Diving North Sulawesi
the Manado coast | wrecks and bays

Manado scuba diving features

Turtles
Leaffish
Rhinopias
shipwrecks

BUNAKEN'S
TOP DIVE SITE:
Siladen

DESTINATION OVERVIEW
While it might be the reputation of the Bunaken Marine Park that first attracts divers to North Sulawesi, there are just as many incredible dive sites nearby that lie outside the park zone. The coastal stretch that extends north and south of the city of Manado is dotted by small bays with gently shelving reefs, short coral-clad walls and there is even a wonderful wreck dive.

The coastal dives that are closer to the marine park are marked by huge barrel sponges, whips and small soft corals. There are many types of small fish and these reefs are a great hunting ground for juveniles. For example, it's not unusual to see a pair of damselfish guarding their eggs in the crevices of a hard coral and a few fin-steps later, more damsels with newly-hatched babies.

South of Manado, the flatter coastal landscapes slope away gently underwater and host an incredible array of small and wacky critters: rhinopias, seahorses, pipefish, frogfish and stonefish are all easy to spot. These dives often referred to as Little Lembeh. Just north of Manado is the Molas wreck, thought to be a Dutch cargo ship. She sits on the seabed at 40 metres so it's a deep dive, but if you can do it on a day without currents, you'll discover a hull that become quite a spectacular artificial reef.

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Thalassa Dive Center in Manado, North Sulawesi.

PROS AND CONS
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. Choose based on if your preference for island style or mainland access.

SCUBA DIVING
Visibility is usually very good but there can be some ripping currents. If you have never been caught in a typical Indonesian washing machine current, you will be here. However, these never last too long and dives are mostly scheduled to avoid tide changes.

OPINION
Although Bunaken gets a lot of divers, somehow it never feels really crowded. There will be other dive boats in close proximity to yours, but they are never on top of each other like they are in the Red Sea, for example. We have returned here time and again and stayed in many resorts – they are all so good! So much choice, so little time.