DIVE LOG AUSTRALASIA FEB 2025 ISSUE 410

BUNAKEN NATIONAL PARK If you are not so interested in shipwrecks, and it’s the marine life and photography that turns your propeller, you must visit Bunaken Marine Park—boasting up to 2000 species of fish and some 390 species of coral. The Bunaken walls are alive with dazzling colour and abundant marine life. The park is recognised as containing some of the highest biodiversity in the world. The park is located just out of Manado Bay in the Sulawesi Sea and off the northern tip of North Sulawesi. Dozens of sites spread across the five islands that make up the park: Bunaken, Siladen, Manado Tua, and Montehage, a total area of 75,000 hectares. Oceanic currents sweep past Bunaken Island, bringing a steady supply of nutrients to a fantastic variety of marine life and high densities of fish and coral populations. Over 70% of all fish species known to the Indo-western Pacific, from the tiniest shrimp to reef sharks, habitat the park. The dazzling coral is stunning, and the gullies have spectacular formations from the reef top to 40m and beyond. Even I, a diehard wreck diver, could not resist the temptation to make a second trip to explore further the vertical drop-offs and valleys that plunge to several hundred meters. I pull up at a lousy 70m, but the

temptation was to go further. I only stopped as I wanted to limit my deco-time and explore the walls. I won’t go into the spectacular night dives. I’ll leave that to your imagination. The best time to visit North Sulawesi, especially when diving the Manado and Lembeh wrecks (as they are close to land and subject to river runoff), is the “dry season” from April to October. The “wet season” officially starts from November to April. However, the rain doesn’t affect the Marine Park much as it is offshore. The divemaster told me that diving there is good all year round, with a water temperature 29-30C and visibility of 15-25 plus metres. ACCOMMODATION There is something to suit every budget; compatible accommodation in Manado is substantially cheaper than in Bali and quite good from what I’ve seen. I elected to stay at the NDC resort as it was close to the city, and I was diving with Manado Scuba, which operates from the resort. (Anise, an older divemaster, will dive 80m on air with you) Bunaken is only an hour’s boat trip from Manado. There are good dive resorts on the island, and also close by on the mainland. Please feel free to contact me if you would like any further information at fritzherscheid@gmail.com www.https://salvagepirate.com/ Fritz is the author of the excellent book Salvage Pirates: Rabaul and the Hakkai Maru Treasure

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