Dive Review of Bastianos in
Indonesia/Bunaken, N. Sulawesi

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Bastianos: "Bastianos Bunaken", Oct, 2017, by John E. Keith, UT, US ( Top Contributor 32 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 9961.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Bastianos Bunaken was the third dive site my wife and I visited on an around-the-world dive trip (after Tulamben and Lembeh Straits - see my reader reports). Our Indonesia portion of the trip was arranged by Nina at Dive Adventures (diveadventures.com) in Sydney, and I can't say enough about how well organized and seamless it was from airports to resorts. I'd recommend them to anyone interested in Asian or Australian dive trips. As reported in Undercurrents' last issue, the diving at Bunaken was really good. Water was gin-clear with visibilities in the 50+ foot-range. Many and varied critters and nudis, numerous turtles, abundant frog fish, a few sharks, various kinds of scorpion fish, and healthy coral. We dove the north side of the island on the first dive and had a fair current. We did see a couple of Eagle rays at distance. On the south side, water was calm. Ambet, our dive guide from Bastianos was excellent at finding "stuff" like frog fish, baby sharks, nudis, etc. The boat was equipped with a camera tank, and the crew was helpful and fun (and provided hot beverages and snacks between the 2-tank dives). There was a camera room for those with hi-tech systems. Our room at Bastianos was clean and comfortable, with good AC, if just a bit long in the tooth. Buffet food was good and varied (Indonesian and European), as with Bastianos Lembeh. The staff at the resort were attentive and informative. There was a great mix of nationalities again (Italians, Swiss, Ukrainian and Russian, etc.), and we enjoyed meeting and chatting with them. The level of skills varied much more than at Lembeh. In fact, we saw several Chinese (we were told) groups where divemasters held regulators of divers and "towed" them along the reef (the staff at Bastianos was pretty critical and rightly so - evidently some of the Chinese divers can't swim!). Some of the dive sites were fairly busy, but we didn't feel overwhelmed with other divers. All in all, one of my favorites.
Websites	Bastianos
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Egypt, Florida, California, Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Australia, Maldives, Indonesia
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	Direct from several Indonesian airports
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents
Water Temp	81-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	40-60 Ft/ 12-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	With the number of inexperienced divers, the divemaster asked that we stay together and come up with him for our safety stop. We did stay down longer than many of divers on the boat and the DM would return to find us.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Camera tanks on the boat; camera room available at the resort.

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Dive Review of Bastianos in Indonesia/Bunaken, N. Sulawesi

Bastianos: "Bastianos Bunaken", Oct, 2017,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Bastianos in
Indonesia/Bunaken, N. Sulawesi