Best Diving in Indonesia?

[Dan]

Sangalaki is mantas right ? Sulawesi?

Sangalaki is in East of Kalimantan, near Maratua Atoll, west of Sulawesi. When you are there, you would include diving in Maratua and Kakaban. Here are my diving experience there:

Sangalaki

Maratua


Kakaban

 

[cetacean]

Unfortunately the manta sighting in Sangalaki is inconsistent. I was there twice (in 2014 & 2022) and strike out twice.

For more consistent manta sightings, go to Manta Point in Nusa Penida, Bali.

Dan - were you talking about not even seeing single mantas during your stay? We've been 3 times and have always seen mantas, although only twice did we see the ~10-20 manta "trains" at Manta Alley (renamed to Manta Parade I believe).

It seems they are very tide/moon phase dependent, being more present around the full moon. Having said this, we usually would see a small handful of mantas on a number of other sites during a week of diving.

Nature - you can't schedule it, and it's definitely not predictable.

 

[cetacean]

@Dan

Just quickly looking at your videos, it looks like you did this by LOB.

If so, that may be the difference. We've always done it land based (in part because my wife loves turtles, and Sangalaki is a nesting island, so turtles are on the beach all night, with several hanging around until morning).

This may very well be an example of how an LOB will let you see more of an area, but possibly not in the same depth. We would usually dive the Lighthouse dive site once in the morning and once in the afternoon every few days because it usually had something new/different to see (including the occasional manta).

 

[Dan]

Dan - were you talking about not even seeing single mantas during your stay?

Yes, saw zero manta.

 

[JohnN]

I've been diving for quite a while. One of the things I've learned about myself (as well as my wife, and our kids when they dive with us) is that "great diving" often is defined in the context of what we want to look for or experience.

This !

 

[Dan]

Just quickly looking at your videos, it looks like you did this by LOB

Yes I was on White Manta in August 2022. However, I was in Nabucco dive resort (in Maratua Atoll) back in 2014.

 

[cetacean]

Yes I was on White Manta in August 2022. However, I was in Nabucco dive resort (in Maratua Atoll) back in 2014.

How often did you dive Sangalaki from Nabucco?

 

[scubajunky17]

I didnt love Alor when I went in October 2015. I do think much of that is my fault by being unprepared and my mindset, and one of these days I plan to give it another go. Anyway... We saw nothing special, felt the macro a step below Ambon, the walls only a step above Bunaken, and the whole experience not worth the effort and money. The negativity was probably compounded by saying with La Petite Kepa, who only did two dives a day, and me being very unprepared with neoprene (Alor can be very cold). Simply stated: I was freezing, underwhelmed, and had little to do after lunch but nap and read. Perhaps one day I will try again as a number of people here and in Jakarta love Alor, but with the money it takes, the time to travel there, and to do mostly wide-angle wall dives... I'd rather go to Raja Ampat. We will see.

I might just stay here then, I'm always around Kri island and the Dampier Straights, that's the heart of the action as far as I know.
August, so Misool not really possible.

 

[Dan]

How often did you dive Sangalaki from Nabucco?

Once.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Hi all,
I'm in R4 now, third time here, dove Komodo twice by liveaboard, also Bali, Bunaken, Lembeh.
Is it worth it to go to Bandaneira in August?
Where else is the same standard as Raja Ampat?
Thanks in advance.

What about land based in Komodo? Scuba Junkies has a great land based resort there.
I prefer Komodo over Central Raja cause it has more macro and I think better soft coral habitats.