Wakatobi as good as it seems?

[tridacna]

Yes, I’m aware of the cost but is it worthwhile?

How is the diving? Is the shore diving good? Any recent feedback would be appreciated.

 

[FishCity]

We stayed there as snorkelers but went out with the divers on the thrice daily boats. It was great, lots of coral varieties, dense cover, lots of fish. The house reef is good but not huge and I think that's the only shore diving.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Yes, I’m aware of the cost but is it worthwhile?

How is the diving? Is the shore diving good? Any recent feedback would be appreciated.

Shouldn't your question include some comparables/parameters to give meaning to "good"?

 

[tridacna]

Shouldn't your question include some comparables/parameters to give meaning to "good"?

Fair point. I’ve done N. Sulawesi twice, RA once. Not expecting RA but want some feedback on the diving there. Variety of reefs, walls, corals, any muck?

 

[rmorgan]

The diving is from large (maybe 20m) dhonis. They have a number of these, maybe eight, and There is a good mix of reef fish and macro life, many pygmy seahorses, frogfish, nudis, etc. Healthy reefs when we were there in the fall of 2023, a good mix of walls and reef tops. The guides are excellent, and private guides are available. Shore diving is limited to the house reef. From the beach it is seagrass and sand patches, with lots of juvenile fish, schooling small fish, crabs, nudis, anemones, bigger fish, cephalopods—the whole show. After you go out about 100m and in about 8m, as I recall, it drops into quite a good sheer wall with some shelves. You can also enter the house reef at the end of the dock via steps down to water level. There can be considerable tidal current along the wall; the guides are available for house-reef dives, and a boat is in the water until well after dark to fetch divers back to the dock. The accomplished photographer Pam Osborn has a 900-page.book of images exclusively from the house reef, available here at no charge.

 

[Jaan]

Nathalie’s write up from last June for some perspective. No muck like Anilao (she has a writeup from there too) but nice reefs, great accommodations, good and boats and…

Aside from turtles, we only saw small stuff. We love macro and enjoyed it.

Scuba Diving Vacation at the Wakatobi Dive Resort

A scuba diving vacation at Wakatobi Dive Resort will not disappoint. Diving on Wakatobi's pristine reefs full of life was wonderful. Scuba trip

freedomtourtravel.com

 

[cetacean]

@tridacna

We've been to Wakatobi multiple times, and headed back this summer. Having been most places in Indonesia, it's the best run dive resort in the country. Good food, very comfortable regular rooms (& the villas are very, very nice), the dive operation is excellent, and the guides are very good (get a local guide - they do have a few non-Indonesian guides (that also double as instructors) to help with various languages. However these guides are not as good in finding the critters).

You won't find many big things, but the coral is pristine, and there are sites that are very fishy. As others have mentioned, they don't really have muck sites, but there is quite a bit of macro life on the reefs. There are a couple of locations they've taken me to that are rather "mucky" - they don't dive these often (and only by request).

The house reef out front is one of the better shore dives around. Depending on the current you can dive it in either direction, with easy entry and exit. Most folks skip the sea grass right off the beach - there are a few sea horses out there, you need to be patient to find them.

Last - we've often paired Wakatobi with another destination. By dedicating a week to Wakatobi and another to somewhere new (such as Sangalaki, Bali, or Komodo), we guaranteed at least one week of reliable diving (although the other destinations have all turned out good to great as well). Last time we paired it with an onward trip to Africa -that was both long and involved leaving our dive gear in Dubai on the way in/out.

I've done 100+ dives at Wakatobi - the best way to summarize the diving would be to say that their might be only 3-4 dives I would rate below a 7, but there aren't any that get above about an 8.5 either (on a scale to 10). It's consistently good, with excellent coral, good marine life diversity, a very comfortable and well run resort (including transportation to/from), really good food, etc.

 

[chillyinCanada]

The diving is from large (maybe 20m) dhonis. They have a number of these, maybe eight, and There is a good mix of reef fish and macro life, many pygmy seahorses, frogfish, nudis, etc. Healthy reefs when we were there in the fall of 2023, a good mix of walls and reef tops. The guides are excellent, and private guides are available. Shore diving is limited to the house reef. From the beach it is seagrass and sand patches, with lots of juvenile fish, schooling small fish, crabs, nudis, anemones, bigger fish, cephalopods—the whole show. After you go out about 100m and in about 8m, as I recall, it drops into quite a good sheer wall with some shelves. You can also enter the house reef at the end of the dock via steps down to water level. There can be considerable tidal current along the wall; the guides are available for house-reef dives, and a boat is in the water until well after dark to fetch divers back to the dock. The accomplished photographer Pam Osborn has a 900-page.book of images exclusively from the house reef, available here at no charge.

