A dive hot spot, but few choices. . . . Borneo Diver's operation on Sangalakki once got excellent reviews, but it has closed. Rumours persist that it will reopen. . . . Bali's culture is fantastic, especially if you get away from the coast, but the diving is not as spectacular as other parts of Indonesia. . . . on Bali's east Coast the Liberty wreck at Tulamben is a favorite among fish specialists, who claim to find a new species every visit. . . . Harder to get to, some say the Banda Islands have the best coral and fish life in the world. . . . Wakatobi , a new operation in remote southern Sulawesi offfers one of the best beach dives in the world. . . If bizarre and rare creatures are a lure, Ambon has a dive that even surpasses PNG's famous muck dives as does Kungungan Bay in northern Sulawesi. . . . The island of Flores was great diving, but it was hit by a typhoon and tidal wave that destroyed its reefs. . . . The diving around Komodo, the home of the dragons, is excellent, but seldom reached by live-aboards. . . . Choices for live-aboards in Indonesia are slim; The Pendito covers a lot of the same territory as Cehili did, but is mainly booked by Europeans and offers only two dives a day. . . . Northern Sulawesi has a few choices for land-based resorts and the live-aboard Serenade leaves from the Murex Resort near Manado. . . . Look for new live-aboards and new resorts to pop up in virgin territory. . . . Get a copy of Kal Muller's Underwater Indonesia. . . .

Bali

Baruna Water Sports/Bali Hyatt, September 1996, Hank Goichman, Los Angeles, CA. "Read In­Depth/Undercurrent before going. Quite accurate on Husa Pineda. Two dives with very strong currents, like being on a train. vis: 75 ft. water: 80­83 degrees. I heard Mejangan Island was worth the trip, but operation, on that day, went to Husa Pineda. Dive boat was comfortable. Cards not checked. Indonesian tend to hustle you a lot. Charged $10 more than quoted. Bali Hyatt was very nice. Would not recommend Husa Pineda except if no other choice. Mejangan Island is three hour drive each way from Sanur Beach."

Baruna Watersports/Hidden Paradise, March 1997, Mary Seggerman, Berkeley, CA. "Bali one of the most awesome vacation destinations in the world. Countryside is spectacularly beautiful, architecture is fabulous, people are spiritual. They devote their lives to creating beauty, paintings, wood and stone carvings, dance, gemelan music, temple offerings, jewelry, hand - woven fabrics, batik. Prices for food and lodging are incredibly reasonable, if not downright cheap. Planned a vacation there for culture, But did plan three days of diving expecting it to be pretty lousy. We were very pleasantly surprised. . . . Dove Nusa Penida one day from Sanur with Baruna Watersports. It's an island off the Southwest coast of Bali. Our divemaster Herry picked us up at our hotel and we drove an hour by van to Pedang Bai where we hopped on an outboard outrigger that accommodated six divers nicely. Another hour to the Nusa Penida sites. Vis: 60 ft., water 80 degrees, the coral was healthy and diverse, lots and lots of tropicals. When currents are strong, big fish show up. But the day we went, the current was light. We were particularly impressed with the numbers and types of anemones. Several ancient Tridachnas. . . . Spent three days on sparsely populated Northeast coast at Amed. Dove several sites around Jemeluk. Lots of great soft corals and ton of vari­colored sea fans. Lion fish, stone fish, interesting mollusks and different types of crinpids. Baruna hired local "dive boats" to take us the several hundred yards to the reefs. They were outrigger dugout fishing boats that barely accommodated two divers and a fisherman. One of the boats had an anchor: a rock with a rope around it. Ours had none. While no anchor was more p.c., it had a drawback in that we got swept away from the boat that had our divemaster in it. Haul yourself up over the side. Gear­handlers. These were barefooted sarong wrapped women who carried our tanks, regulators and BCs on their heads. One woman had three rigs up there at once. . . . Tulamben is a wreck dive from the beach, with tons of coral and great macro opportunities. Some bigger fish, too. Overall, we would rank Bali diving with St. Lucia, Saba, Thailand, Cozumel. Not world­class, but pretty good. If diving from Amed, would use a local dive operator like Eco­Divers instead of Baruna, which was pricey ($75 per day for 2 dives off Nusa Penida, $50/day for Jenneluk and Tulamben), especially considering both dives at Tulamben were beach dives. In Amed, we stayed at Hidden Paradise bungalows, which were classy, clean, and cheerful, for $35/nt. Next time would choose Vienn Beach bungalows for $15/nt. They had better views, and were newer and more charming."

