Siladen or Bangka - Which island ??????

[elbuzo]

I will go to North Sulawesi for the first time on next october.

Among my choices i'm considering to spend some days in a small island with nice beach and close shallow reef ,to make my non-diver girlfriend happy , just relaxing and making some snorkeling.Meanwhile i can make some ambient light panoramic pics.

Anyone had been in such islands ?
Until now my options are : Onong Resort at Siladen or Murex at Bangka . Both very small, non-luxury resorts , more in the natural side.

I will appreciate any comment based in previous experience .

Gracias

El buzo


PD. pls. don't suggest to leave my girlfriend at home, because i already considered that option.

 

[davidlkh]

Murex at Bangka is very remote. It has a very nice beach.

Siladen is not that far from Manado in case she gets very bored.

 

[elbuzo]

Thanks David

Which one have a better "house reef" or is better for snorkeling ?

El Buzo

 

[hallboy]

Iv, been to onong resort with celebes divers : Go there. The thing is that you can stay either on mainland or in Siladen, because when you go diving;between the dives you eat and stay in Siladen. The resort in Mainland is really nice with a small pool; very good food ( they are italians and so, really good coffe ) on the evening you can go to manado ( not such a marvelous place but she maybe will apreciate to go downtown; the bungalows are wonderfull ) Ask to see the movies about sea life when you are in mainland. Most of the dives end on a coaral reef where you can go snorklin and close to the pier in SIladen . Enjoy yourself.

Ps if you go tell the 2 italians boss hello from PHilippe ( the french guy that see a soccer game at midnight in siladen: Marsiglial 0 Parma 2 FInal UEFA cup 2004 . Poor me )

 

[elbuzo]

Gracias Hallboy

I will stay on Manado with Murex for a week ( becasue i won a as a photo contest´s prize ) so i was looking to stay on a small island for 2-3 days to make something a little bit different .

How looks the Onong area and the bungalows at Siladen ?

Did you heard any comments about Bangka Island during your stay ?

Sorry for your soccer team , i have a very good friend here from Perpignan that also suffer that loss .

El buzo

 

[pazz]

Check out the Gangga Island Resort: www.ganggaisland.com

The following is a link to my trip report about Gangga Island.
http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=all&ct=i&c=Indonesia

 

[hallboy]

Gangga Island extremely expensive. Celebes divers is 100 meters up the raod from Murex ( Mainland ) you will find a lot of pictures on their website, and the accomodations are the same mainland and in Siladen. For what i've heard the (rermote ) resort in bangka is is ok too. if you dive first Bunaken with Murex, Banka would be a good idea. There's also pictures on their website. Just one thing: take you gilfriend on the baoat; she will get bored staying at the Resort all day, that way she can tan and snorkel and be with you.

 

[elbuzo]

Thank you Pazz , your reports were very helpful . I read them all , very informative .

My only concern is that Bangga only have double room bungalows ! how was your experience with this ? any noise or lack of privacity ?

Also Hallboy thanks for your comments . Siladen looks nice but now that i took a closer look to a North Sulawesi map i think that after being for 1 week diving from Manado , i could find Siladen a little bit repetitive . So now my options are between expensive Bangga or remote and cheaper Bangka.
Anyway your posts help me a lot !! gracias.

Saludos

El buzo

 

[hallboy]

De nada. Si es por 2 o 3 dias vate con la chica en Ganga ( Murex es " for free no? )

 

[elbuzo]

Yes but besides Manado , i will go also 1 week to Lembeh and 10 days around Bali so i will check how much is the difference.

Gracias señor

El buzo