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Dive Review of Siladen Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Siladen Resort: "Wonderful Resort with Great Diving", Oct, 2017,

by Michael J. Millet, CA, US (Top Contributor Top Contributor 92 reports with 58 Helpful votes). Report 9973 has 2 Helpful votes.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 4 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This was my first visit to the Siladen Resort and 3rd time diving Bunaken Marine Park. The transfer from Manado airport by van and boat takes almost 2 hours.

At Siladen Resort, I had a very nice beach front bungalow with a large deck, TV, frig, and small outside rinse pool. The rooms had very spotty wifi. The resort has a very large pool and well kept grounds.

The restaurant served some of the best food that I have ever had at either a resort or on a live-aboard. The meals were served in the dining room or on the beach, weather permitting. Breakfast was buffet with a large selection of different foods and an egg station. Lunch was primarily buffet with a made-to-order BBQ. Dinner was both buffer and ala carte. The meals offered an excellent selection of seafood, beef, pork, chicken and some Indonesian dishes. The soups and desserts were excellent. A nice selection of wines and premium spirits is offered.

The resort has an excellent camera room with individual work stations, plenty of power outlets, camera clothes, rinse tanks and compressed air.

The dive operation is well-run. The crew takes care of rinsing, storing, and setting up the dive gear. There are 2 morning dives at 8 AM and an afternoon dive at 3 PM. The dive boats have a head and offered water, coffee, fruit and snacks.

I had a private dive guide, Danni, who is an excellent critter-finder and dive buddy. He has great knowledge of the dive sites and was always friendly and helpful.

We dived most of the islands in the marine park including Bunaken, Siladen, Manado Tua, and Mantehage. We also hit some dive sites off of North Sulawesi. The dive briefings were nice -- short but thorough. We usually boarded the dive boats off the beach near the dive shop. On a couple of days, due to low tide, we had to walk thru the village to board at a more accessible beach.

The marine life encountered included several species of shrimp, crabs, nudibranchs, pipefish and squat lobsters. We also enjoyed several different types of anemone fish, moray eels and scorpionfish. We even had a nice encounter with a wunderpuss. The largest critter encountered were green sea turtles, which were seen off all the walls about Bunaken Island.

Siladen Resort is an excellent operation with very nice accommodations, savory food and great diving. The staff is very friendly and always helpful. Also, for Indonesia, it is fairly easy to get to.

I will definitely return to the Siladen Resort when next in the North Sulawesi area.
Websites Siladen Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving All over the Caribbean; Galapagos, Socorro, Fiji, Solomons, GBR, Vanuatu,
PNG, Philippines, Indonesia, Palau, Yap, Kosrae
Closest Airport Manado, North Sulawesi Getting There From west coast USA, thru Singapore; about 20 hours

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry Seas calm, choppy, surge
Water Temp 80-84°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 35-100 Ft/ 11-30 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions No deco; 100' max; 65-70 minute dives
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 4 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Resort has very nice camera room as described herein. The crew handled the camera rigs with care. Dive boats could have used additional camera rinse bins. Other than lots of large green sea turtles, the subject matter is mostly small stuff.
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Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

Subscriber's Comments

By Jeff Moore in FL, US at Jan 06, 2018 18:12 EST  
I just got back from Raja Ampat live aboard [Sea Horse].It was fabulous!One of the crew has worked at Silladen and recommended it.Have you dived Raja Ampat? Were there fish everywhere? Did you have vertical walls?Can you compare Silladen vs. Raja Ampat? Thanks, Jeff Moore
By report author: Michael J. Millet in CA, US at Jan 07, 2018 14:45 EST  
Hello there -- Yes, I have dive RA twice. Excellent diving there. I have dive the Bunaken Marine Park (Where Siladen is located) 3 times. The diving at BMP is also excellent; it is known for its walls and lots of schooling fish and green sea turtles. You can also dive North Sulawesi for some black sand diving. The Siladen Resort is excellent; I highly recommend it. I plan on returning there for some more diving perhaps in 2019.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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