Wakatobi Macro Life and Dive Site Recommendations

[amclaughlin200]

Greetings fellow divers,

I'm looking for information on marine life in Wakatobi National Park, Indonesia. I'm most interested in the smaller macro life that I can expect to find here. However, any tips on unique mid-sized or large life I should keep an eye out for is also welcomed. In addition to critters, I would also greatly appreciate anyone who would share any "can't miss" dive sites.

My dive situation is a bit unique. I work on a private boat as a dive instructor. We have been touring around Southeast Asia for about 2 years. From Coron Philippines to Sipadan Malaysia and the Gulf of Thailand. Basically, its just someone's personal boat who is fortunate enough to have the means to travel around to whatever dive sites they want. The reason I'm asking for advice is I'm responsible for all diving operations on board. What I've learned over the years, is to the untrained eye many dive destinations look similar in regards to the underwater world. However as a lot of you know, this couldn't be farther from the truth, especially when you analyze the macro life. And when I have to play divemaster on sites that I've never dived before, you can imagine how challenging it can be to find the truly unique species. I understand the idea of hiring a private local guide. But its just not something were interested in currently. I actually enjoy the challenge and excitement of doing it on our own and finding the critters ourself is part of the fun. We have been diving long enough to know that local knows best and we're perfectly fine with maybe missing something that a local guide could find. With that being said, it still helps to have a general idea of some macro critters you should be looking for. And of course I look at books and online articles about the area but I always seem to get my best advice from having one on one chats with people who actually saw a specific animal at a particular destination. So, just to give an example of what I'm looking for: There tends to be a lot of photos of pigmy seahorses in posts online regarding Wakatobi. Although naturalist books will tell you that pigmy seahorses are found in a number of areas (which I know they are), that doesn't always mean they are found commonly. So if a pigmy seahorse is something you commonly see at Wakatobi that would be a great thing to mention. Also, we're really interested in identifying different species of nudibranch so if you saw any cool or rare ones I'd love to know about it so I can know what color patterns etc. to keep an eye out for.

Lastly, any recommendations for great dive sites that we absolutely have to dive would be appreciated as well. If you know of any off the beaten path spots we have the ability to travel a little longer and farther if need be.

Feel free to have fun with it. Part of me writing this is just wanting to hear about what your favorite things you saw in Wakatobi were. Don't be shy even if it was a larger animal its still all great!


Happy diving!!

 

[Cali_diver]

Let me begin with ...I was super unimpressed with Wakatobi when I went there, especially compared to other areas of Indonesia. That being said we did see various pygmies (pink bargibanti and yellow denise) and if you are lucky the Halameda Ghost Pipe Fish. There were a bunch of flatworms and some of the common nudis you see in Indonesia. It's mostly wall dives so you will have the subjects you would expect on a wall.

 

[rmorgan]

We saw an excellent variety of macro life in Wakatobi National Park, including Pontohi, Bargibanti, and Denise's pygmies (we quit counting at 22, as I recall), and a substantial variety of nudibranchs (among others, chromidoris, phyllidia, nembrotha, pteraeolidia, goniobranchus, tambja, hypselodoris, mexichromis, halgerda) as well as several giant nudis (asteronautis, hexabranchus, dendrodoris); lots of crabs, shrimp, frogfish, flatworms, etc. Of course, if you go to the Wakatobi region through Bali, which is the usual, then the volcanic sand of Tulamben, and good reefs and walls there and further north, are macro heaven. As you're interested in nudi identification, here's a link to pictures from the trip (which we rebooked as soon as we got home).

Wakatobi National Park and Bali, October 2023 - Rick Morgan

 

[Wisnu]

not answering your question; having local dive guide is required by regulation. Indeed many people do not realize. Typically, not an issue if nothing happen. But, if there's an accident and or incident whether diving nor non diving related, believe me it's not fun at all to deal with authorities.

