Dive Review of Siladen Resort and Spa in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

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Siladen Resort and Spa: "Great Place From Which to Explore Bunaken Marine Park", Sep, 2023, by Brian Morrow, GA, US ( Sr. Contributor 23 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 12615.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Siladen Resort and Spa is a wonderful, well-run resort within Bunaken Marine Park. This was the third stop on our trip and we arrived via a one hour boat transfer from Gangga Island Resort. Direct access to Siladen would be through Manado airport, a short dive to the jetty and then approximately 45 minutes to an hour boat ride to the resort. The resort is beautiful, well run and maintained. Upon arrival the staff takes your bags to your room while you check-in. We stayed in a beachfront bungalow with views of Manado Tua, a small volcano that the sun sets directly behind. The room was very spacious with ample drawers and hangers for clothes, a desk and a small seating area. The bathroom adjoins the bungalow and is open air. There is a front porch with a couch as well as two lounge chairs with an umbrella out front closer to the water. Breakfast is served in the open air restaurant. While the stated opening time is 7 am the staff was usually set up and ready to go earlier. A wide range of breads, pastries, fruit, and warm food such as pancakes or waffles and sausages are provided as well as an egg station. Lunch and dinner is buffet style with seating on the beach, weather permitting. Besides the various buffet offerings there was a made to order station that offered delicious specials such as seafood or pasta based meals. The dessert section was also a standout. The dive program consists of two tank morning trips leaving at 8 am and returning between 12 and 12:30 to either Bunaken Island, around Siladen Island or mainland Sulawesi. There are wall dive locations and sloping sand reef locations and a few sites that offered both. The main wall of Bunaken Island is known for an abundance of green and hawksbill turtles and never disappointed. We would see at least a dozen on each dive we did in that area. There was also an afternoon dive that left at 3 pm and returned around 5. Night dives, black water dives and 3 tank day trips to Bankka Island where also offered. The dive operation, like the rest of the resort, is well run. There are boards where you are assigned to a boat and dive guide. Usually, you are paired with the same guide for your entire stay. We had Saiyful and he was a great spotter as well as being very attentive to his group especially when we encountered strong currents or strong up or down drafts. Every dive seemed to present lots of great photo and video subjects from nudibranchs to long-legged octopus’, cuttlefish, tiny crabs and shrimp. Siladen Resort has a great camera room for photographers with multiple assigned stations. Each station was spacious with plenty of plugs for charging batteries. Outside the camera room were rinse tanks and compressed air bottles for drying your camera. We truly enjoyed our week at Siladen Resort and Spa and highly recommend it to anyone looking for easy access to Bunaken Marine Park.
Websites	Siladen Resort and Spa Siladen Resort and Spa
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	All over Caribbean, Sea of Cortez, PNG, Solomons, Palau, Yap, Raja Ampat, Ambon, N.Sulawesi, Alor, Bali, Moorea, Bora Bora, Hawaii, Philippines
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	This was the third stop on our trip but you can get there via Manado from Singapore or Jakarta. A boat picks you up to take you to Siladen
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	choppy, currents
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Guide to diver ratio max is 4-1 though the two of us mostly where the only divers with our guide. Follow guide, come back to boat withing 70 minutes. Most dives maxed at 75 - 80 ft as there was little need to go deeper.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Dive boats had camera tanks that are a bit small should there be a lot of big rigs on board and often weren't filled very high but we had no real issues. Your assigned guide carries your camera in a plastic bin to and from the boat. Siladen has a great camera room with assigned stations, rinse tanks, compressed air and plenty of charging plugs.

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Dive Review of Siladen Resort and Spa in Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Siladen Resort and Spa: "Great Place From Which to Explore Bunaken Marine Park", Sep, 2023,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Siladen Resort and Spa in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi