Help with North Sulawesi Itinerary for Newer Diver

[boletus1973]

I will have a look at Murex as well. Thanks. I thought I had read that the house reef at Gangga is particularly superb. If my freediving experience is any guide, then shore diving will appeal to me particularly when scuba diving. The thing that appeals to me about Blue Bay is the price structure--they don't gouge solo divers and charge only an addition 10 euro per night. Plus at Blue Bay the price for non-diving days is particularly reasonable at 70 euro including board. I will want to spend some days doing snorkeling and relaxing only.

I will be in bangka the next august from 6 to 26.... if all the flight joints will go well ...
I'll stay with my friends at the coraleye dive resort ... its a friendly place with nice white beach and very good house reef... and until two years ago very good food!
i did a lot of surface breaks in front of the blubay ... and a couple of dives too .... i just don't like the position ... the wind doesn't come there so it's hotter .... the house reef is more like a muck dive with little visibility ... and the bathroom if I remember correctly is with the old style mandi... the murex have a super nice house reef with sometimes challenging currents…

 

[Jim4911]

Thanks for all of this information. Murex sounds very good, as do Coral Eye and Bastianos. Not sure how to differentiate between them. Shame about the food at Coral Eye, and I read it was not that great at Murex either. Bastianos has especially inexpensive shore dives, and I have not read any complaints about the food. Blue Bay wins out for price of boat dive days (120 euro including food, diving, and room), but I am not too keen on the policy of no power at all and no fan at night.

 

[Jim4911]

You can shore dive from Murex's resorts at Manado, Bangka and Lembeh

Why not check out their deal, "Passport to Paradise", with transfers from Manado to Bangka to Lembeh by boat with dives en route.

Thanks for the suggestion. I'm not too big on packages like this. I like to buy services a la carte, and dive or snorkel according to how I feel on a given day.

 

[boletus1973]

Thanks for all of this information. Murex sounds very good, as do Coral Eye and Bastianos. Not sure how to differentiate between them. Shame about the food at Coral Eye, and I read it was not that great at Murex either. Bastianos has especially inexpensive shore dives, and I have not read any complaints about the food. Blue Bay wins out for price of boat dive days (120 euro including food, diving, and room), but I am not too keen on the policy of no power at all and no fan at night.

Maybe my English was very bad.. but the food at coraleye before pandemic was very good!! Mixed between indonesia and Italian… love it!!
I think the price of blue bay reflects some things like no electricity/fan at night… if I remember correctly no hot water and the Mandi…
Bastianos and coraleye share the same side of the island… I think if you find a buddy you can do cheap house reef dives also at coraleye…
Differences between them is more architectural.. if you go on the coraleye website you can see it clearly…

 

[Jim4911]

Maybe my English was very bad.. but the food at coraleye before pandemic was very good!! Mixed between indonesia and Italian… love it!!
I think the price of blue bay reflects some things like no electricity/fan at night… if I remember correctly no hot water and the Mandi…
Bastianos and coraleye share the same side of the island… I think if you find a buddy you can do cheap house reef dives also at coraleye…
Differences between them is more architectural.. if you go on the coraleye website you can see it clearly…

That is a relief to hear about the food. You said "until two years ago" the food was very good. That would mean that the food used to be good but stopped being good two years ago. Thanks for clarifying!

 

[Centrals]

Anyone know how to travel to Bangka by public transport?
From Manado there is public ferry to Bunaken and bus to Bitung(for Lembeh) but absolutely no idea how to get to Bangka(never been).

Cheers.

 

[Indah]

I would like to add that this exactly the contrary, that's the magic of being stranded on a beautiful island.
Some resorts have a family feel where you can socialize from the first day. Everybody gathers around for dinner, sing and play guitar with the crew, DMs and boatmen.
I haven't seen any solo travelers left alone at his own table in all my trips to Bangka.


Not really, wasn't impressed from what I remember (already stayed there in 2009), they're planting corals.
Best house reefs from the locations would be Coral eye and Bastianos (even though I never stayed at any of these).
Murex's is good too although I dived too much to regularly spend a 4th dive on the house reef (Stayed at Murex 5 or 6 times, only dived the house reef twice).

(Edit : BEST housereef in all worlds would be on Likupang side just located on Batu Mandi/Doktor's place, though I don't remember which resort and whether it is running now, -it used to be Dr.Batuna's annex in the past-. Maybe Indah would know.)

I remember amazing beautiful dives at Batu Mandi/Doktor's place. But....that was more than 20 years ago. I do not think there is a resort right there anymore. But I guess Blue Bay, Mimpi Indah and other resorts will visit the place if it is still wortwhile.

 

[Indah]

B

Anyone know how to travel to Bangka by public transport?
From Manado there is public ferry to Bunaken and bus to Bitung(for Lembeh) but absolutely no idea how to get to Bangka(never been).

Cheers.

By public boat from Likupang. Limited schedule and not at Sundays.

 

[Indah]

Thanks for all of this information. Murex sounds very good, as do Coral Eye and Bastianos. Not sure how to differentiate between them. Shame about the food at Coral Eye, and I read it was not that great at Murex either. Bastianos has especially inexpensive shore dives, and I have not read any complaints about the food. Blue Bay wins out for price of boat dive days (120 euro including food, diving, and room), but I am not too keen on the policy of no power at all and no fan at night.

Keep in mind that all reviews from before Covid have a very limited value. And I would not care about reviews about the food at all. Too much depending on personal taste and the cook and what is available at the market at that day. What might be important is if you want to have dinner with your book or phone in a large resort or prefer the family style meals which are common in the smaller places. Further, how much guarantee you have that you can dive or go out snorkeling by boat if you would be the only one that day. Or would there be a surcharge?

 

[Centrals]

By public boat from Likupang. Limited schedule and not at Sundays.

Thank you.

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Mandao - Bangka - Lembeh
Really need time to travel around.

I always try to avoid staying in places where eating out is NOT an option but sometimes there was no alternative whatsoever. I eat to live so no big deal as long as the food is cooked through and not stale.