Bunaken Bonanza

Arriving, I immediately went out onto the white sand beach to look across to the beautiful flat Bunaken Island

The iconic Manado Tua Volcano lay just beyond. This was a view I would see from many angles over the next two weeks and never tired of. There are five main islands in Bunaken National Park, around which there are over 50 dive sites.
After a 25-minute boat ride on flat, calm water to the south of Bunaken Island was our first dive site at Depang Kampung. Descending down to a bowl-like cut in the wall at 10m, I was met by a huge green turtle swimming to the surface for a breath of air. I kicked myself as my camera was switched off. As it happened it didn’t matter, as green turtle after green turtle was found sleeping, feeding and swimming next to the wall.

As I was shooting wide angle, my attention was drawn to the larger picture of a stunningly beautiful coral-covered wall, the surface above pierced by shooting sun rays. My buddy, Mateusz, rattled to get my attention. On a huge orange sea fan, almost too small for the naked eye – a Denise’s pygmy seahorse.

While we felt only a slight current on the dive, the guides and boat captains were extremely knowledgeable about conditions. Bunaken is famous for these currents, which carry nutrient-rich waters that feed the ecosystem which produces the stunning coral reefs and variety of marine life. These are mainly due to the tides which range between 1.5–3m. However, this also brings great visibility from 20–40m+.

Indonesia North Sulawesi

At Bango Point the wall was full of sea fans, beautiful hard and soft corals and large schools of fish. I was amazed at the amount of macro life on what would normally be described as a ‘wide-angle’ dive. Another Denise’s pygmy seahorse was spotted in a sea fan, whilst nudibranchs in every colour dotted the reef. In a slight cut in the reef Robbie found a candy crab mimicking the bright orange soft coral, resplendent in stripes and spikes, camouflaged to perfection.

"…On a huge orange sea fan, almost too small for the naked eye
– a Denise’s pygmy seahorse…

In Manado Bay we were to dive one of the many muck and macro dives. The sand at Bolung proved to be a haven for baby fish – two minuscule frogfish, a tiny almost-translucent crocodile fish and an egg-sized broadclub cuttlefish to name a few. The site also had a small wreck of a dive boat swarming with glass fish at 20m. The bottom is more like the famous muck sites of Lembeh Straits with a black volcanic sand bottom favoured by all sorts of weird and wonderful critters, although here, it was also interspersed with coral boulders.

"…The sand at Bolung proved to be a haven for baby fish – two minuscule
frogfish, a tiny almost-translucent
crocodile fish and an egg-sized
broadclub cuttlefish…

A poisonous but beautifully-coloured flamboyant cuttlefish walked over the sand looking for food, whilst a coconut octopus hid in its den made from glass and pieces of shiny plastic. Our guide, Robbie, found two thumbnail-sized baby hairy frogfish sitting close to each other, one yellow and the other white. Manado Bay was definitely up there with Lembeh Straits and the Philippines for macro heaven. Returning back to the resort for a delectable dinner, we were determined to dive as much as possible not only to experience the incredible pristine beauty of the marine park, but also to burn off all the calories from the delicious food!

‘Mike’s Point’, the following day, saw me celebrate my 900th dive with the sighting of a very rare mototi blue-ringed octopus. Mototi only have two rings either side of their head, but this cousin of the blue-ringed is just as tiny and just as deadly.
Guest Relations manager at Siladen, Ana, joined us for a full-day excursion to Bangka, an area half way between Bunaken and Lembeh. Unfortunately for us, it decided to rain that day… all day, torrentially! We decided to go anyway and were so happy we had as we dived onto a beautiful slope at Sahaun teaming with multi-coloured soft corals. In bright sunshine, this would have been even more spectacular.

"…a tiny long arm octopus greeted us briefly before comically raising its body
up on its legs and scurrying off…

On reaching our second dive at Bosa Bora, Ana spotted a pair of reef octopuses mating almost immediately. We watched as the male turned white and extended his specialised mating arm to latch onto the female who turned dark red. The female seemed to be constantly trying to pull away, but the male stuck firm, splaying his legs over the reef to get better purchase.
Over the two weeks we did several night dives incredibly rich in life. As we followed the mooring line down to 15m at Tiwoho, a tiny long arm octopus greeted us briefly before comically raising its body up on its legs and scurrying off. Nearby, almost completely buried, I spotted a baby stargazer. Different kinds of crab and shrimp were everywhere, from a huge box crab to tiny porcelain crabs hiding in anemones.

We were joined by Siladen’s General Manager, Miguel, for a dive at ‘The Wreck’, a big Dutch cargo ship sunk off the coast near Manado by a torpedo in 1942. At 37m, the large propeller is embedded in coral on the sand bottom. The wreck sits almost upright at a slight angle with the mooring line fixed to the bow.

After around 20 minutes of exploration we ascended to 15m and swam at a right angle to the ship towards another dive site a short distance away called Black Rock. Meeting a sloping bottom going all the way to the shoreline, we slowly swam up the slope dotted with coral outcrops, to a beautiful sun-drenched reef and spent an extended safety stop there investigating the nooks and crannies. At Fukui, another stunningly beautiful reef full of healthy soft and hard corals, a large carpet of stripped catfish were moving in unison across the reef, feeding. We found a school of batfish at 8m, basking in the sun rays. Benefitting from both steep walls and volcanic sand slopes, Bunaken really does have the best of both worlds. I can’t wait to visit again!

Location: North Sulawesi, Indonesia Seasons: Dry June–September; the rest is rainy season
Temperature: 26–33°C
Water temperature: 29°C
Language: Indonesian
Currency: Indonesian Rupiah

The easiest way to get to Raja Ampat is to fly in via Manado (Sam Ratulangi International Airport). There are regular flights via Singapore or Australia, particularly via Silkair, although you can take your pick of airline.