Hello ,
I was in Tompotika Dive Resort - East Sulawesi ( https://divingsulawesi-tompotika.com ) 12 days during Christmas holiday 2023 and this is my report .
Getting there :
from Jakarta is a 2 legs flight ( transit in Makassar ) to Luwuk .
From Luwuk airport 2,5 hours by car arranged by resort . Very easy .
Batik Air did not do a great job because they changed both my outward and return flight.
And especially for the return flight I found out about the change when I checked in!
It was a miracle I then took the Turkish flight from Jakarta to Istanbul with only 2 hours of transit and terminal change in Jakarta .
The resort :
the resort is nice , clean and well maintained , only 5 bungalows : 3 standard stand alone + 2 deluxe larger and in one building .
I stayed in one of the stand alone bungalow and I had a very pleasant stay .
Air conditioning works well and I would say it is necessary ( and this is coming from someone who usually does not use it ) .
The food is really very good , family style lunch and dinner , with meat , fish and vegetarian options .
Dive shop is functional . Dive master carry al the equipment to the dive boat .
Black sand beach that stretches for a few hundred meters on either side of the resort .
Unfortunately , being part of a village , the beach is not exactly clean , and is populated with a diverse population : chickens , dogs , cats , goats , cows , children playing and always smiling at you .
It is nice to have a walk on the beach at sunset , but , once again , do not expect an unspoiled white sandy beach like Triton Bay or Raja Ampat .
The diving experience :
if I first have to compare ( ... many friend asked me about ... ) the overall diving experience with Triton , Raja , Alor I would say that Tompotika is a little bit below the above destinations .
Why this ?
Because for me it lacked a real "wow" factor and perhaps because of the suboptimal conditions I found : visibility ( very often ) poor and rather strong current .
And I often had the impression that the guides ( all from Manado ) were trying to dive too conservatively to avoid the current and to make it easier at the price of not seeing the best things .
I had to insist on going to the most famous dive site ( Batu gong ) otherwise we would never have gone there .
Of course the conditions were quite difficult , descending along a rope with the current ripping the rope from my hands ( it felt like climbing a mountain in a rope ) but the amount of fish down there was fantastic .
Unfortunately once again visibility was poor .
Other times we had to skip this site as the marker buoy ( where the rope was hooked ) was even under water because so strong current !!!
In the first few days their diving proposal was very very conservative, I mounted the wide angle and practically did nothing.
Then, on the one hand they understood that I was an expert and well fitted diver and on the other I asked them to make the best sites, things improved.
If you go there you have to ask to go to Batu Gong, Jenad side, Tanduk, Solana Reef , also AliBaba 2 not bad.
These wide angle sites are 10-15 minutes away by boat and you always go to and from the resort, so very convenient.
Only one day we went to more distant sites (Batu tetek and Ondolina Rock) and then stayed outside on a beach for the surface interval, beautiful but not spectacular.
As for diving experience I would also say that it is much more enjoyable for the common diver than for the underwater photographer, the quantity of fish in certain points is incredible ( I can truly say that I have never seen so many schools of fish all together in one point) but the action is chaotic .
The interesting zone is between 30 m and 18 m, therefore Nitrox is essential. I don't remember anything memorable at the shallow part .
The best period is October - November. I think I will return during this period in the future.
I'm not very satisfied with the underwater photos I got, I hope next time it goes better.
Instead the macro surprised me positively : there are pygmy seahorses (pontoi, denise, bargibanti) in some dive sites and above all the house reef is very productive at night.
I did the night dive almost every night: dozens of frog fish, flamboyant, pegasus, mimic octopus, coconut octopus, a lot of nudibranch.
Diving schedule : h 8 - 11 - 15 - 18 so easy to do all the dives without stress .
Dive time for wide angle dive is 50-60 min . For macro dive time can be longer and for night dives was more or less 90 min .
What advice can I give you : Tompotika is really place where it is worth going, preferably between October and November to have the best conditions.
If you have any questions please ask .
all my best
Paolo
here are some photos ( if you like to see more here my Flickr album :
Wide Angle : Tompotika - Sulawesi - wide - December 2023
Macro : Tompotika - Sulawesi - Macro - December 2023
Macro Vintage Lens : Tompotika - Sulawesi - macro vintage - December 2023
here the best dive sites :
Solana Reef : always great action there .
