Dive Review of Bunaken Oasis Resort & Spa in
Indonesia

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Bunaken Oasis Resort & Spa: "Great personalized diving and service", Jun, 2019, by Steven Cohen, VA, US ( Reviewer 5 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 10988 has 2 Helpful votes.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Bunaken Oasis Resort & Spa is approximately 3 years old. The resort is built into the side of a mountain (so be prepared for some uphill walking to your cabin) and consists of 12 beautiful wood cabins with vaulted thatched ceilings, AC, unlimited cold drinking water, great showers, and terrific views. Laundry service is included daily. Meals are served in the restaurant overlooking the bay. Breakfasts were fresh fruits, eggs your way, toast, a variety of coffee preparations etc. The lunch and dinner menus varied daily. Fresh fish was always available, pasta dishes, vegetarian, steak, etc. The owners, Elaine & Simon Wallace were at the resort during our stay and were the perfect hosts. My wife and I were there during a lull and were the only guests for 3 and a half days. Simon & Elaine invited me to go muck diving (not real muck like Lembeh but more sand and fringe reef near the mainland) with them every morning. I had my own private guide and they also had their own guide. Even when the resort is full, there is a maximum of 2 divers/guide. Diving is done from spacious covered boats (I think there are 8 boats so no overcrowding) that are equipped with a full sized restroom. Nitrox is included if you’re certified. If you don’t want to bring your own gear, top of the line Aqualung dive gear is available for rental. I have a shoulder problem and the crew helped me gear up on board and then lifted my gear out of the water for me after each dive. Sturdy ladder available to get back on board. Plenty of fresh water and fruit, cookies served after each dive. Also a fresh water shower on the boat! Most dive sites are 10-15 minutes from the resort, but the muck diving near the mainland is closer to 20 minutes away. A briefing is given before each dive but in reality, if you’ve never been on the site before the dive bears no relation to the illustration. You just follow your guide anyhow. The guides are great at finding macro (loads of nudies), juvenile frog fish, wasp fish and juvenile wasp fish, dragonettes, ornate ghost pipe fish, mantis shrimp, flatworms, orangutan crabs as well as all sorts of shrimp. The reef and wall dives are close to the resort and the reef often starts in less than 10 feet of water. The variety of corals is amazing and I saw no coral bleaching even though the water was 84-86F on most dives. I was told that for some reason, these reefs seem particularly resilient to rising water temperatures. The walls are gorgeous and I have never seen more turtles in my life. There were usually at least 6-10 turtles/wall dive. The resort also has a small turtle nursery to augment the already healthy population. Most dives had mild current but occasionally I was doing fly by videography. The reef and walls were populated with the usual Pacific tropical fish; butterflies, various angels, bannerfish, snapper schools, fusilears, anthias, rabbit fish, parrot fish, schooling barracudas and more. I was happy with the diving and my wife says she is spoiled for life by the snorkeling. Check out my video from this fantastic trip! [youtube.com link]
Websites	[same]
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Galapagos, Cocos, Fiji, Hawaii, Indonesia, Maldives, Guadelupe, Mexico, Islas Revillagigedos,
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	Washington Dulles to Seoul to Singapore to Manado
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	60-100 Ft/ 18-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	1 hour dive time but not strictly enforced. All diving guided
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish	N/A
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Large dedicated air conditioned photo/video room. Plenty of charging stations both 120 & 240v. Towels and compressed air provided to dry off equipment. Boat has separate fresh water rinse tank for camera gear

Report currently has 2 Helpful votes

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Dive Review of Bunaken Oasis Resort & Spa in Indonesia

Bunaken Oasis Resort & Spa: "Great personalized diving and service", Jun, 2019,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 Bunaken Oasis Resort & Spa in
Indonesia