NORTH SULAWESI: Don't forget to dive Bangka Island!

[Bowmouth]

Little mentioned but extremely beautiful are the reefs surrounding Bangka Island in Northern Sulawesi. It looks to me like many divers visiting Bunaken and Lembeh Straits are compltely unaware that there is some FANTASTIC diving to be found just North of Lembeh Straits at Bangka Island. Bangka has in general good to very good visibility and some of the most densely coral covered pinnacles and reefs of the area. Both "Batu Gosoh" and "Sahoung" offer beautiful soft corals in yellow and pink, a zillion tunicates, leather corals,gorgonian fans,forests of wire coral and some enormous table corals and other hard corals. BIG schools of anthias, pyramid butterfly fish and fusiliers, at least two species of pygmy seahorses (Hippocampus Bargibanti and Pontohi), ribbon eels, leaf scorpion fish,angler fish, nudi's (including the very colorful Nembrotha purpurelineolata) and flatworms, white tip reef sharks, tunas, yellow margin and giant moray eels, giant and blue fin trevallies, schools of sweetlips, hawks bill turtles etc. etc.
If you're lucky you may even run into a dugong....
Missing out on Bangka while in Norhern Sulawesi is like missing out on Richelieu Rock while you're diving the Andaman Sea in Thailand.
Some other colorful sites just off the mainland on the Northern most top of North Sulawesi are "Batu Mandi" and "Batu Pandita".

Both Bangka and "Batu Pandita" do have a healthy flow of current and are not so suitable for beginner divers.

[Liangness]

You must be refering to people like me!!! I have been to Manado more than 10 times but never been to Bangka. Won a liveaboard with Odyssey I next year. Looking forward to giving there! Thanks for the heads up!

[Nut Bubblefish]

Boymouth, I fully agree with you. Living in the area, I have been to Bangka a number of times, and I like it very much. If you are lucky enough to dive Sahong Satu when soft coral is open, it's like being in a Van Gogh. Seeing frog fishes, pipe fishes, pygmee sea horses, leaf fishes, crocodile fishes, and amazing nudibranches is common.
The night dives are great also.
And it is not overcrowded, for the time being.

[Bowmouth]

You must be refering to people like me!!! I have been to Manado more than 10 times but never been to Bangka. Won a liveaboard with Odyssey I next year. Looking forward to giving there! Thanks for the heads up!

Bangka isn't all that much dived by the resorts in Lembeh or on Bunaken because it's just a bit out of the way for them. Murex has a small resort on Bangka itself and the dive resort on Gangga Island (next to Bangka) has daily trips to bangka available. Way to go though is with a liveaboard. Go! You'll LOVE it.

[Bowmouth]

Boymouth, I fully agree with you. Living in the area, I have been to Bangka a number of times, and I like it very much. If you are lucky enough to dive Sahong Satu when soft coral is open, it's like being in a Van Gogh. Seeing frog fishes, pipe fishes, pygmee sea horses, leaf fishes, crocodile fishes, and amazing nudibranches is common.
The night dives are great also.
And it is not overcrowded, for the time being.

I'll be going again to N. Sulawesi sometime next month and will surely dive Bangka again. Another thing I really like about Bangka is the variety of sea stars one can find during a dive. Not unusual to find up to 6 or seven species on 1 dive. Also quite a few sea stars with symbiotic colorful flatworms living on them. Don't see that in many places.

[OnTheSpot]

There's always more to explore in Indonesia. If I were a millionaire I'd get me a boat, fit a compressor and spend a few years cruising the islands. Bangka, being just a bit away from the mainland, keeps itself slightly off the beaten track and out of reach of day trippers. You can stay there of course, or a boat like the North Sulawesi Aggressor has Bangka on the itinerary.

Bangka Dive Sites