Togian Islands - Una Una

[scubajunky17]

HI All,
Any trip reports on the Togian Islands, Una Una etc ? and how does it compare to say komodo or RA for diving ?

 

[JohnnyQuest]

I dove there on the Ocean Rover in 2012. It was an exploratory trip where we picked up local dive guides along the way and they took us to their favorite places. Overall, the diving was ok, but not on the scale of my experience in RA or Komodo. Some reefs were vibrant while others were rubble. We saw very few sharks and the fish density was low to moderate. If a liveaboard operator really wanted to set up a fantastic itinerary in the Togian Islands, it could probably be done based on what we saw, but unfortunately the owner of the Ocean Rover died so that knowledge was lost. There must be other operators there who know the area well. RA and Komodo were mind blowing. We also dove Wakatobi and Alor. I'd rank Komodo and RA at the top and the Togian Islands at the bottom, but since our trip was exploratory, that's not 100% fair.

 

[boletus1973]

I'll be there at the end of July for a week at una una island.... at pristine paradise dive resort.... I've been to Togian the last time in 2007 at walea Island and the diving was very good, but not comparable with komodo....great corals and viz but not very fishy.... i hope una una will be better than walea... but who knows? i will let you know... ;-)

 

[scubajunky17]

Ok, thanks for your input guys.

 

[Dan]

I dove there on the Ocean Rover in 2012. It was an exploratory trip where we picked up local dive guides along the way and they took us to their favorite places. Overall, the diving was ok, but not on the scale of my experience in RA or Komodo. Some reefs were vibrant while others were rubble. We saw very few sharks and the fish density was low to moderate. If a liveaboard operator really wanted to set up a fantastic itinerary in the Togian Islands, it could probably be done based on what we saw, but unfortunately the owner of the Ocean Rover died so that knowledge was lost. There must be other operators there who know the area well. RA and Komodo were mind blowing. We also dove Wakatobi and Alor. I'd rank Komodo and RA at the top and the Togian Islands at the bottom, but since our trip was exploratory, that's not 100% fair.

That explains why Ocean Rover changed name to Raja Ampat Aggressor.

I heard similar comment about Togian island diving. So, I never bother to go there.

 

[Nick R+A]

Boletus, can you offer any feedback on your diving with pristine paradise?

 

[boletus1973]

Boletus, can you offer any feedback on your diving with pristine paradise?

No problem... una una island diving it's good... not spectacular but good... the water is hot, 28-29c.... in the morning the visibility is good to very good... some dives are really nice with good coral life .. hard coral and sponges mostly... i don't know why but soft corals are rare... there is fish.. not like komodo or raja ampat but reef fish are many... sometimes jacks schools... some tuna... some turtle... i didn't see sharks.... for me una una is the kingdom of sponges..... huge and everywhere!!
Macro stuff? not available..... they don't know macro.... :-( but it's indonesia.. macro is there... i hope they take some indonesian dive guide to learn something about macro stuff... but i think they don't have the right guests....
Ok.. i do only 9 dive there because lion air lost my baggage... it coming to the island after two days..... **** lion air!! :-D
Getting to the island is complicated and very long / tiring... it's mostly a backpacker place.... the food is ok(not the breakfast)... the comfort/resort is backpacker style... we know it before but it's too much for us... we was the only divers with our diving equipment and uw camera gear... we don't need super luxury resorts... but this is to much on the lower side for our taste... after ten years around indonesia we prefer more divers oriented resorts....
We liked the island and even the dives, but it was a week too tiring for us ...
any question??

 

[boletus1973]

here you can find some photos of my nine dives @ una una island!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/13930495@N06/albums/72157670856382467

 

[CarcharodonCarcharias]

Just got back couple of weeks ago from Una Una.

Nice place to dive and the dive crew at Santcum is pretty awesome. But the accommodation is just a bare minimum diving resort. No cell signal.

It is a pain in the neck to get to and my gears were left on the tarmac at Palu airport. So I did my diving w/o out my own gears. But it worked out well because I was happy that I did not have deal with washing gears.

Dives: Nothing strenuous except maybe Apollo and Karang Lembut. Apollo has a resident of school of barracuda. Karang Lembut has everything but it is a swimming dive.

It was a good place to get away though.

 

[Nick R+A]

Boletus, thanks for the feedback + photos. Vis looks way better than I expected. Shame to hear about your dive gear, we've had the same experience with Lion Air. They are the worst - my gf wrote a post about it. https://remoteandafloat.com/lion-air-lost-my-bag/

We love diving with the homestay's in Raja Ampat even though they are basic so accommodation wise it may be ok for us. I think we may give Unauna a miss for now though as the diving sounds like it may not be worth the hassle of getting to.

We're now looking at Siau island as an alternative.