BUNAKEN ISLAND - NORTH SULAWESI

Bunaken Island in North Sulawesi

Some landscapes photos of the island that I took when I was there last october 2009.

We go to Bunaken for diving and not for the landscape!!

Bunaken is one of Indonesia's most famous diving and snorkeling areas and it draws visitors from all over the world. In addition to banana-shaped Bunaken Island itself, the 890 km2 of marine national park includes the neighboring islands of Manado Tua (a distinctive cone-shaped extinct volcano), Siladen, Montehagen, Nain, and Nain Kecil.

Some 20,000 local inhabitants make their living from the waters in the Bunaken National Marine Park, and this has inevitably led to some conflicts. By and large though, the co-operation between national and local government authorities, conservation groups, business owners and local communities has been very successful here. This has led many to cite Bunaken as a model example of how Indonesia should be preserving its natural marine treasures.

The park is famed for the clarity of its water (35m visibility is common in the summer dry season), the abundance of coral and fish, and for the precipitous "walls" at some sites. Bunaken Timur, right off the east coast of the island and featuring all of the above, is rated by many as the single best dive site in all Indonesia.

In places the water is extremely deep here - 1,500 metres plus.

Bunaken has a quite stunning biodiversity including:

No less than 70 different genera of coral

five species of sea turtle

an extraodinary range of fish - 70% of all fish species that exist in the Indo-Western Pacific Ocean are found here

white tip and black tip reef-sharks are common

wonderful resident dugongs

barracuda and tuna make regular appearences from more pelagic waters

occasionally saltwater crocodiles

Bunaken is barely a degree above the equator and thus tropical. The wet season, from November to mid-April, brings frequent rains sometimes in storms lasting for several days which freshen the air nicely but also reduce marine visibility. The dry season is from May to October, when temperatures climb to a roasting 35° and visibility reaches a maximum.

Bunaken receives less rain than the north Sulawesi mainland and is well ventilated with sea breezes.

How to get there?

Bunaken is about 45 to 60 minutes by boat from Manado.

Most resorts will arrange transfers from the airport for their guests.

Alternatively, a public boat leaves daily except Sundays at 2-3PM from the canal on the north side of Manado market. The cost is Rp 25,000 one way for tourists and Rp 10,000 for locals (subject to change). It returns to Manado from the jetty in Bunaken village around 8 to 8:30AM every morning except on Sundays.

You can also charter a boat either way at anytime.

(http://wikitravel.org/en/Bunaken)

All photos taken using Nikon D700 + lens Nikon 24-85 mm and Nikkor AF-D 80-200 mm F2,8

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