South East Sulawesi

Wakatobi Dive Resort

Right at the bottom tip of Southeast Sulawesi, in an area only accessible by plane or several long boat ride, lies the Wakatobi Dive Resort. It is situated right in the coral triangle in an area with the highest coral reef biodiversity in the world. The region is completely protected as a marine park, and resort staff ensure no damage is done by divers. For probably the most pristine reef environment you will ever dive, Wakatobi is the number one bucket list destination.

Even the house reef is spectacular, and it is common to find guests choosing to dive here all day rather than go on their boat dives. Here you can find frogfish, stonefish, jawfish with their young in their mouths, gobies, shrimp and a number of juvenile reef species that you don’t often see. You don’t even have to swim far; the resort operates a house reef tender boat that will drop you exactly where you want to go.

What can you see at Wakatobi? A non-exhaustive list would include: ghost pipefish (robust, Halimeda, ornate), winged pipefish, pygmy seahorses (several kinds), squat lobsters, box crabs, porcelain crabs, orang utan crabs, mantis shrimp, crinoid shrimp, cuttlefish, octopus, lionfish (twinspot, Volitans, spotfin), leaf scorpionfish, gobies, dartfish, anemone fish of all kinds, and more nudibranchs than you could name.

A unique offering is fluo diving, a night dive with special equipment that allows you to see all the fluorescing colours of the reef. More people have seen Earth from space than have seen the reef fluorescence!

The resort lies in a protected area, so you can experience stunning diving every day of the year. The visibility ranges from 20 – 50 metres, a photographer’s delight.

Accommodation is in luxurious bungalows ranging from garden bungalows to resort villas. All meals are included in your package, and are prepared by professional chefs to world-class standards. Special diets can be catered, and there are snacks available throughout the day as well as regular meals. You will certainly be spoiled at Wakatobi!

To get to Wakatobi you fly from Bali on a charter flight. The resort is run in “trips”, so you can only fly in and out on certain days.

See the Indonesia Liveaboards page for information about MV Pelagian, the liveaboard dive vessel departing from Wakatobi.