BUNAKEN DIVING, SNORKELING TOUR

Bunaken National Marine Park was formally established in 1991 and is one of Indonesia’s most famous diving and snorkeling areas and it draws visitors from all over the world. The 890 km2 of marine national park includes the neighboring islands of Manado Tua (a distinctive cone-shaped extinct volcano), Siladen, Mantehage, Nain, and Nain Kecil.

Some 20,000 local inhabitants make their living from the waters in the Bunaken National Marine Park, and this has inevitably led to some conflicts. By and large though, the co-operation between national and local government authorities, conservation groups, business owners and local communities has been very successful here. This has led many to cite Bunaken as a model example of how Indonesia should be preserving its natural marine treasures.

Bunaken Landscape

The park is famed for the clarity of its water (35m visibility is common in the summer dry season), the abundance of coral and fish, and for the precipitous “walls” at some sites. Bunaken Timur, right off the east coast of the island and featuring all of the above, is rated by many as the single best dive site in all Indonesia.

Bunaken Flora and fauna

Bunaken has a quite stunning biodiversity including:

• No less than 70 different general of coral
• Five species of sea turtle
• An extraodinary range of fish – 70% of all fish species that exist in the Indo-Western Pacific Ocean are found here
• White tip and black tip reef-sharks are common
• Wonderful resident dugongs
• Barracuda and tuna make regular appearences from more pelagic waters
• Occasionally saltwater crocodiles

Bunaken Climate

Bunaken is barely a degree above the equator and thus tropical. The wet season, from November to mid-April, brings frequent rains sometimes in storms lasting for several days which freshen the air nicely but also reduce marine visibility. The dry season is from May to October, when temperatures climb to a roasting 35° and visibility reaches a maximum. Bunaken receives less rain than the north Sulawesi mainland and is well ventilated with sea breezes.