I am on my way back from Wakatobi after a really excellent dive trip. I thought that I would post a few details here. I went with my wife and son, and we were there for 17 days. We were in Wakatobi last December for a 7-day stay, and that left us wanting more. We are very glad we could arrange for a longer stay this time.
We left Baton Rouge on July 5, went to L.A., and caught the direct flight to Singapore on Singapore Airlines. We arrived in Bali on the 7th, and stayed overnight at the Patra Bali hotel near the airport (nice, but expensive). We left the next morning for Wakatobi, but the flight was delayed until about 1pm. So we arrived at the resort in the late afternoon, and could not get in our first dive until the 9th. A little disappointing, but not a big deal, as we were going to be staying for a while. We usually did both morning dives and the afternoon dive. We skipped the night dives, as well as a couple of the afternoon dives. The weather was excellent. We got a few drops of rain one day, and it rained another night, but that was it. The weather was ~78-85 F during the day, and comfortable at night. Clear skies and calm seas. This is in stark contrast to late December, when we did not see the sun, but got a lot of liquid sunshine. The water was a little cooler in July, typically 79 F, which was a little cool for me in a 3mm full wetsuit. I think I would opt for a 5mm wetsuit, given the choice. The visibility was good, but not as good as in December. Typically, we had about 50-70 ft visibility. This was fine for enjoying the excellent reefs. Some sites had better visibility (such as Blade, fortunately), but there were no real complaints about the conditions. There was only one dive with any significant current, the house reef. This can be calm or have a strong current. We dove it both ways during this trip. Again, no problems at all. Our favorite dive sites were probably Pastel and Magnifica for the beautiful and lush reefs with loads of soft coral. The Zoo and Roma were great for macro. Actually, all of the dive sites had both great macro and "wide-angle" aspects. Blade was a beautiful site with a long ridge with three pinnacles. The pinnacle with the mooring was quite shallow (~20 feet), and was wonderful. Most of the dive sites had the lushest soft and leather corals at the shallower depths (15-35 feet), and other pretty and interesting features deeper (sea fans, gorgonians, barrel sponges, more nudibranchs, different kinds of fish, turtles, etc.) My favorite parts of most dives was the shallow stuff, but it was great having both in a single dive. Most of the boat rides were 10-20 minutes in length. An exception was blade, which was a 50 minute ride. Well worth it, no complaints.
The accommodations were very nice, and the dive operation was first rate. Some people who have posted messages on Scubaboard felt that Wakatobi is too restrictive about limiting dives to 70 minutes (and about having to follow the dive guide). I am not so critical of the time restriction, as they are trying to maintain a schedule, and I am fine with a 70 minute dive. I guess that this is a matter of personal opinion. With respect to following the dive guide, that was fine with us, because we appreciated having the dive guide as a spotter. Our dive guide was C.J., and she was an excellent spotter, and very helpful in every way. I liked all of the dives guides that we had (a couple of others substituted on her days off). With respect to the restrictions about diving as a group, it was not unreasonable as you really just had to be within sight of the dive guide. If you find this too restrictive, and you like to explore on your own, the house reef is available from 6am-5:30pm for diving with a buddy (or solo, if you are certified as a solo diver).
The dive boats are very nice and spacious. The staff carries your dive gear out to the boat each morning and sets it up (if you wish, which we did). They also carry your stuff out to the storage area when you are done diving for the day. Very nice. There is a good camera room which is air conditioned and dry. There are many charging stations.
Many people rave about the food. I think that it is fine, but nothing memorable. I loved the trip, and would do it again in a heartbeat. The reefs are healthy. The whole experience is geared towards making the diving fun and easy. It is not cheap, and it is a long way. That said, it is worth it. I took a ton of pictures, and am still editing and culling them. Here is what I have posted so far on Flickr, if you want to have a look.
2008 Wakatobi - a set on Flickr