Nusa Dua Dive Centre, July 1997, Michael Fredericks, Washington, D.C. "With merely 25 dives to my credit, this was the best dive yet. Made Sukarna, the owner of Dive Centre, was a confidence builder. Very encouraging, walked me through the "wheel", though my experience had been limited to the "tables", and explained the multi-level dive. Good pre-dive planning; excellent personal attention (only other two divers with us were two of his employees); a great dive guide as well as instructor. Vis: 20-30ft. My first beach dive and Sukarna was very good at helping me recognize the when/how of using the waves for entry and exit. Liberty wreck at Tulamben, on the northeast coast of Bali. Lots of fish, small mantas. Nearly three-hour drive to get to the beach from Nusa Dua."

Derawan Island

Derewan Resort, April 1997, Janis Blanton, Bartlesville, OK. "Charges extra to go to good dive sites such as Sangalaki, Kokaban, and Matura. Negotiate before hand. Extensive dynamiting and over fishing still happening. While one dive leader appeared to be very good, ours was inexperienced. He consistently failed to give a dive briefing, had us abort the first dive (10 minutes into dive), had us swim back to the boat against current. vis: 15-50 ft. Expect $50-$120 overweight baggage fees on final airplane ride to Derewan. Would not go back."

Derawan Resort, May 1997, Bill Howard, Mt. Vernon, IL. "Derawan Island off the coast of Kalimantan; flight to Bali from L.A. involves 17 hours in the air with a stopover in Honolulu, roughly two hours by air to Balikpappan, then another two hours in a propeller plane to Berau and then a two hour boat ride from Berau along the river into the ocean to Derawan. . . . Facilities at the Derawan Resort are pleasant, very clean, some with air conditioning that works some of the time. Food is generally plentiful and good. The only alcohol available is beer, which is quite good. With one exception, dive guides were inexperienced and have no conception of a dive briefing. Most diving is drift. The diving on Derawan Island itself is quite disappointing.vis: 40­50 ft. water: 85 degrees. Only five dive sites. Diving under the pier is, however, excellent, especially for macro. . . . Real reason to go to Derawan is Sangalakki. Usually saw mantas at Manta Point, big turtles on virtually every dive. Sporadic sightings of leopard sharks and a white tip. Other than that, the fish life was rather sparse. The corals at Sangalakki are excellent, although the soft corals are not as large as in the Coral Sea. Large cuttle fish regularly. . . . Diving on Kakaban Island is interesting and deep whereas for the most part, diving elsewhere is shallow. The primary goal at Kakaban is a 500 meter trek into a lake which is partly saline with non­stinging jelly fish. Derawan Divers is starting to open up Maratua as a diving location. Right now they only have two dive locations, one of which is across a channel. We should have seen lots of fish there, but unfortunately, the dive guide took us twice at times that were at slack tide, rather than on the incoming tide, so we saw few big fish. The resort itself didn't seem to have any resident management and there was certainly no overall management of the diving center. The trip was worthwhile, but I wouldn't make all that effort to go again."

