Dive Review of Metita Beach & Dive Resort/Same in
Indonesia/North Halmahera

Other Indonesia reports
Subscriber Content Preview
Active subscribers go here

Metita Beach & Dive Resort/Same: "A new dive resort still in startup mode", Mar, 2024, by David Hill, MA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 6 Helpful votes). Report 12918 has 1 Helpful vote.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food	N/A
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Metita Beach and Dive Resort is a new resort located on Metita Island just off of Morotai Island in North Halmahera, Indonesia. It is a 20-minute boat ride from Morotai to Metita. It has just six bungalows, although there are expansion plans for more. It is the first real dive resort in the area. As such it is struggling with all the challenges of being a pioneer in a new region. First the good stuff. The undeveloped waters in this northern corner of Halmahera have some of the healthiest coral we have ever seen. At dozens of dive sites there are acres of beautiful, healthy coral, with particularly huge amounts of soft corals. In only one spot did we ever see any evidence of possible dynamite fishing. On the other hand, the fish life is lacking. There are plenty of the small colorful species, but with the exception of some good populations of sharks, one seldom sees a fish larger than six inches. The number of natives fishing from outrigger canoes together with the amount of fishing line we saw on the reef, suggest the natives have eaten and continue to eat anything bigger than six inches. The resort has two fast, comfortable dive boats with twin 100 hp. engines. The dive guides are knowledgeable and particularly good at finding macro subjects. On one dive our guide had no trouble finding a pair of Pygmy Seahorses at 33 meters. Most of the diving is reefs, but there are options for muck diving if people are interested. The first challenge the resort faces is overcoming the mistakes of the original investors, who had more enthusiasm and money than experience and foresight. The new management and ownership will be addressing the many issues at hand. The current managers, Florian and Nancy, are doing their very best with a difficult situation. Among the issues: The resort has had no fresh water system for three months. The pump in their desalination unit broke, and they have not been able to get parts or a replacement. This means all the water in the pipes is salt water. One showers in salt water, then rinses off from a barrel of fresh water placed in each bathroom. This means dive gear goes until the last day of the stay without a fresh water rinse. By the end of the week inflator valves were beginning to stick and octopuses free flow because of accumulated salt. We had opted for 32% Nitrox but found the oxygen content of cylinders varied from 27% to 30%. It was explained that they have a bad valve in their compressor and have not been able to get a replacement. To their credit, at checkout the management refused to charge us for Nitrox because of unreliability. The air conditioning in the bungalows is inadequate. It cannot keep the units cool in the daytime and only barely at night. Management is aware of the problem but has been unable to obtain larger units. It is unclear whether this is a supply problem or a financial problem. This, like many issues, should be resolved in the future, as we were told new ownership takes over in April. Getting to Metita takes a major commitment of time. From the U.S. it takes at least four flights. One can go through either Singapore or Jakarta, then to Ternate and onward to Morotai. Presently there is just one flight a week into Morotai. The Indonesian government has said developing tourism in the Morotai area is a priority, and there is heavy lobbying to add flights. It seems just a couple of things could assure the success of Metita and other dive operations in the area that may come along. The first would be more flights to Morotai. The second would be creating a marine reserve. The creation of such reserves has been widely shown to quickly restore fish populations to otherwise depleted areas. Creating such reserves, however, are tricky politically and culturally. The local population has been feeding itself from these waters for generations. To tell them they can no longer fish is a challenge. TIP: Plan to arrive and leave Metita wearing shorts and flip flops. The resort does not have docks at either Morotai or Metita Island. That means you have to wade to the boat for your transfers.
Websites	Metita Beach & Dive Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Trobriand Islands, Santa Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati, Tahiti, Florida, Caymans, St. Martin, Bonaire, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Red Sea, Tanzania, etc.
Closest Airport	Morotai Island	Getting There	It takes at least four flights from the U.S. You can fly through either Singapore or Jakarta, then to Ternate, then to Morotai.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	83-°F / 28-°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60-minute limit
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	Lots	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There is a good, well-designed and air conditioned camera room that is locked every night.

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

Leave a comment (Subscribers only -- 200 words max)
Subscribers can comment here

Subscribers can post comments, ask the reviewer questions, as well as getting immediate and complete access to ALL 1529 dive reviews of Indonesia and all other dive destinations. Complete access to all issues and Chapbooks is also included.

All Indonesia Dive Reviews and Reports
Diving Guide to Indonesia
Diving Reviews for All Dive Destinations

Want to assemble your own collection of Indonesia reports in one place?
Use the Mini Chapbook Facility to create your personalized collection.

Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

Undercurrent Home

Page computed and displayed in 0.12 seconds

Get more dive info like these and other important scuba updates sent monthly to your email. And a FREE Recent Issue of Undercurrent
Get a free monthly email and a sample issue!

Dive Review of Metita Beach & Dive Resort/Same in Indonesia/North Halmahera

Metita Beach & Dive Resort/Same: "A new dive resort still in startup mode", Mar, 2024,

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 Metita Beach & Dive Resort/Same in
Indonesia/North Halmahera