Bunaken Wall Diving, North Sulawesi

Bunaken National Marine Park, Manado · Indonesia

Moderate7 daysAsia~£1,050 est.

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Overview

Bunaken's reefs do not slope — they stop. The island sits on the lip of a drop that falls past 800 metres, and the wall is undercut, so you finish a dive hanging over blue with the coral roof above your head and nothing at all below your fins. Turtles the size of coffee tables sit wedged in the sponges, indifferent; schooling bannerfish stack up in the current lines off Lekuan and Mandolin. You dive it from Manado or from a homestay on Bunaken itself, and the two give different trips: town gets you a wider choice of operators and the Lembeh muck-diving day trip, the island gets you the house reef before breakfast and no boat transfer at dawn. Most operators run three tanks a day; visibility is best from March to October and the wall works on any tide, though the currents at Sachiko's Point deserve respect and a guide who reads them. Budget roughly £900-1,200 for a week with accommodation, full board and a three-dive-a-day package — Sulawesi remains one of the cheapest world-class dive destinations. Fly to Manado via Jakarta or Singapore; the park entry fee is a modest annual tag bought on arrival.