BUNAKEN NATIONAL PARK :

Bunaken island is the world famous with Bunaken Marine National Park, with an area of 75.26 hectares, is located very close to Manado of North Sulawesi – Indonesia and comprises of 5 islands : Bunaken, Manado Tua, Siladen, Mantehage and Nain. The super diving and snorkeling sites puts the Marine Park in one of the top 10 dive area of the world and is a mecca for seasoned and beginner divers alike. Wall diving offers a spectacular drop off 100’s of meters deep and the warm water is particularly inviting. But it is for the diversity of sea life to be found around the park that attracts divers from around the world. Whether you are a fan of big pelagic fish down to the smallest anemone. Whatever your fascination, you certainly won’t be disappointed. For those who are avid underwater photographer be sure to bring countless rolls of films, photo opportunity abund. The variety of fish and other marine life often spotted include : Napoleon Wrasse, Angelfish, Turtles, blue Ribbon Eels, Stingrays, Eagelrays, Snappers, Grouppers, and sharks to name a few. There are hundreds of other species too numerous to list but easily located at a veriety of sites. The beauty of the marine park can be seen in locations called Lekuan 1,2, and 3, Fukui, Mandolin, Cape Paragi, Ron’s Point, Sachiko Point, Panglisang, Home Village, and East Park.

Central Sulawesi is not very well known, but a very interesting place for diving. At the very center, where the several arms of the island join together lies the driest place in Indonesia - Palu - and a small but beautiful dive area in Donggala. To the east is the Bay of Tomini with a large group of islands - the Togian islands - an isolated area with an interesting endemic marine species. Travelling further to the east yet are the Banggai islands, best reached by liveaboard.

The Togian islands dives specificity is certainly the beauty and the diversity of the underwater sceneries their offer, with a visibility that is generally very good. Around the volcanic island of Una-Una, where we stay for 3 days, sponges size and shape diversity are astonishing, probably among the biggest in the world. The fish life is very dense: schools of jacks and barracudas, Bump head parrotfish's, numerous napoleon wrasses, snappers, fusiliers, etc. Other dive sites include beautiful drop offs with crevasses and overhangs, canyons, rocks formations, pinnacles, all offering a great variety of spectacular underwater sceneries.

Banggai Archipelagoes : Located at the border between Banda Sea to the south, and Molluca Sea to the north, the Banggai islands, qualified by the naturalist Alfred Wallace as the "Mother of all living coral reefs", has numerous large reefs that support a very rich marine life.

Many of the dives are on off shore reefs with vertical drop-offs down to several hundred meters. These fantastic walls present overhangs and cavities; the deeper parts (during the dive, 15-40 mts) are covered with black coral and gorgonian fans, inhabited by tunas, schools of trevallies, batfishes, turtles, napoleon, wrasses, groupers, snappers, and a few reef sharks. Going up, the wall coverage shifts to hard and soft corals associated with a high density of the all range of reef fishes such as Banner fishes, butterfly fishes, damselfishes, anthias sp, dart fishes, dotty backs, and the dives ends with a safety stop in the middle of a gigantic aquarium.