Place to stay on Siladen or near by?

[Scuba Susie]

Hey there,
My friends and I have narrowed our search of the world dive sites and settled on Bunaken National Park and Lembeh Staits for our dive holiday. I thought staying at Bastiano's in Lembeh would be nice but hear their sister resort in Bunaken can get loud and crowded on the beach, especially on the weekends. We are looking for some quite beach time without the hassles of locals trying to sell their stuff. Don't get me wrong, we support the local economy by buying tons of handicrafts etc just don't want it during my beach time, ya know? Nor do we really want to be right next to 3 or 4 other resorts. The price of Bastiano's is in the ball park we are looking for...approx $500 USD full board for the week of diving. Can anyone suggest anything? Are there less expensive and realiable dive resorts on Siladen Island? Or any other near by island? Not looking to stay on the mainland. Like that deserted island feel.
Thanks as always,
Susie

 

[Bosun]

we stayed at Siladen Spa earlier this year and it was great both food and accomodation, no other hotels are on the island and the beaches empty. The islanders would try and you things when you got off the dive boat but never elsewhere and they were not pushy. I think $500 per week would not get you far there though. We thought the overall dive experience was better in Bunaken than the Lembeh Straits, lots of colours and textures and critters.

 

[hallboy]

Celebes Divers - Diving in Manado, Bunaken, Lembeh


ive stayed ther. more expensive than bastianos, but cheaper than Siladen Spa.

 

[AlanWald]

Two Fish Divers on Bunaken is a quiet, family run resort (English couple Nigel and Tina and baby Rebecca) and prices are similar to Bastianos.

They also have a smaller resort at Lembeh next to Bastianos that is expanding a tiny bit (they started building the day I left in April of this year) Dive Manado/Bunaken and Dive Lembeh with Two Fish Divers Bunaken

The Lembeh resort is very quiet. Opo the dive guide will sing and play guitar for you at night. Or you can go to visit the village of the lady that comes to do the cooking . It is just minutes away by boat.

The only thing that really matters is you and your dive guide. make sure the diver to guide ratio is low, like three or four to one and that the dive operation does NOT limit your time underwater, Two Fish does NOT, some impose a one hour limit which is based on their needs, NOT yours. Everyone dives the same spots for the most part. In Lembeh on a night dive, we were just two divers and each one of us had our own dive guide. It was great.

 

[neptun43]

There are more than 12 resorts on the island of Bunaken with prices (three meals inclusive) between 100 US$ and 630 US$ the week. Not all of them have their own presentation on Internet. On his website a German diver describes most of them on his website (now also translated in English), some of them from his own experience (2001-2006). So you may find the most adequate one for you. You can get also much information about the Island and Trips on North-Sulawesi with photos as well.