Dive Review of
Wakatobi in
Indonesia/Southern Sulawesi

Bali, Caribbean, Great Barrier Reef, New England, Florida

Dive Conditions

70 minute time limit for most dives; a little less for some.  However, the
Dive Guide frequently pointed out things to us at 69 minutes so we averaged
around 75 minutes.  

Air Conditioned camera room on shore with plenty of space for setting up
camera gear.  110V and 220V available for recharging.  Several staff
members who are willing and able to help.  Freshwater rinse tank on the
boats for cameras, and a large work surface area.  Screening room with a
digital projector for viewing stills or videos.  

Overall Rating

Macro Heaven.  Lots of little critters; nudis on most dives and pygmy
seahorses on about a quarter of them.  Several cuttlefish, octopuses, a few
rays, banded sea snakes, garden eels you could almost touch, Schools of
medium-sized reef fish, but virtually no pelagics.  The guides were in the
water for all boat dives; you could follow them or not as you wanted, but
it was worth it to stay relatively close since they know where many of the
critters hide.  Vis was somewhat limited by the particulates in the water. 
The dives are nominally 70 minutes, but some people surfaced sooner and
were picked up by the boat while some of us stayed a little longer when the
guides found things to show us at the end.  The house reef can be dived
from shore, but watch out for the currents!  Or the house reef can be dived
from a tender - they will take you "upcurrent" and you can drift
back to the resort.  The currents were sometimes rather strong and for a
couple of dives we couldn't make it to the planned endpoint because of the
current.  There are three scheduled boat dives a day: two in the morning
and one in the afternoon.  However, you can do more dives by diving the
house reef, too.  Nitrox is available - nominally 32%, but I often got 33%.
 The boat crews were extremely helpful!  They would set up your gear and
put it up on the bench when it was time to gear up.  Some divers on our
trip had back problems and the crew helped them gear up sitting on the side
of the boat.  When you indicated you wanted to do a night dive, they'd take
your gear off the boat for you, and return it the next day.  Wakatobi does
not run on "Island time" - most everything ran on-time and
smoothly.  The bungalows were clean and had A/C, but we just opened the
windows the whole time.  The food was excellent - a good variety and more
than we could eat.

Overall, the best dive resort we've been to. 

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