Bunaken Marine Park, a Place to Enjoy Scuba Diving in North Sulawesi

Bunaken Marine Park is a marine park and it is located at the northern part of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. The marine park is home of various species of corals and fishs. The number of the species is up to 390 species, including coral, fish, mollusc, reptile and marine mammal. There are also sea-grass and coastal ecosystem in the region of Bunaken. Bunaken was founded in 1991. It becomes the first marine park in Indonesia with an incredible diversity of species. 

The total area of Bunaken is about 890.65 km². The area consists of marine habitat of about its 97%, and the remaining 3% is terrestrial park. The park includes Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Manado, Nain and Siladen Islands. With professional management, today Bunaken has become one of the most popular diving and snorkeling areas in the world.

Location

        Bunaken Marine Park lies in Sulawesi Island. It is about 45 to 60 minutes from Manado by boat. When you visit Bunaken, means of transportation is available for visitors. The resorts in Bunaken usually arrange transfers of visitors from the airport to the island where they want to visit. The transfer facility allows visitors to be more easily to reach the island they prefer. You can also go by boat to Bunaken by boat. The boat serves passenger every day, except on Sunday.

The cost for one trip is Rp25,000 ($2.50) for foreign tourists and Rp10,000 ($1,00) for local tourists. The boat returns to Manado every day but Sunday as well. If you go to Bunaken with a group of people, it is better for you to charter a private boat to Bunaken. This will save your budget a lot.  

Activities

        The main activity you can do when you are in Bunaken Marine Park is surely scuba diving. In Bunaken, there a lot of dive centers that serve visitors to dive. The rate to use the service of the dive center is various. However, it is better for you to pay a few more dollars to hire a professional and experienced operator.

You should not choose the cheapest rate but poor service. Safety should become your first priority when dealing with diving activity. If you are a beginner, you should also hire a guide to help you succeed the diving activity. Spending a little more budget is better than have any trouble when diving.   

 Accommodations

         When visiting Bunaken Marine Park, you will have a number of options of home stay. The rate for the home stay is various, ranging from Rp80,000 ($9.00) per day. The home-stay are comfortable, but if you have enough budget, it is better for you to find a better home stay even with a more expensive rate. Most home stay offer the best service to customers, and therefore you don’t have to worry about which home stay you should select. Most home stay provides basic accommodations such as comfortable rooms and beds, restaurant and lounge chairs.

        Bunaken is popular around the world, and therefore you don’t need to worry about the facility you will get. You will have the best service for accommodations during your stay in Bunaken Marine Park.   

Pictures taken from www.worldtourismindonesia.blogspot.com

Manado Tua Island with a Challenging Adventure Offer in North Sulawesi

Manado Tua Island, along with Mantehage, Siladen, Bunaken and Nain make up the Bunaken and Manado Tua Marine National Park. The island is separated from the land by a trench of submarine. The depth of the trench reach a depth of 1,200 m. It has clean and clear water. The island is quite far from the city, and therefore it is free of silt and garbage. The marine park of Manado Tua is protected by law. Hence, spearfishing and fish or coral collecting are forbidden. Also, heavy equipment for fishing such as dynamite is strictly forbidden. When you dive in this marine park, you should remember what you can do and can’t do.  

Picture Mercywenas.blogspot.com

Location

          Manado is the capital city of North Sulawasi Province. It is situated in Manado Bay. The surrounding area of Manado is mountainous, and therefore as far as you can see, it is beautiful scenery. To reach Manado, it depends on where you are from. The airport of Manado, i.e. Sama Ratulangi Airport is the transit of various flights from many direction. For example, SilkAir flies from Singapore four times a week to Manado.

Domestic airlines such as Lion Air, Garuda Indonesia and Batavia Air serve flights from various cities in Indonesia like Surabaya and Denpasar. Thus, wherever you are, you will have various options of flights. After you have arrived at Manado, you can go to the marine park by local transportation, such as bus.  

Activities

       You can enjoy various activities in Manado Island. Both on land and underwater, the activities you can do is fun and exciting. You can do marine activities, such as diving and snorkeling or land activities such as hiking or trekking. When you choose to dive, you will get an exciting experience as you can see a lot of species of sea creatures and fish, such as groupers, napoleon wrasse,  snappers, and occasionally hammerhead sharks.

However, the current in the diving spot of Manado Tua is quite strong. Only professional divers are suggested to dive in this spot. For common visitors, you can do hiking or trekking. The marine park also provides jogging tracks and facilities for camping or mountain biking. These activities will be fun as you can bike in the beautiful mountain around Manado.

