DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA FEB 2025 ISSUE 410

Tesselated Filefish pair

Wakatobi has rich coral ecosystem thanks to its protection

with my order. Ice cream lovers’ heaven. Each time, I ordered ice cream, I got the triple serve. Luckily the diving will burn it all off, I tell myself. The same goes for the coffee. The owners sourced the best coffee that they could find from all over Indonesia and made what they considered to be the best blend. For coffee lovers, such as myself, this is a special treat. The cuisine here is international restaurant standard. There are dedicated chefs for Pastries, bread, croissants, and mousse, chefs for Indonesian food, Chefs for European food and amazing wait staff. One of the waiters had worked on a luxury cruise liner in the Caribbean for seven years. Most are trained at high-end resorts in Bali. The chefs come from five star hotels all across Indonesia. Another feature that impressed me is the long term staff loyalty, most staying for many years. Each meal includes a selection of hot food including Indonesian, Westernfood and also individually prepared orders from the chef.a smorgasbord of salads, fruits, pastries and, of course, ice cream. Suffice to say that dining here is first class. How the resort began In the early 1990’s, the two Swiss brothers planned to build a dive resort. They settled on the southern tip of

Sulawesi. They met with local island chiefs and gained permission to lease a parcel of land and settled on the necessary agreements to begin construction. They employed local builders. Goods were brought in by ship. This was a very slow process for guests so they decided to get permission to build an airport.

Manicured tropical gardens are maintained daily

White Tail Variola Trout

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DIVE LOG Australasia #410 - February ‘25