Sulawesi

Murex, August 1996, N.K. Tong, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. "Good: Great food, local dishes. Decent accommodation, powerful air conditioning! Great value! U.S. $110/night, full board, twin share, 2 dives in Bunaken Marine Park. Beach diving at U.S. $15/Tank. 5D/4N trip; 14 dives! Walls in Bunaken are very healthy, but the highlight were the beach dives at Murex Resort. Volcanic sand with coral blocks. Wreck (Van) at 30 ft. Shallow diving (15-30 ft.). Tons of critters. Shrimps and crabs in every anemone, pin cushion star, sea cucumber, crinoid, etc. of course the infamous ribbon eel. Was also found in the House Reef (blue, yellow, black!) Lobsters, porcelain crabs,. So good that my wife and I skipped definitely Macro Paradise, beats Bonaire (which was good too) any day. . . . Bunaken wall dives were good, but I prefer Sipadan's walls for the large pelagics. Bad: One hour boat ride to Bunaken Marine Park. Comfortable wooden boats, great for photographers (10 of us!) Away from town, not much night activities, night diving instead. Left at 9:00 a.m., back at 3:30 p.m. after 2 dives and lunch. One evening beach (4:00 p.m.) dive and one night dive (9:00 p.m.) made it an easy 4 dives/day. vis: 40-80 ft. w: 80 degrees. . . . Ranks as one of my favorite trips, especially for macro photography. Very convenient shore dives, very friendly staff, Mrs. Batuna is great host! Bunaken has a mix of current dives and wall dives for beginners and advance divers. The highlight is the shear diversity of marine life."

Murex, September 1996, Lyn Nelson, Santa Monica, CA. "The best diving in 24 years. Walls so shallow at low tide you have to snorkel over the wall. Coral growth is perfection. vis: 80­150 ft. water: 82­84 degrees. On one long drift dive at 2­3 knots we covered an enormous amount of territory and the coral was perfect. Lots of fish, turtles, sharks. But the coral is the magic. Boat ride is comfortable if long, hour each way. Great Indonesian food served buffet style (even on the boat), can snorkel 1­2 hours over lunch time. Night dives are pure heaven. Resort is simple but lovely. Gardens are lush, on a beach (a bad one). Run by an Indonesian MD/NAUI instructor. We must band together to help conservation. The locals (fishing people, boater, etc.) do not care."

Kungkungan Bay, September 1996, Ron Silver, Atlantic Beach, FL. "Great staff, English is constantly improving. Need additional moorings at sites near Lembeh History of WWII wrecks would be nice. More photo keys, this is truly critter heaven!"

Kungkungan Bay, September 1996, Lyn Nelson, Santa Monica, CA. "Take 2­3 macro cameras on every dive; Only then is it heaven. Poor coral except for one or two areas, very choppy, bad viz, wet boat rides in smallish boats, no real walls. Most of the spots were in sand, grey sand at that w/bad, bad viz. vis:20­80 ft. water: 80 degrees. The dive operation was very well run. . . . Resort: If one must have Marriott, American style accommodations, fine. Bad American music, bad American food. I would never travel to such a lovely and exotic location as N. Sulawesi to stay here. It is a very good "Marriott", but a huge disappointment. I left two prepaid days early to go back to Murex."

Kungkungan Bay, February 1997, Al Kulhawik, Hamden, CT. "A long way from the East coast but if your into macro photography, it's worth every mile. K.B.R., as it is locally called, is a great destination. The bungalows are spacious with twin queen size beds, a large bathroon with Western style toilets, not the typical Indonesian tiled hole in the floor. Plenty of hot water for showers. Ceiling fans plus a breeze off the water keep the rooms comfortable. Everyday the rooms were cleaned, towels changed and beds made. The main Lodge serves as front desk and dining area. Upstairs is the TV, VCR area with a limited supply of movie videos. Food was varied, Western, Indonesian, Thai. If the resort is crowded (they can handle up to 22 divers) as in the summer months, they serve buffet style. Sodas and beer are extra, not much in hard liquor, bring your own. The diving is from three different fast boats with most of the dive sites less then ten minutes away all along the shore line of Lembah Straits plus three wrecks to dive. Two boat dives a day are the norm with unlimited shore diving plus night dives. Vis. is limited (20­60 ft.) due to the rich nutrients. water:80­ 82 degrees. No large pelagics, but did swim with a 15 ft. whale shark. If you're looking for tiny critters, divemaster Larry Smith and Dive Guides Simiwell and Jimmy have magic eyes, while you're photographing one animal there off looking for others for you. It's not a question of how many Frogfish you want to see, but what color, yellow, brown, white, pink or black. also, regular and pygmy seahorses no bigger than a dime. Banded, striped and ornate harlequin ghost pipe fish. Stone, Scorpion, Devil and Cockatoo Wasp fish. Ribbon eels, both adult and juvenile, male and female. Banded sea snakes, mimic octopus, various coral shrimps, orangutan crabs in bubble coral, the beautiful and exotic Mandarin fish and at lease a dozen different Nudibrancs. It's truly a Macro Mecca."

