Busy shooting for our upcoming marine life guidebook, we recently visited a long-overdue dive destination we had long been contemplating – Bunaken Marine National Park in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia. We had heard so many wonderful stories about Manado – easy to get to, big fish, clear water, great accomodation, pleasant dives, good food.

Well, guess what – it all came true. The town of Manado and the diving in Bunaken are simply wonderful! In this occasion in particular we were looking for clear reef waters in a location which – most important of all – should offer diversity in small and medium-sized fish species: in our quest for big sharks or incredibly small critters we all too often seem to forget what the reef is all about…colors, shapes, patterns, movement.

It was such a joy rediscovering butterflyfish, wrasses, surgeonfish, squid, sea snakes, trigger, hawk and angelfishes – the common (and not too common), easily approachable, colorful denizens of the reef. Well, we got what we were looking for…and more!

Let us see in detail why Manado and Bunaken are such a diver- and photographer-friendly destination in our opinion. First of all, heaven never has been easier to get to. Just a short flight from Singapore and you’re there. Why, if I lived in Singapore I would spend week-ends diving in Bunaken! Second, the accomodation is lovely: there’s something for everybody, as most dive resorts are just out of town or on the Park islands themselves.

We stayed at the upscale Tasik Ria and our choice was perfect. The resort is beautiful, the huge swimming pools and the rooms are spotlessly clean, the food (bless Daniel Green, the big boss of anything edible there) is absolutely top notch, and the dive operation – managed by the very experienced Jim and Cary Yanny of Eco-Divers – is one of the smoothest we ever came across. Just show up at the right time after a sumptuous breakfast at the resort’s private pier, jump on your big boat of the day – they operate three very large and exceptionally stable ones, Aquatica, Nautica and Tropica – and off you go.

Your dive equipment is already onboard, managed and daily washed by the Resort’s staff from your first day to the last – you just have to dress up before jumping into the water (and undress when you come out of it!). Eco-Divers’ dive guides and boat personnel are very experienced and always smiling – they’re a joy to work with. My very expensive underwater cameras and strobes were treated like babies – you can see they deal with some of the world’s most exacting u/w photographers on a daily basis.

A short, one-hour boat trip to the Park’s waters around eight in the morning is a great opportunity to chance upon large stuff – we saw only marlin and spinner dolphins, but others have met and photographed more spectacular creatures like sperm or even killer whales. The landscape – dominated by the verdant cone of Manado Tua, an extinct or dormant volcano rising from the glass-like Sulawesi Sea – is absolutely spectacular. Pity it rained most of the time when we were there.

The normal day trip will offer three drift dives in three separate dive locations inside the Park (with a very nice lunch on board after the first two) or two drift dives in Bunaken waters and the last one on Tasik Ria’s lovely and mucky home reef (be prepared for frogfish, leaf fish mandarin fish and ornate ghost pipefish here).

The diving in Bunaken proper – the Marine Park comprises the islands of Manado Tua, Bunaken, Siladen, Mantehage and Nain - is simply spectacular: dizzying underwater vertical walls or precipitous slopes, good to excellent visibility, very large sponges and seafans and – most important – all the signs of a very well protected and managed marine zone. Kudos to the people who live and work here! Bunaken surely shines like a brilliant and successful example in a world of overfishing and polluting…

Fish life is absolutely bountiful: look out into the blue and you’ll easily see dogtooth tuna, eagle rays or blacktip sharks gliding among enormous schools of surgeonfish or redtooth triggerfish, or stay closer to the reef proper and prepare to be amazed by a dazzling variety of technicolored fish life.

Some of the world-famous dive sites we visited and we’d be ready to recommend to anybody include our absolute favorite Lekuan III and others as Sachiko’s Point, Pengulingan, Fukui, Negeri (our dive-log entry enthusiastically announces: “Beautiful! Better than the drop-off at Sipadan!”), Celah Celah, Lekuan II, Ron’s Point, Muka Gereja and Alung Banua. I’d be ready to bet that in some of the remotest and less-visited areas of the Park – especially where mangroves are – one could find dugong and saltwater crocodile too.

Of course there’s a little snake in this paradise too – water temperature is often a bit colder than usual for us (we measured an average of 27 ° C during two weeks in April) and sadly maximum dive time is 60’ only, as the boat has to pick up everybody and move on to the next site.

That’s too short for us! Also, some of the dive sites – be prepared for a place called Pasir Panjang – will occasionally (and brutally) throw you around with some of the fiercest and unpredictable whirlpool currents we ever experienced. Anything to worry about? Absolutely not, of course – just forget about taking pictures, swim a bit farther away from the reef and enjoy the ride!

Indonesians are very nice people as a rule, and the people of Manado make no exception – if possible, they’re even friendlier and ready to help than in the rest of this beautiful and huge archipelago. Manado is a very peaceful town, and very much alive : take an evening ride to the food stalls along its main avenues to get a taste of the local lifestyle, and have a try at the local food, which is always very fresh, very fiery and very spicy – Manadonese cuisine is not for the weak of heart!

However, keep in mind that one of the creatures some people from the rest of the world (including us) love most – the domestic dog – is considered a delicacy here: so ask first before you take a morsel, and most important of all, be very ready to shut your eyes or look the other way when you happen to be driving around and see a big roaring bonfire by the road. We didn’t on our first visit – and the gruesome sight of a freshly slaughtered big dog being roasted on a spit is still haunting us.

Euros and US dollars are readily accepted at Tasik Ria’s front desk, as are most of other currencies. The resort’s staff will pick you up from the airport at the time of your arrival and drive you there or to the Strait of Lembeh (the same company manages the fabled Kunkungan Bay Resort) in a comfortable air-conditioned minibus when you’ll leave.

In fact, most people staying at Tasik Ria’s usually combine a longer stay with a week or more in KBR. Electricity is 220 Volts with European two-prong plugs. Eco-Divers’ dive shop has facilities for renting digital cameras, strobes and for developing slides. No visas are needed upon entry in Indonesia, but nationals of several western countries – including ours – have to pay an hefty fee in Manado Sam Ratulangi airport’s immigration office both when entering and exiting the country.