Diving Bunaken Island from Manado

I am thinking of diving in Manado / Bunaken in September. We are trying to decide whether to stay on the island of Bunaken or the mainland (Manado). Has anyone ever stayed on the mainland and dived Bunaken, is the transit trips for the dives difficult / long? Comments?

Thanks

Back in 1997 I dived Bunaken and stayed at the Murex Resort.

From memory the boat ride was about 20-30 mins, the boat wasn't going to win any speed records, but it was quite a pleasant trip ... seas were like a pancake.

On one trip out we encountered a pod of whales (Pilot I think) and were able to snorkel with them ... had a mother and calf swim about 4 metres below me ... incredible.

There are advantages to boat rides sometimes.

Well, ANY Resort on MANADO (mainland) takes a MINIMUM of 45 minutes and if its Tasik Ria even longer to Bunaken sites...even Tasik Ria's "fast" fiberglass craft takes 55-60 minutes, to Murex is maybe 5-10 minutes closer..

Unless it's a true "speedboat" as in the USA (dual 4 stroke outboard/inboard motors) there's no way to reach Bunaken in 25-30 minutes--that's for sure!

Add in surface conditions, boat traffic (which had TRIPLED since 1997!) and you are talking about 1 hour each way (every day) to go dive Bunaken. It's all a personal choice but maybe better to stay ON Bunaken if you are doing "serious", multiple dive days?

HTH,
HB

An advantage of being on Bunaken Island is that you are not on the boat all day. Depending on the schedule you may do two morning dives, come back for Lunch and take a nap and do an afternoon diver or a night dive. The resorts on Bunaken are more basic than mainland ones. I like being on Bunaken.

If you are a group of 6 or 8 depending on the boat size (with the smaller dive operations that have several small boats) , you may be able to have your own boat and make your schedule.

Some of the dive ops on the mainland have very large boats.

Nowadays there is a full range of accommodation and boats and rates so you just need to find one that meets your needs. Ask what the dive time policies are and the ration of divers to guides. It should be 4 to one or less.

In any case do night dives. You can do a dusk dive for the Mandarin Fish (right off the main village in Bunaken) and it finishes as a night dive.

You can also go directly across to the mainland (shorter trip then going to Manado) and do a night in the shallows. Lots of good stuff.

If you get to Lembeh do as many night divers as you can. There is nothing more fun. You never know whats going to show up, five foot octopus, ring tailed pipefish, large pleurobranchs (relatives of nudibranchs) and Spanish dancer nudibranchs that can be up to eight inches (measured) in length. And crabs and shrimp. Stargazer eel;s that may launch like a missile out of the sand. Spectacular. Very fun.

Celebes divers have a small resort on Siladen, so you eat there for lunch and can do 3 dives a day without probleme.

For whar i rember there was mandarin fish just close the Manado resort ( which is really close from Murex)

We stayed at Tasik Ria and went to Bunaken everyday. We hated the boat ride, maybe it was only 1 hr, but it sure seemed like much longer than that. On the days before we arrived, there were huge pods of dolphins on the ride out to Bunaken - that would make the trip out a bit more enjoyable. But on our days we didn't see any, also the weather wasn't great so it makes the ride even less enjoyable. If I was to do it again, I would stay on the island.

I would definitely stay on Bunaken. Possibly, you can find more luxurious resorts (with swimming pools) around Manado, that is the only + I could think of.
But if you come for diving all the way to Sulawesi, there is no much point in spending 1 hour each way in a boat when you can access the dives spots around Bunaken between 10 and 30 minutes.
Also if you are staying on the island, you can do 4 dives a day if you want, or choose the time when you dive.
I spent 8 days in Bunaken in May, at the Froggies dive resort. There was a first dive at 7 in the morning, then another one at 9:00 - 9:30. Then one early afternoon and the last one at sunset or at night.
And you don't have to go to Manado to see Mandarin fish. I saw two couples 1 minute from the resort !

Hello Westcoastroller,
I do not understand divers who spend their holiday at the Swimming pool, while they can enjoy the most beautiful beach with a wonderful coral-reef directly nearby. Why should you choose a substitution while you can live in the paradise instead?
Wherever you will stay on the island of Bunaken: Every Resort has its house reef with a sandy beach. You can reach almost all dive sites directly from the island within few minutes. 2 dives a day should be enough. You can go to snorkel directly from the Resort all the day and will feel almost like a fish in the aquarium. And if this is not enough for you yet, you apply in your Resort for a night or dawn diving .
I have been visiting and diving on Bunaken since 6 years now. On my website you’ll find a lot of information and advice, among others the description of 8 resorts with a price range from 8 US $ to 85 US $ p.P.p.N.
You perhaps may be helped at your decision by visiting it.
Best regards
Klaus

Harley1962:

Well, ANY Resort on MANADO (mainland) takes a MINIMUM of 45 minutes and if its Tasik Ria even longer to Bunaken sites...even Tasik Ria's "fast" fiberglass craft takes 55-60 minutes, to Murex is maybe 5-10 minutes closer..

Unless it's a true "speedboat" as in the USA (dual 4 stroke outboard/inboard motors) there's no way to reach Bunaken in 25-30 minutes--that's for sure!

Add in surface conditions, boat traffic (which had TRIPLED since 1997!) and you are talking about 1 hour each way (every day) to go dive Bunaken. It's all a personal choice but maybe better to stay ON Bunaken if you are doing "serious", multiple dive days?

HTH,
HB

Click to expand...

I am sure that WestCoastRoller appreciates your post ...

For me I hope that you are a little more polite with your students than you appear to be .... If you notice in my post I stated it was over 10 years ago I dived Bunaken and I said that the time estimate was FROM MEMORY.

I do hope you listen to people more closely than you have shown to via your post ... thanks again.:no

We stayed at Tasik Ria and dove Bunaken. The boat trip didn't bother me; the boats were large and comfortable. But it was at least an hour to get there. We were on a prearranged tour, and if I were to do it over again, I'd definitely look into staying on the island. I was fine with the dive op (EcoDivers) but the resort really didn't have anything that was worth two or more hours a day on a boat to stay there, at least in my opinion. (The best food on the trip was the food on the boat!)