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SCUBA Diving Bunaken National Marine Park

Spectacular wall diving, coral formations, macro and pelagic diving in North Sulawesi!

Bunaken National Marine Park is an official recognized and protected Marine Park of more than 89,000 hectares. There is a Northern section which includes the islands, Bunaken, Manado Tua, Siladen, Montehage and Nain. This Northern section is by far the biggest part of the park.

The Southern section is smaller and consists entirely of coastal area. There is excellent muck diving, and many divers rate the diving there higher than the Lembeh strait. On top of that, it has also one of the best walls in the whole park. Since it is closer by then the northern section of the park, we often choose to dive in that area.

Most parts of the islands are surrounded by plateau reefs, of which most end with the steep, impressive drop-offs that this park is so famous for. There are a few sites with gentle slopes, but they definitely form a minority and are not really part of the parks’ standard underwater geography.

In front of the coast of Molas there is also a dramatic Second World War shipwreck in good condition. Being located in the center of Southeast Asia’s “Golden Coral Triangle”, Bunaken National Marine Park reefs have the highest levels of marine biodiversity anywhere found on this planet.

Bunaken National Park has a variety of islands with world famous dive sites. One of the reasons diving is so spectacular is that the sea bed has a depth of 200 to 1840 meters. The islands we often go to for diving are Bunaken Island, Siladen Island and Manado Tua.

Bunaken Island

Bunaken Island is a hilly island with volcanic and coral limestone formations.

Siladen Island

Siladen Island is one of the smaller islands and consists mainly of sandy beaches, coral limestone and alluvial soils. It’s more flat than Manado Tua and Bunaken Island.

Manado Tua

On Manado Tua you can find an active volcano in a classical cone shape. Often the volcano is used for iconic images of Bunaken National Park. The island has a peak at 800 meter above sea level, the highest peak of Bunaken National Park.

The other islands also have beautiful mangrove forests and salt water channels.

Bunaken National Park has a wet and a dry season. The dry season runs between May and October, giving less rain showers, wind and calmer seas. The wet seasons runs from November to April with cool winds. The water temperature is between 27 and 30 degrees Celsius.

There is a wide variation of bottom structure in and around Bunaken National Park. There are beautiful volcanic rock and coral limestone formations visible underwater.

Discover Bunaken

Come and dive with us in Bunaken National Park. Crystal clear wall diving with turtles, tropical reef fish and the most colorful nudibranch species. Look in the reef and look in the blue – marine life is everywhere around and thriving in Bunaken.

North Sulawesi is one of the best regions for SCUBA diving in Indonesia. This world-famous dive area has so much to offer people just keep coming back for more. There is no rush, no crowds – just a tropical paradise above and below the surface.

Bunaken and Manado have countless dive spots to discover. For underwater photographers and critter lovers we have many special places we go for muck diving.

Lumbalumba Diving Resort

Fly to Bunaken & Manado

Manado Airport (MDC) is reachable by national and international flights. The recommended route is to fly from Singapore, Bali (Denpasar) or Java (Jakarta) to Manado. From Manado Airport we drive you to Lumbalumba Diving Resort in about an hour.

From our dive resort we visit dive sites around Bunaken & Manado. We love to take you to the best dive spots around and we also have some unique places around our dive resort that we have discovered ourselves.

Are you up for an underwater adventure?

Smiling People Everywhere

‘The Land of the Smiling People’ is what North Sulawesi is often called. With not many tourist arriving in this part of Indonesia it is no surprise people want to take selfies with you all the time. All comes with big smiles, giggles and love.

It is part of the culture and smiling people you will see everywhere around in North Sulawesi, come and experience it!

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