 

[amclaughlin200]

Let me begin with ...I was super unimpressed with Wakatobi when I went there, especially compared to other areas of Indonesia. That being said we did see various pygmies (pink bargibanti and yellow denise) and if you are lucky the Halameda Ghost Pipe Fish. There were a bunch of flatworms and some of the common nudis you see in Indonesia. It's mostly wall dives so you will have the subjects you would expect on a wall.

Thanks for the reply. Interestingly enough I am getting pretty mixed reviews from everyone. Regardless, you know what they say about a bad day diving I spent almost a year working in the sister islands of Cayman so I'm pretty familiar with walls but not in the pacific, so I'm excited for that. Did you do any night diving? We dive almost every night so maybe we can find some nocturnal critters.

 

[amclaughlin200]

We saw an excellent variety of macro life in Wakatobi National Park, including Pontohi, Bargibanti, and Denise's pygmies (we quit counting at 22, as I recall), and a substantial variety of nudibranchs (among others, chromidoris, phyllidia, nembrotha, pteraeolidia, goniobranchus, tambja, hypselodoris, mexichromis, halgerda) as well as several giant nudis (asteronautis, hexabranchus, dendrodoris); lots of crabs, shrimp, frogfish, flatworms, etc. Of course, if you go to the Wakatobi region through Bali, which is the usual, then the volcanic sand of Tulamben, and good reefs and walls there and further north, are macro heaven. As you're interested in nudi identification, here's a link to pictures from the trip (which we rebooked as soon as we got home).

Wakatobi National Park and Bali, October 2023 - Rick Morgan

Thank you so much! This is incredibly helpful.

 

[amclaughlin200]

not answering your question; having local dive guide is required by regulation. Indeed many people do not realize. Typically, not an issue if nothing happen. But, if there's an accident and or incident whether diving nor non diving related, believe me it's not fun at all to deal with authorities.

Thanks for the heads up. We have an agent and we've got emails sent out to them about restrictions etc.

 

[bmorescuba]

I still haven't written up a full review for my trip because I'm still processing photos over a year later. Don't let the naysayers discourage you - although Wakatobi wasn't the macro heaven that I thought it might be, it was still incredible overall. My macro shooting focused on:

Leaf Scorpionfish
Mantis Shrimp
Orangutan Crabs
Bubble Coral Shrimp
Various Anthias
Sea Snakes
Fire Dartfish
Spotted Dottybacks
Mushroom Coral Pipefish

Throw in some pygmy seahorses, ghost pipefish, sea moths, and porcelain crabs for good measure. Although I expected to see more, I saw at least a dozen species of nudis and flatworms. And the opportunities for fish portraits like Stonefish, Crocodilefish, Clown Triggers, Titan Triggers, and every variety of Anemonefish, were plentiful.

The #1 dive site not to downplay is the house reef. I'd go so far as to say the house reef is better than many of the afternoon boat options. I did maybe 4-5 dives on the house reef and I wish I had done more. They'll read the current, drop you upcurrent, you drift back to the exit point - so easy and the reef is so plentiful. I only did a few night dives and in terms of macro, it wasn't necessary. Enjoy your trip - I wish I was back there every day.

 

[matts1w]

I cannot imagine having the means described above and entering Indonesia as a scuba tourist and not putting a few bucks into some local guides' pockets. First off, it is absolutely the law. Second, the group will see a gazillion times more stuff (seriously). Finally, it is simply the right thing to do for small communities with little else besides scuba tourism or hardcore fishing. Be sure you understand the National Park fees as well as local expectations.

 

[amclaughlin200]

I cannot imagine having the means described above and entering Indonesia as a scuba tourist and not putting a few bucks into some local guides' pockets. First off, it is absolutely the law. Second, the group will see a gazillion times more stuff (seriously). Finally, it is simply the right thing to do for small communities with little else besides scuba tourism or hardcore fishing. Be sure you understand the National Park fees as well as local expectations.

Thanks but I don't need your help for regulations as we pay local indonesians for that