Portofino, Cozumel, Roatan, Indonesia: Undercurrent 08/2026

Portofino, Cozumel, Roatan, Indonesia

and the Aggressor franchise, yada, yada, yada

from the August, 2026 issue of Undercurrent

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Indonesia has endless resorts with good, often great diving, and we frequently report on unadvertised resorts that deserve your consideration. Long-time Undercurrent correspondent Hugh Aaron (Tallahassee, FL) has made 1000 dives, and this May he traveled to Coral Eye Boutique Resort and Marine Outpost on Bangka Island, after determining it was a good base for diving North Sulawesi's Bangka Island, Bunaken Marine Park, and Lembeh Strait. You reach the resort by flying to Manado. He reports.

"Coral Eye is in a beautiful setting between jungle and beach, accessible only by boat or on foot through the jungle. It is one of the most luxurious and best-managed dive resorts I have visited, with classic Indonesian architecture, and the buildings are on or close to a beautiful beach with an extensive house reef . . . It began as an outpost for marine biology research, and while it is now a luxury dive resort, it still retains that original function. Three Italian marine biologists gave evening lectures and went on the dive boats with us to conduct fieldwork. In 2025, Coral Eye completed an open-air restaurant and lounge with an infinity pool and water views. The food was excellent. We stayed in a luxurious garden villa. The dive operation was extremely well run. In addition to sites around Bangka, Coral Eye offers three all-day dive excursions, among the best dive days we had over three weeks of diving in Indonesia. Turtles in Bunaken Marine Park were everywhere. We made an open-ocean crossing north for three dives around remote Biaro Island at Biaro Pinnacle. The current was screaming. Coral Eye has a no-reefhook policy, so divers need to be comfortable managing themselves in strong currents. The reef was spectacularly healthy, with large schools of sizeable fish, something we otherwise did not see much of in North Sulawesi. The reefs were really healthy, with good coral cover and a lot of small fish. Except for larger fish at Biaro, including bumphead parrotfish, there were not a lot of big animals, but numerous seahorses, including pygmy seahorses, and octopuses. I really enjoyed the wall dives with their rich collection of marine life." www.coral-eye.com...

"The area around Portofino, on the picturesque Ligurian coast, is a marine protected area with lots of fish."

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