More than Two Fish at Bunaken and Manado
By Sarah
bunaken manado hotel
I had been dreaming of this diving trip for almost a year. Deep dramatic walls, 30 degree water with 30 m visibility, and bizarre creatures were just some of the descriptions. We planned 5 days at Two Fish Divers on Bunaken Island & stay at Manado Hotel.
Part 1: Bunaken Island
After a very easy and comfortable overnight flight from Melbourne to Singapore, then a quick 3 hour flight from Singapore to Manado, Sulawesi we arrived at 1pm. The waters around Bunaken Island are surrounded by fringing reef before the wall descends into blue abyss. Upon arrival the first thing we did was hand over our dive gear. We had an introduction and run down on the resort and staff, and received our Bunaken Marine Park passes. The resort has 6 cottages, and rooms in the main house, all with western style toilet ensuites, large verandas and hammocks. The resort will only accommodate up to 20 people at a time. The resort itself is set backing the mangroves. I get REALLY hungry after dives and I was concerned that staying at a place that served food only at certain times would leave me hungry. Meals were served when we arrived back form the morning dives, then the afternoon tea was always a treat, and dinner was always divine and healthy. The food was prepared fresh for ever meal, plenty of fresh vegetables and delicious meat. My Buddy really enjoyed the local seafood meals, especially the local tuna dish. Two Fish are a 5 star PADI dive centre. It is also important for me to know that the organization I dive with takes an active stance in promoting sustainable diving practices and local interests. Two Fish Divers also provides training to locals so they are able to work as Dive Masters.
The dives are designed so there are 2 morning dives, leaving at 8 am. The maximum depth on any dive was set at 25m. This keeps the dives conservative and allows for a delightful no-limit bottom time. After the morning dives its back to the resort for lunch. The afternoon dive usually leaves about 2:30 pm and a night dive with Mandarinfish leaves about 5: 30pm.
Most divers, like ourselves opted to do 2 dives a day and every other day either do an afternoon or a night dive. For all of our dives it was just my buddy, our guide and I. All of the dive guides spoke English well. We met our guide, Agus the night before and had a chat about the diving. We soon found out that this is where the afternoon dives and night dive are held. Our first dives were on the walls off Bunaken village, ‘Lekuan I’ and wow was I blown away, literally. The current was racing and the wall was kilometers deep, We went zooming past a Green Turtle, who was nestled into the reef, schools of Red-toothed Triggerfish and colourful soft corals.Wall diving is simply astounding. Our dive lasted about an hour.
Our second dive was called ‘Lekuan III’ on a similar wall. These dives served as an excellent introduction to Bunaken, the famous dramatic walls and diverse marine life. The dive guides carried around these long tent peg things. On our second day we decided to do 2 morning dives and an afternoon dive. Our morning dives were along sandy slopes. There was coral and plenty of anemone fish as well as Sulawesi’s famous ribbon eels. The afternoon dive was on the house reef wall where there are plenty of rays, Mantis Shrimp and the local mafia triggerfish that kept a watchful eye. Truthfully I am a bit frightened of triggerfish and the dive guides and my buddy teased me about it. Agus was like my personal triggerfish security guard, ready with his tent peg if duty called.
The next day we did another sloping wall dive with giant clams and plenty of anemonefish then another amazing drift, wall dive. That afternoon we mentioned to our dive guide that we were going to take a walk to the local Bunaken Village. The village is only about a 15min walk from Two Fish. Our last day diving on Bunaken Island took us to ‘Fukui’ and ‘Mike’s Point’. ‘Fukui’ is a sandy sloping reef with plenty of strange creatures. ‘Mike’s Point’ is another excellent wall dive around the north side of the island with overhangs and gorgonians. We were taking advantage of the warm water and diving in either board shorts and a rash vest or a 1mm short sleeveless suit. The surface interval was enough to warm us up in between dives.
Seeing as it was our last day on Bunaken we decided to do a night dive.
Part2: Lembeh Strait
Once at Bitung we had less than a 30 minute boat trip to Two Fish Divers in Lembeh Strait. We didn’t know much about the Lembeh resort at all. We were to expect slightly less visibility and water temperatures, less coral and walls but plenty of strange and macro creatures. Many guests who had stayed at Bunaken either had already been or where on their way to Lembeh.Upon arrival we noticed some friends that we had met on Bunaken were staying at Lembeh for a few days.
The diving was set up in a similar but on an even smaller scale than Bunaken. Our dive guide was Frankie.
Over in Lembeh the tent pegs were even longer. Lembeh is a great place to dive if you really think you have seen it all in regards to diving. It’s muck diving at its finest. There are a few coral slopes as well. Diving in Lembeh is shallower as well, so this means as long as you rug up a bit more you can have really long bottom times. The Lembeh resort is more isolated than Bunaken and there isn’t a lot to do on the resort except dive, eat, relax in a hammock and look through fish books we found ourselves concentrating on the dives. Our first dive the next day was at ‘Hairball 1′. I also quite liked the pincushion sea star. We also saw a large cuttle fish. The next day we did 2 dives again. Diving in Lembeh Strait you will notice a bit more rubbish than at Bunaken. Old tires and bottles of coke are scattered around the dives sites. Our second dive was at ‘Nudi Falls’. The following evening after our usual 2 morning dives at ‘Aerprang’ and ‘Jahir II’, we decided to do a Mandarinfish night dive.
After the mandarin fish were finished doing their business a huge silvery swarm of sardines enveloped us as we swam around the coral gardens.
Once again we saw Pygmy Seahorses and the peculiar sea moth. Our last dive at ‘Maka Wide’ found us 2 common seahorses and the beautiful yellow Frogfish. I personally really enjoyed having the same guide for all of our dives (10). We got to know each other’s diving ability, equipment and preferences. By the end we felt as if we were diving with an old friend.
It made our trip very enjoyable. We never had to worry about our dive gear, they got it ready for the dives, rinsed and dried it afterwards and the food was always ready when we were. The hospitality at Two Fish Divers was simply astounding.
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