Kungkungan Bay, July 1997. Mike and Rachel Toombs. "Wonderful place, rooms great, food is excellent, and a friendly and courteous staff who wanted to do everything to please you. . . . Diving: WOW, what a unique place. Continunally saw creatures we had not seen in 10+ years and 1000+ dives. Ghost pipefish were ho-hum common. More nudibranchs on one dive than all previous dives. Three species of cuttlefish, flamboyant and another species we had never seen before. Blue Ribbon eels, snake eels, seahorses, pygmy seahorses, mating pipefish, nudibranch laying eggs, mandarin fish, 20+ turkey lion fish on one wreck, football size frogfish, juvenile frogfish, leaf scorpionfish, cockatoo wasp scorpionfish, rhinopias, inimicus (devilfish), pegasus, juvenile and adult crocodile fish, flying gurnards, comet fish, finger dragonets, mimic octopus . . .Some even the experts do not know what species they were. . . . Larry Smith has done an outstanding job. He and his staff take unique delight in showing you unusual creatures. Camera's were carried from the room, and we assembled our equipment only once to show them how we wanted it. Larry took us on a special dive to see the mandarin fish at at dusk and we waited to see them come out. He was so excited about them that it made us just as excited as he was. . . . Bert Jones and Maurine Shimlock: You could not have asked for for two nicer people to be group leaders. Willingly shared their extensive photography knowledge and took great pains to insure we got great pictures of unique creatures. Their enthusiasm was infectious and their slide shows informative and educational. . . . Even though the usual problems of a remote location plagued us from time to time, they managed to find some solution so that the problem could be worked out. Helped us take better photographs with correct setting, placement of strobes and strobe arms. . . . Ritz-Carlton a fantastic hotel and great way to end a special trip. We and several Island Dreams customers did not have vouchers for our stay at KBR and the diving. Since the diving package at KBR has changed from 96 to 97, this made a difference as to whether night dives were included. KBR had us booked for only 10 nights instead of 14, but Burt and Maurine assured them we were booked for 14. Did not have a reservation at the transit hotel, but securing a room was not difficult. Thanks for recommending this special place. . . . Singapore Airlines: best flight attendants. Even in economy, their 747-400 is almost comfortable even when full. Personal monitor, movie selection and Nintendo games, even in economy, make the seventeen hour flight shorter. Singapore Airport nice and easy airport to make connections. Transit hotel is great, easy to find, with a kingsize bed, bathroom and everything I wanted after a long flight. Routing through Taipai would be better, even shorter. The Tokyo Airport makes transit passengers go around and you have to go through all the security hassles again. Waiting area was crowded, noisy, and dirty."

Kungkungan Bay, August 1997, Tom & Ruth Millington, Somis, CA. "Exotic critters, macro photography, spoiled by the service and dive operation. Must have good buoyancy control as black volcanic bottom has hidden in sand lots of devil fish, scorpion fish, stone fish. Only place in the world you'll see pigmy seahorses (1 to 1.5 inches high)! Lots of ornate ghost pipe fish, Mantis, mandarin fish, leaf scorpion fish, frog fish, sea snakes, 260 types of nudibranchs, ribbon eels, moray eels, banded pipe fish, sea horses, spinycheek clown fish, lion fish galore, white humpbacked scorpion fish, fire coral with tiny crabs. Shrimp in bubble corals, crinoids. Resort is 5 stars! You need 1/8" wetsuit or 3 mm and even a hood."

Copyright 1998 by DSDL, Inc. All rights reserved. No portions of this report may be reproduced in any way, including photocopying and electronic data storage, without prior written permission from the publisher. For more information, contact Elephant Socks Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 1658, Sausalito, CA 94966.