I was in Tompotika Dive Resort - East Sulawesi ( https://divingsulawesi-tompotika.com ) 12 days during Christmas holiday 2023 and this is my report .
Getting there :
from Jakarta is a 2 legs flight ( transit in Makassar ) to Luwuk .
From Luwuk airport 2,5 hours by car arranged by resort . Very easy .
Batik Air did not do a great job because they changed both my outward and return flight.
And especially for the return flight I found out about the change when I checked in!
It was a miracle I then took the Turkish flight from Jakarta to Istanbul with only 2 hours of transit and terminal change in Jakarta .
The resort :
the resort is nice , clean and well maintained , only 5 bungalows : 3 standard stand alone + 2 deluxe larger and in one building .
I stayed in one of the stand alone bungalow and I had a very pleasant stay .
Air conditioning works well and I would say it is necessary ( and this is coming from someone who usually does not use it ) .
The food is really very good , family style lunch and dinner , with meat , fish and vegetarian options .
Dive shop is functional . Dive master carry al the equipment to the dive boat .
Black sand beach that stretches for a few hundred meters on either side of the resort .
Unfortunately , being part of a village , the beach is not exactly clean , and is populated with a diverse population : chickens , dogs , cats , goats , cows , children playing and always smiling at you .
It is nice to have a walk on the beach at sunset , but , once again , do not expect an unspoiled white sandy beach like Triton Bay or Raja Ampat .
The diving experience :
if I first have to compare ( ... many friend asked me about ... ) the overall diving experience with Triton , Raja , Alor I would say that Tompotika is a little bit below the above destinations .
Why this ?
Because for me it lacked a real "wow" factor and perhaps because of the suboptimal conditions I found : visibility ( very often ) poor and rather strong current .
And I often had the impression that the guides ( all from Manado ) were trying to dive too conservatively to avoid the current and to make it easier at the price of not seeing the best things .
I had to insist on going to the most famous dive site ( Batu gong ) otherwise we would never have gone there .
Of course the conditions were quite difficult , descending along a rope with the current ripping the rope from my hands ( it felt like climbing a mountain in a rope ) but the amount of fish down there was fantastic .
Unfortunately once again visibility was poor .
Other times we had to skip this site as the marker buoy ( where the rope was hooked ) was even under water because so strong current !!!
In the first few days their diving proposal was very very conservative, I mounted the wide angle and practically did nothing.
Then, on the one hand they understood that I was an expert and well fitted diver and on the other I asked them to make the best sites, things improved.
If you go there you have to ask to go to Batu Gong, Jenad side, Tanduk, Solana Reef , also AliBaba 2 not bad.
These wide angle sites are 10-15 minutes away by boat and you always go to and from the resort, so very convenient.
Only one day we went to more distant sites (Batu tetek and Ondolina Rock) and then stayed outside on a beach for the surface interval, beautiful but not spectacular.
As for diving experience I would also say that it is much more enjoyable for the common diver than for the underwater photographer, the quantity of fish in certain points is incredible ( I can truly say that I have never seen so many schools of fish all together in one point) but the action is chaotic .
The interesting zone is between 30 m and 18 m, therefore Nitrox is essential. I don't remember anything memorable at the shallow part .
The best period is October - November. I think I will return during this period in the future.
I'm not very satisfied with the underwater photos I got, I hope next time it goes better.
Instead the macro surprised me positively : there are pygmy seahorses (pontoi, denise, bargibanti) in some dive sites and above all the house reef is very productive at night.
I did the night dive almost every night: dozens of frog fish, flamboyant, pegasus, mimic octopus, coconut octopus, a lot of nudibranch.
Diving schedule : h 8 - 11 - 15 - 18 so easy to do all the dives without stress .
Dive time for wide angle dive is 50-60 min . For macro dive time can be longer and for night dives was more or less 90 min .
What advice can I give you : Tompotika is really place where it is worth going, preferably between October and November to have the best conditions.
If you have any questions please ask .
all my best
Paolo
here are some photos ( if you like to see more here my Flickr album :
Wide Angle : Tompotika - Sulawesi - wide - December 2023
Macro : Tompotika - Sulawesi - Macro - December 2023
Macro Vintage Lens : Tompotika - Sulawesi - macro vintage - December 2023
here the best dive sites :
Solana Reef : always great action there .