Accommodations

          There are many hotels and resorts you can select when you visit Manado Tua Island. Among the popular hotels are Sintesa Peninsula Hotel Manado, Gran Puri Hotel, Swiss-Belhotel Maleosan Manado, Hotel Santika Premiere Seaside Resort-Manado, and Ritzy Hotel Manado. If you think that staying in those hotels expensive and cost a lot of money, you can stay in a cheaper lodge available all around the city of Manado. Otherwise, you can set a tend and have a camp around the marine park.

          Manado Tua provides a challenging adventure to visitors. You can enjoy the beautiful nature and the incredible underwater life. Dive or simply snorkel to enjoy the beautiful panorama of the sea. Manado Tua Island is one of the best tourist destinations in Sulawesi.    

Bunaken Island, the Most Amazing Island in the Marine Parks of North Sulawesi

Bunaken Island is one of the most popular diving spots in the world. The popularity of Bunaken has spread around the world. The area of Bunaken is about 890 km². Bunaken along with Siladen, Manado Tua, Mantehage and Nain has made the most beautiful marine park in Sulawesi. The government has managed the marine park so well that it becomes home of various species of fish and sea creatures. All the creatures are protected, and no one is allowed to take any species from the waters. However, visitors can enjoy the beauty of the underwater panorama by diving or snorkeling. The both activities are challenging and exciting. You can see various shapes of fish and other creatures in the waters.   

Picture Playrachmanez.blogspot.com

Location

        Bunaken Island is situated in the northern tip of Sulawesi Island, Indonesia. The island belongs to Manado Municipality. You can reach the island from Manado by boat for about 45 to 60 minutes. When you have arrived at Manado, and have selected a resort to stay, most of the resort serves their guests with a means of transportation to transport their guest to the resort from the airport. The transfer enable the guests to be more comfortable with their travel. 

       The guests will not have to bother thinking about the transportation. However, if you want to save your budget, you can go by public boat towards the island. You need to pay for Rp25,000 ($2.50) one way for tourists and Rp10,000 ($1.00) for locals. Otherwise, you can charter a private boat to Bunaken from Manado Harbor. Surely, it takes more budget.  

 Activities

          Bunaken Island has complete facilities for visitors to do various things. It provides area for visitors to do the activity they provide. When you visit Bunaken, you can do some activities including beach combing, fishing, hiking and dolphin catching. These activities are the simplest activities you can do. However, you can also do a more extreme activity such as diving and snorkeling. Especially for professionals, these activities offer a fun and exciting activity. 

        While if you are an amateur, diving and snorkeling should not be done without any guidance. You should ask for a help from a more professional and experienced diver to guide you. With the guide, your diving or snorkeling activity can be much safer.

Accommodations

          Visitors can stay in a dive resort available in Bunaken Island. However, staying in the resort may be considered expensive for some Indonesian people. No matter how expensive it is, staying in the resort is the only option. For backpackers, there are no budget options. There are several resorts you can choose when visiting Bunaken. They are Bunaken SeaGarden Resort, Bastianos Dive Resort, Bunaken Beach Resort, Bunaken Cha Cha Nature Resort, Bunaken Divers Seabreeze Resort and many others. The rate of these resorts depends on the holiday season. Peak season is usually more expensive. Hence, it is better for you to come to Bunaken at other than peak season.    

          Bunaken Island has an amazing scenery. Visiting this island will not waste your money and time. Especially with the complete facilities, spending your holiday in this island is the right choice.

Mantehage Island, an Island with Amazing Scenery in Bunaken Marine Park Site

Mantehage Island is a small-sized island located in the group of Bunaken Marine Park. The island looks green from far, and it lies right in the middle of sea. As far as you can see, the island is so beautiful with blue sky and white clouds above it. When you arrive at this island, you can enjoy the beautiful beaches with its white fine sand. This is a fascinating island, especially with the biodiversity in its underwater and mangrove forest. 
Mangrove trees dominate the island, and it is one of the islands in the group of islands of Bunaken Marine Park. Most people of this island spread in several villages with a livelihood as farmers, not fishermen. This is because the government of Mantehage does not allow local people to catch fish in a large amount. Fishing is limited by certain regulations. 