Great input, thanks.

Have you also been to either North Sulawesi or Raja Ampat?

 

[cetacean]

@chillyinCanada

Just adding my view here as well...

Having been to both (multiple times...). Wakatobi is better (and more consistent) diving than either Gangga or Bunaken (which was potentially great 20+ years ago). I love muck diving, so Lembeh rates a littler higher than Wakatobi for me - but the Wakatobi dive resort is better than any of the of resorts in Lembeh.

RA (overall) is better than Wakatobi, in part because of the diversity of megafauna, as well as the raw untouched areas (like Misool). RA is more "fishy" in places, but there are areas where the coral is better in Wakatobi. The Wakatobi dive resort is also more comfortable, easier to get to, better food, etc. than any place in RA (however it's also significantly more expensive).

This is also likely debatable, but after visiting & diving Wakatobi a number of times (and RA) I think Wakatobi is slightly better for macro critters than RA (I also think Komodo is better than RA in this regard as well).

 

[rmorgan]

Have you also been to either North Sulawesi or Raja Ampat?

Hi, Chilly. We were in North Sulewesi a year ago, and R4 last fall. We stayed at Bunaken Oasis, Murex Bangka, and Lembeh Resort, and moved between the resorts by boat ("Passort to Paradise," plus Oasis). Oasis is a new place; I'd say it's an even match to Wakatobi as far as resort facilities go. There is no house reef, but a fabulous pool. The food is better, frankly--all meals are ordered from a menu, and the kitchen is excellent. The diving is mostly walls; many turtles, nice dives (including a couple of very interesting muck dives). We found the currents a bit flukey but manageable. Bangka has more varied topography--some canyons, swim-throughs--and a good variety of animals. At Murex Bangka, we were in an older, but very convenient, cottage; they've built several spanking-new ones over the last year. Lembeh needs no introduction, of course. We were at Lembeh Resort, which is quite nice, and had a great time finding (well, seeing) All The Things in the sand. And there are decent reefs and wrecks.

Raja Ampat, well, it's Mecca for divers, although there has been significant bleaching over the past few months, with north central (Kri, in particular) hit hard. We stayed at Sorido Bay for a week, then a liveaboard which went a bit north from Sorong, then down to Misool (heavy weather to the north kept the skipper from going there). Sorido Bay is not Oasis or Wakatobi, nor does it aspire to be; but the cottages are large and nice, and the Dampier Strait dive sites are all you'd hope; it's tragic that Kri got blasted, but it's by all accounts fairly localized and in my view not a reason to stay away at all.

Last - we've often paired Wakatobi with another destination.

We spent a week in Tulamben and several days in northwest Bali after our as-yet only trip to Wakatobi. IF you crave muck critters, Tulamben is fantastic--we're repeating both Wakatobi and Tulamben in a few months and really looking forward to both. Since all roads to and from Wakatobi go through Bali, you can leave Wakatobi in the afternoon and dive Tulamben in the evening (depending on traffic and desire).

This is also likely debatable, but after visiting & diving Wakatobi a number of times (and RA) I think Wakatobi is slightly better for macro critters than RA (I also think Komodo is better than RA in this regard as well).

I agree. We saw not too much macro in Raja Ampat--one interesting site in the Dampier Strait off Mansuar (I think the site was Tapokring), and a very good site, Algae Patch, northwest of Sorong just before returning to port. In Wakatobi, I think we dove one mixed muck/reef site, but there was macro life all around--we saw almost two dozen pygmy seahorses in a week.

I have sets of pictures from each place up--Wakatobi and Bali, North Sulewesi, and Raja Ampat.

A quick pitch for the Wakatobi liveaboard, Pelagean; it's a nice boat with excellent diving (and food, of course), and there are night dives every night, with good muck off Pasarwajo and fantastic stuff among the shoals between Buton Island and the resort.