Wakatobi vs Bangka? Murex vs Bastianos?

[amgscuba]

OK, new to this board other than as a reader. Much appreciate all the great help here. Question 1: Wakatobi vs Bangka? Please discuss. RA just too hard for me to get to given where I need to be afterward. Question 2: If Bangka, then what's your choice: Bastianos or Murex? This will be next February. Not interested in muck diving. Reasonably experienced diver but not recently. Completed reAvtivate in Dec, and am working on AOW at the moment. Thank you.

 

[OctopusSneakers]

We are going in end November this year - what were the conditions like when you were there? We are snorkellers mainly...doing Murex Manado and Murex Bangka

We had really great weather. Seas were calm, though afternoon visibility was variable. We had maybe two days of rain over 10 days, and even that was an hour or two. We had some snorkelers in our group and they said that snorkeling at Bunaken (from Murex Manado) was some of the best they had done.

 

[Searcaigh]

I'm heading to Murex Bangka soon and have booked one of their newly completed Premium Oceanfront Cottages.

I had one of their hillside cottages two years ago when they were using Bangka as a quarantine island just before Indonesia opened up after COVID.

The only downside was the lack of light going back to the room at night, don't forget your dive torch.

 

[CF L]

I had one of their hillside cottages two years ago when they were using Bangka as a quarantine island just before Indonesia opened up after COVID.

The only downside was the lack of light going back to the room at night, don't forget your dive torch.

Thanks for the advice .

 

[CF L]

We stayed in one of the Murex Bangka Premium Oceanfront Cottages in September, definitely not rustic, very spacious and well appointed. There is also wifi in these premium rooms. The view of the ocean from the elevated position was very nice. Another feature we liked was the direct access to the bathroom shower from the balcony, which meant no traipsing through the bedroom to get into the shower for a rinse after diving, although there are showers by the rinse tanks.