Question Stay on Bangka or Gangga?

[CF L]

Hi, I've just joined ScubaBoard hoping to get some help deciding between Murex Bangka and Gangga Island Resort.

• As most of the dive sites seem to be around Bangka Island, is it better to stay on Bangka or is the boat journey from Gangga not long?
• Do Gangga Divers regularly dive around Bangka Island?
• How do the dive operations compare between the 2 resorts?

TIA

 

[Luko]

Better stay on Bangka because there are more sites on the eastern side of Bangka which is far away from Gangga.

Gangga island resort is the most luxurious around.
There are multiple operations on Bangka in the mid-market to more comfortable range, none of them are in the "budget" nor "5 stars" categories.
Most of the resorts in Bangka have good dive operations since there is nothing else to do, hence they are dive centric resorts while Gangga also has a spa.

 

[CF L]

@Luko thanks for your reply. As Murex Bangka does not have a swimming pool, would you know if it is possible to swim in the sea in front of the resort?

 

[CF L]

Bastianos Bangka has a swimming pool, has anyone stayed at both Murex and Bastianos and can tell me what you think of each resort and their diving operations? Thanks.

 

[Luko]

@Luko thanks for your reply. As Murex Bangka does not have a swimming pool, would you know if it is possible to swim in the sea in front of the resort?

They have a very nice white sand beach, great for non divers (at least my wife liked it on the 6 times we stayed there).
It is also possible to do shore dives on the house reef.

 

[boletus1973]

First of all.. for dive bangka is better to stay in bangka… no dubt... as Luko said the best dive sites are far from gangga..
Another good resort with big white beach where you can swim easily from beach or jetty is coraleye… the house reef is superb for snorkeling and diving too…

 

[CF L]

First of all.. for dive bangka is better to stay in bangka… no dubt... as Luko said the best dive sites are far from gangga..
Another good resort with big white beach where you can swim easily from beach or jetty is coraleye… the house reef is superb for snorkeling and diving too…

Based on yours and Luko's advice on diving around Bangka, I will focus my search for a resort on Bangka Island itself. I'll look into Coral Eye, thanks.

I only looked at Murex to start with because I've been to their sister resort Lembeh Resort.

 

[scrane]

Although it's too spendy for me, Bastianos looks very nice from the water, has a nice long pier, and a fantastic house reef.

 

[ChrisM]

Hi, I've just joined ScubaBoard hoping to get some help deciding between Murex Bangka and Gangga Island Resort.

• As most of the dive sites seem to be around Bangka Island, is it better to stay on Bangka or is the boat journey from Gangga not long?
• Do Gangga Divers regularly dive around Bangka Island?
• How do the dive operations compare between the 2 resorts?

TIA

Just returned yesterday from a two week trip including second week at Gangga Island Resort where we dove over four days. First time there, so experience is limited. The furthest we went on Bangka was Sahaung (which I could dive every day of the trip). They said it would take about 20 minutes, although it seemed like less than that. Perhaps the northeast sites are quite a bit longer but in no way would I call the boat rides we experienced "long." Plus it's a beautiful ride.

We chose Gangga due to prior friend recommendations. It was nice, and was intended as more of a relaxing vacation after a busier week diving Lembeh. Mostly just two morning dives although the last day added the afternoon dive. It is not really a diver resort, when we arrived there were 9 people total, and only 3 divers. Pretty consistent over the 4 days of diving. The grounds are very nice, the saltwater pool is great, and the beachfront accommodations fantastic. We took advantage of the spa and got massages on a couple days, well worth the $66 for two. Great massages too

From Gangga we were able to dive a few nice mainland sites as well.

Cannot comment on staying on Bangka, however., or the dive ops. Gangga guide (Karni) was not as good as the Lembeh guide but still very good (the Lembeh guide was just *that* good). Did not make it down to Bunaken as they wanted a $50 surcharge and we were told the Bangka diving was much better.

ETA - the Gangga IR website talks about a "house reef." We never saw it, nor was it ever mentioned or offered as an option and from what I saw from a couple short snorkels can't imagine it would be that good

ETA 2 - the food at Gangga was very good, and plentiful. Too much, in fact. They offered both an appetizer and first course in addition to an entree. We rarely had all three.

 

[CF L]

@ChrisM thanks very much for sharing your experience at Gangga Island Resort.

It's good to know boat trips from Gangga to Bangka dive sites do not take long, 20-30 minutes on a dive boat is not new to me so I will not discount the resort on this basis.

The resort looks very nice on their website and I do like my creature comforts .