I just returned from 10 days at Bunaken Oasis in N. Sulawesi. I'll try and summarize in sections:
1. Booking: Easy as pie. I used Georgie, their agent in the UK for all matters related to booking. She is fantastic to work with and very accommodating. We were a large group (20 divers) and she made life very easy for me as the organizer. Nothing was too much effort for her and the entire process was made simple for me.
2. Getting there: Most of us flew from Newark NJ to Singapore on Singapore Airlines and then took the Scoot flight to Manado. You can book the entire flight on SA because they own Scoot. That makes it easy on the luggage restrictions. Some flew on other airlines but no one had any problem getting there (or back).
When you arrive, they have pre-arranged your visas, meet and greet you outside the airport and everyone is whisked in private taxis to a private jetty in Manado and taken to Bunaken in two of their dive boats. The entire process is really well organized; You're greeted with a cool towel at the airport; a water bottle in the taxi and the best attitude you are ever going to encounter on any dive trip. I can't say enough about the overall attitude of all staff. They learn your names, smile whenever talking to you and nothing is ever a "no". It's obvious from the beginning that you are going to have a great stay.
3. The resort: The rooms are the best that you will EVER have at any dive resort. Period. I've been doing this for 40+ years and nothing even comes close. The rooms are enormous, bathrooms are impressive and nothing is lacking at all. No TV but I consider that a plus. They have thought of pretty much everything. Nothing was missing. Huge showers, great views from every room, incredible swimming pool. Absolutely nothing to criticize. WiFi in every room with decent throughput. You can watch videos without any problem. This is also one of the most beautiful resorts that you can visit. Landscaping is gorgeous and the resort is very well maintained.
Meals are served in their open air restaurant thrice daily. Food is prepared by a chef and can be customized for any diet. I heard no complaint from anyone about the food, In addition to their daily Indonesian specialties, they have a regular American menu with burgers, pizza, pasta for anyone who wanted that.
All rooms are the same except for some with two queen beds.
The pool at night.
Warning: The resort is built on a steep hill. The better the view, the better the hike. You WILL climb a LOT of steps each day. Plan your trip accordingly. The best rooms are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 11 if you want to avoid many steps.
The bar is next to the restaurant and is a great place to hang out before dinner. The managers always join you for pre-dinner drinks and it's a fun place to be.
Everyone used the spa a lot. Very reasonable and talented masseuses.
3: Dive operations: This is a diver resort. They are ready to handle everything from recreational to technical. The compressor room is awesome. We all dived 32% Nitrox for all dives. Tanks are checked on each dive: Each boat has a O2 analyzer and they are fastidious about safety. They are trimix and rebreather friendly. I saw three Ts of Helium - custom blends and sorb is available. They offer scooters for tech divers. The camera room is huge and offers air guns and power available at all stations.
Dive boats. Wow. Groups are small on each boat. We had 3 divers on our boat with 4 staff: 1 DM, 1 captain, 1 gear guy and 1 guy to make tea, coffee provide towels etc. It is extremely decadent. You do a backward roll, drop onto a wall, reef or muck bottom and surface with the DM on a SMB/line. When returning from a dive, you are welcomed with a hot towel, choice of beverage and a dry towel. The boats are huge. Custom built for diving with real heads, showers and tons of space. They will set up your gear and break it down after each day. Their rentals are first class if you need. Mostly new and high quality stuff. There is a focus on enjoyment and safety. A very impressive operation.
Morning dives start at 8:30am and after two dives, return to the resort around noonish. There are no restrictions on dive times. Your DM will come up when you are ready. I'm embarrassed to say that that some of the dives were too long. Our group was getting kinda cold at 77mins! Water temps varied between 84F and 78F! There are some interesting thermoclines. There are some currents but each dive is treated as a drift dive so you are seldom if ever diving into the current. There is an afternoon dive at 2:30pm and a night dive is offered every night. Mandarin and deep water dives are also offered. Check their website for pictures of their dive boats.
4. Diving: Awesome. It's not often that you see 5 pygmy seahorses on your first dive but our DM could probably have found more. He has a species named for him. Hentje Pontoh discovered a new species in 2008: Hippocampus pontohi. This sounds terribly trite but I was actually getting tired of seeing Pygmy Seahorses. He founds them on walls at all depths. I was anticipating this and brought a lens to see them. Good advice for anyone else going down there. We saw the usual caste of characters that makes the area famous: Dozens of Green Turtles, Painted Frog Fish - (size of a fingernail), Scorpion Leaf Fishes, Leaf fishes, Giant Clams (yay) - corals are prolific. I take a keen interest in soft corals and on one site, Abang Point, gave up counting the different species. That was probably the greatest dive that I've ever done. It was simply a giant aquarium. We were down for almost 82mins on a Al80 - I did not want the dive to end. I've never ever seen such healthy animals. They are huge and in great abundance.
The focus in Bunaken is on the walls but they will happily take you wherever you want to dive. Mention a species to your DM and they will take you to that animal.
5, Staff: This is a customer focused resort. Everyone from management down is there to make sure that you have a good time. Simon and Kelly are the GMs and they really try to make sure that you are taken care of. Christine and Antal are in charge of the dive operation and they do a wonderful job. I can honestly say that I did not have a single issue that they did not take care of immediately. I highly recommend Bunaken Oasis & Spa. It will be hard going anywhere else after this "spoiled rotten" experience.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE was 10/10. This is not a cheap experience but 100% worth every penny. I've never experienced anything as good as this in my diving life.
