasional appearances.

Although the attraction of these dives is mostly about the colour and drama of wall dives, there are also some incredible macro animals. The most recent new discovery, was the weedy pygmy seahorse, Hippocampus Pontohi, first spotted by local dive guide, Hence Pontoh, just off Bunaken. That's one in image 6 in the gallery above.

Manado is easy to reach with direct flights from both Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. When we first visited the region in the mid-90's everything felt remote and undiscovered. At the time there were just three small, simple resorts but that wasn't to last... now there are many dive centres and hotels right across the area. There are lovely, laid back places on Bunaken island, spa style resorts and an even wider range of accommodation styles on the coast. It doesn't matter if you stay on the coast or the islands as dives are scheduled everywhere, so choose based on if your preference for island style or mainland access.