Posts Tagged ‘Bunaken Island’
Bunaken Island has become an icon of the city of Manado, and indeed of North Sulawesi, since an underwater paradise was discovered by several North Sulawesi diving pioneers, among them Loky Herlambang and Ricky Lasut. The vertical coral reefs that seem to go down forever immediately made Bunaken one of the world’s favorite diving venues. The underwater walls of Pulau Bunaken are full of colorful corals and exotic fish.
Like mushrooms in the rainy season, in the mid 1990s diving resorts sprouted up along the beaches of Malalayang and Molas, not far from the Manado city center. Bunaken is now home to dozens of diving resorts; over 30 diving operators are eager to take you on a dive trip to Bunaken every day.
The run over to Bunaken takes only around 50 minutes on a motorboat specially designed to accommodate diving tourists. As long as the seas are fairly calm and the sun is gently shining, it’s an ideal time for those who want to sunbathe before the sun’s rays get too fierce.
There are more than 12 diving sites around Pulau Bunaken. Some of these dive sites are characterized by steep walls quite densely covered with coral to a depth of 40 meters.
Others are more gently sloping but covered even more densely with coral. Typically one will see many types of reef fish – butterfly fish Read the rest of this entry »
Manado, North Sulawesi is undoubtedly one of the best-known vacation destinations in Indonesia. The province offers a full range of activities, from world-class diving and snorkeling, to volcano trekking, white water rafting and a variety of historic & cultural attractions.
A source of pride to Manadonese is Bunaken Island, which has long been famous as an incomparable diving spot.
With an almost unbelievable variety of teeming sea life, superb visibility and spectacular scenery, Bunaken is the chief attraction of North Sulawesi for divers and non-divers alike. Those who can’t or don’t want to dive but still want to enjoy the beauty of the sea need not worry – with much of the best coral just under the surface, the sea gardens are easily accessible to snorkelers. Non-divers, too, can experience much of Bunaken’s wonders through a glass-bottom boat. In short, anyone from young to old can all get a taste of what natural wonders are like on Bunaken.
Now Manado has added another point to its already impressive resume: an international MICE (Meeting, Incentive, Convention, Exhibition) destination. Earlier this month (11 – 15 May), Manado successfully hosted the first-ever World Ocean Conference, with friendly Manadonese welcoming hundreds of guests from all corners of the world who gathered with one objective in mind: to protect the ocean from negative implications of climate change. Up to 80 nations agreed to adopt the Manado Ocean Read the rest of this entry »