Dive Review of Wakatobi in
Indonesia/Sulawesi

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Wakatobi, Sep, 2001, by Paul Johnson, CA, USA . Report 37.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	We left for Wakatobi Dive Resort in the Tugongbesi archipeligo of southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia, 2 weeks after 9/11. Since our group had been planning this for several years, we struggled with the political and safety implications, but in the end all divers elected to proceed. Our travel was without incident, although we did get to see a few sub-machine guns up close. We spent nights in Denpasaar, Bali, coming and going and felt no animosity. I walked down a street in a commercial district at midnight with a friend and felt safe the entire time. Once in Bali, we were welcomed by Henrik, Renee, and Lorenz, the guiding lights of Wakatobi. They oversaw our time in Bali and went out of their way to make our time interesting, safe, comfortable and informative. The 19 hour open ocean transit on the Ciska is a thing of the past and we were flown from Bali to Wakatobi by air, a much more pleasant journey than in the past, or so I am told. Some bottom lines. The diving is spectacular, the healthiest reefs I have ever seen. No pelagics but incredible tropicals, innumerable small critters (pygmy seahorses!) The array of ocean life was dizzying and at times it was hard to know what to look at, so many wonderful things, not enough bottom time. On a single dive (Roma) we saw ribbon eels in their blue, black, and yellow phases, a pair of robust ghostpipefish and a crocodile fish. Each day began with a wonderful buffet breakfast, then 2 boat dives using either the Ciska or the Wakatobi Tika. After a return to the resort and lunch the afternoon could be spent reading sleeping or shore diving the house reef which was all of 20 feet from the end of the dock. No night life, this was not Grand Cayman. We dove hard and slept early. The genius cook, Nickolas, kept us well fed with a combination of local and European delights. Three meals per day with snacks. The accomodations were comfortable and pleasant and given the location we probably lived like royalty. The divemasters Sue, Paul and Fred were knowledgable, safety conscious without being intrusive, and all around delights not withstanding my breaking of the 75 minute rule. This is world class diving, in a remote location where the operators are working with the local economy, respecting the local culture, treading lightly on the earth and below the seas, and serving up the best that there is to offer. Can't wait to go back.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	101-250 dives
Where else diving	Fiji, PNG, nothern California, Hawaii, Cayman, Bonaire
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, currents, noCurrents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Divers were requested to limit dives to 75 minutes and when I just couldn't leave the reef and surfaced after 90 minutes, the dive master informed me that such behavior made him anxious for my safety.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Wakatobi in Indonesia/Sulawesi

Wakatobi, Sep, 2001,

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 Wakatobi in
Indonesia/Sulawesi