(Thanks to Leisha for the pictures I stole from FB!).
1. Booking: Easy as pie. I used Georgie, their agent in the UK for all matters related to booking. She is fantastic to work with and very accommodating. We were a large group (20 divers) and she made life very easy for me as the organizer. Nothing was too much effort for her and the entire process was made simple for me.
2. Getting there: Most of us flew from Newark NJ to Singapore on Singapore Airlines and then took the Scoot flight to Manado. You can book the entire flight on SA because they own Scoot. That makes it easy on the luggage restrictions. Some flew on other airlines but no one had any problem getting there (or back).
When you arrive, they have pre-arranged your visas, meet and greet you outside the airport and everyone is whisked in private taxis to a private jetty in Manado and taken to Bunaken in two of their dive boats. The entire process is really well organized; You're greeted with a cool towel at the airport; a water bottle in the taxi and the best attitude you are ever going to encounter on any dive trip. I can't say enough about the overall attitude of all staff. They learn your names, smile whenever talking to you and nothing is ever a "no". It's obvious from the beginning that you are going to have a great stay.
3. The resort: The rooms are the best that you will EVER have at any dive resort. Period. I've been doing this for 40+ years and nothing even comes close. The rooms are enormous, bathrooms are impressive and nothing is lacking at all. No TV but I consider that a plus. They have thought of pretty much everything. Nothing was missing. Huge showers, great views from every room, incredible swimming pool. Absolutely nothing to criticize. WiFi in every room with decent throughput. You can watch videos without any problem. This is also one of the most beautiful resorts that you can visit. Landscaping is gorgeous and the resort is very well maintained.
Meals are served in their open air restaurant thrice daily. Food is prepared by a chef and can be customized for any diet. I heard no complaint from anyone about the food, In addition to their daily Indonesian specialties, they have a regular American menu with burgers, pizza, pasta for anyone who wanted that.
All rooms are the same except for some with two queen beds.
The pool at night.
Warning: The resort is built on a steep hill. The better the view, the better the hike. You WILL climb a LOT of steps each day. Plan your trip accordingly. The best rooms are 1, 2, 3, 4 and 11 if you want to avoid many steps.
The bar is next to the restaurant and is a great place to hang out before dinner. The managers always join you for pre-dinner drinks and it's a fun place to be.
Everyone used the spa a lot. Very reasonable and talented masseuses.
3: Dive operations: This is a diver resort. They are ready to handle everything from recreational to technical. The compressor room is awesome. We all dived 32% Nitrox for all dives. Tanks are checked on each dive: Each boat has a O2 analyzer and they are fastidious about safety. They are trimix and rebreather friendly. I saw three Ts of Helium - custom blends and sorb is available. They offer scooters for tech divers. The camera room is huge and offers air guns and power available at all stations.
Dive boats. Wow. Groups are small on each boat. We had 3 divers on our boat with 4 staff: 1 DM, 1 captain, 1 gear guy and 1 guy to make tea, coffee provide towels etc. It is extremely decadent. You do a backward roll, drop onto a wall, reef or muck bottom and surface with the DM on a SMB/line. When returning from a dive, you are welcomed with a hot towel, choice of beverage and a dry towel. The boats are huge. Custom built for diving with real heads, showers and tons of space. They will set up your gear and break it down after each day. Their rentals are first class if you need. Mostly new and high quality stuff. There is a focus on enjoyment and safety. A very impressive operation.
Morning dives start at 8:30am and after two dives, return to the resort around noonish. There are no restrictions on dive times. Your DM will come up when you are ready. I'm embarrassed to say that that some of the dives were too long. Our group was getting kinda cold at 77mins! Water temps varied between 84F and 78F! There are some interesting thermoclines. There are some currents but each dive is treated as a drift dive so you are seldom if ever diving into the current. There is an afternoon dive at 2:30pm and a night dive is offered every night. Mandarin and deep water dives are also offered. Check their website for pictures of their dive boats.
4. Diving: Awesome. It's not often that you see 5 pygmy seahorses on your first dive but our DM could probably have found more. He has a species named for him. Hentje Pontoh discovered a new species in 2008: Hippocampus pontohi. This sounds terribly trite but I was actually getting tired of seeing Pygmy Seahorses. He founds them on walls at all depths. I was anticipating this and brought a lens to see them. Good advice for anyone else going down there. We saw the usual caste of characters that makes the area famous: Dozens of Green Turtles, Painted Frog Fish - (size of a fingernail), Scorpion Leaf Fishes, Leaf fishes, Giant Clams (yay) - corals are prolific. I take a keen interest in soft corals and on one site, Abang Point, gave up counting the different species. That was probably the greatest dive that I've ever done. It was simply a giant aquarium. We were down for almost 82mins on a Al80 - I did not want the dive to end. I've never ever seen such healthy animals. They are huge and in great abundance.
The focus in Bunaken is on the walls but they will happily take you wherever you want to dive. Mention a species to your DM and they will take you to that animal.
5, Staff: This is a customer focused resort. Everyone from management down is there to make sure that you have a good time. Simon and Kelly are the GMs and they really try to make sure that you are taken care of. Christine and Antal are in charge of the dive operation and they do a wonderful job. I can honestly say that I did not have a single issue that they did not take care of immediately. I highly recommend Bunaken Oasis & Spa. It will be hard going anywhere else after this "spoiled rotten" experience.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE was 10/10. This is not a cheap experience but 100% worth every penny. I've never experienced anything as good as this in my diving life.
(Thanks to Leisha for the pictures I stole from FB!).