Pictures Tanahairindo.blogspot.com

Location

          Administratively, Mantehage Island lies in Wori District, North Minahasa Regency, North Sulawesi Province. There are four villages in this island, i.e. Tangkasi, Buhiasm Tinongko and Bongo Villages. The island is one of marine tourine destinations in the group of Bunaken Marine Park. The island is adjacent to Phillipine, Sulawesi Sea, North Minahasa and Maluku Sea. With such borders, the island offers fantastic marine tourist destination for visitors. To reach the island, you can travel from Manado. There are many domestic flights to Manado, provided by several airlines such as Garuda Indonesia, Batavia Air, Lion Air and many more. After you have arrived at Manado, you can continue your journey to Mantehage by speedboat. It takes about an hour by speedboat to Mantehage from Manado.  

Activities

          Diving is the most interesting activity you can do in Mantehage Island. You can enjoy the beautiful underwater life with this activity. Diving will give you an unforgettable memory. There are some diving spots in the waters of Mantehage Island. You can start to dive from the location with various species of fishes and coral reefs. If you are a professional diver, you can dive to the depth of 18 meters. With such depth, you can have a distinctive experience. You will be able to find a more unique and extreme creatures like napoleon, barracuda, angel fish, blow fish, lobster, blue ribbon eels, and sharks. You can prepare a camera to record the beautiful scenery of schools of fish.

Accommodations

          You will not find any hotels and home stay in Mantehage Island. However, you don’t have to worry as you can stay in one of the local people’s houses. Local people usually provide home stay for visitors who want to spend their night in the island. Otherwise, you can stay in Siladen Island. The both islands provide adequate facilities for visitors. The distance of Mantehage to Siladen is about an hour. The resort and home stay in Siladen include Siladen Resort and Spa, Tante Martha Homestay, Ahlan Hotel, Angkasa Raya Indah Hotel, Arison Hotel and many others.

          Mantehage is one of the most exotic islands in Bunaken Marine Park site. It is recommended to visit Mantehage Island when you travel to Bunaken.

Siladen Island, One of the Most Beautiful Islands in Bunaken Marine Park Site, North Sulawesi

Siladen Island is one of the islands in the region of Bunaken Marine Park. It lies right next to Bunaken Island. The island is blessed with beautiful panoramic beauty of both the marine and the nature. When you visit the island, you can enjoy white sand beaches stretching around the island. The beaches can be a great place to relax and enjoy the scenery. You can feel the breeze of the sea wind in the beach. 
The island is also rich of biodiversity. You can find various creatures in the sea, such as butterfly fish, groupers, sting rays and spotted eagle rays. The island has steep wall diving so that divers enable to see the most extreme creatures like sharks. Diving in the island will give you the best adventure that you may not find in any other places.

Pictures By leivischem [federleicht] from www.flickr.com

Location

          As previously mentioned, Siladen Island is situated next to Bunaken Island, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Precisely, the island lies in the northern side of Bunaken Island. The total area of this island is about 31.25 hectares. To reach the island, you have two alternatives route. Firstly, you can use public transportation of boats. The boats only serve passenger once a day. The trip f the boats are from Manado, departing at around 1 p.m to 3 p.m (depending on the tides). When you decide to visit Siladen, you must prepare yourself to stay in this island. The boats travel back to Manado at around 7 a.m.  You must pay for Rp25,000 – 50,000 ($2.50 – Rp5.00) per person per trip. 

Activities

          The most popular activity to do in Siladen Island is diving and snorkeling.  The sea condition allows visitors to dive and snorkel freely. Visitors can enjoy the most beautiful scenery in its underwater. Especially, the swift currents on Siladen are constant, making it suitable for divers. The currents support sponges and giant coral trees to live beautifully. The most amazing diving spot in Siladen is the North Siladen dive site. The site is located behind the island. The current in this diving spot is moderate to strong, and therefore it is suitable for professional divers. This diving spot is the best place to enjoy various species of fish, such as emperor angelfish, see turtles, reef white tip sharks and snappers.

Accommodations

          There are hotels and resorts you can choose to stay when visiting Siladen Island. For instance, Onong Resort and Siladen Resort & Spa. Onong Resort has 7 individual cottages equipped with air conditioner and electrical power. The menu is various consisting local menu and international one. While Siladen Resort & Spa are designed for keen divers and non-diving visitor. It has 5 individual beaches view with 10 garden view villas. It also has a traditional spa, large salt water pool and in-house diving centre. The diving centre offers various types of courses.

          Visiting Siladen will give you the most exciting experience. You can have a great adventure by exploring the diving site, or you can just simply relax on its beautiful beach. Siladen Island is one of the best islands in the group of Bunaken Marine Park.