Indonesia

Diving Bunaken

Sheer coral walls in a marine park off Manado, and the natural other half of a Lembeh trip.

Bunaken National Marine Park is what Lembeh is not: clear blue water and vertical coral walls dropping hundreds of metres, an hour from the same airport. The walls are riddled with overhangs and sponge, turtles are constant, and the contrast is the reason most people dive the two back to back — muck in the morning of one week, walls the next. The park has been protected since 1991 and funded partly by a user fee, which shows in the coral.

Know before you go

Best season

Year-round, with the best visibility from March to October. The wet season around December to February brings runoff and softer conditions.

Conditions

27–29°C, visibility routinely 20–30 m on the walls. Mild current is normal and drifts are common; the walls make depth control the thing to watch.

Getting there

Fly to Manado (MDC), then roughly 45 minutes by boat from the city or from a resort on Bunaken itself.

What lives in Indonesia

Recorded across Indonesia rather than Bunaken specifically — each page names the sites.