Dive Review of Sali Bay Dive Retreat/Same in
Indonesia/Maluku Islands

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Sali Bay Dive Retreat/Same: "Nice resort by very disappointing diving", Feb, 2020, by David Hill, MA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 11428 has 1 Helpful vote.
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
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Sali Bay markets itself as the only dive resort in the Malukus. Maybe there is a good reason why there aren’t any others. It is not easy to get to Sali Bay. From the East Coast of the U.S. it took five flights, a car ride and a boat ride. The resort has 16 units, 12 individual cabins and four rooms in the Divers Lodge. All are air conditioned and have private baths. The staff at Sali Bay is friendly, helpful and customer oriented. The food is good, although not over-generous. From the bar, local beer is very expensive, and the only wine available is Indonesian. Enough said. The resort has limited wifi, but it is extremely erratic and undependable. At one point it went down for three days, and the explanations varied by the day. At the resort itself there is essentially no cell phone service, although at some dive sites nearer the main island of Halmahera there is some. Apparently Sali Bay has not been marketed to the U.S. In 10 days there, I was the only American to visit. The majority of guests were German, with a sprinkling of Italians and Austrians. All the resort information in the room was in German language only. Sali Bay has a full dive center with equipment and Nitrox available. Unfortunately diving there is very expensive and not very good. Many resorts in the area sell you a package that includes room, meals and diving. At Sali Bay diving is extra and costs 50 Euros per dive – 55 Euros if you want Nitrox. That adds up in a hurry. The quality of the dive sites is simply third rate. Many sites were largely coral rubble with no real sea life. One dive guide finally told us before the resort was built the locals did dynamite fishing in the area, blowing up reefs in the process. When we encountered coral it was very healthy and occasionally spectacular. There were a modest number of smaller fish where there was coral but a real lack of larger fish or interesting critters. We saw only the occasional shark passing in the distance. Visibility averaged only about 50 feet, with a few occasions when it dropped to only about 30 feet. Photography was challenging in these conditions, and there really wasn’t much of interest to photograph. Having dived across much of the Pacific from Australia through Indonesia, New Guinea, the Philippines, Palau, Yap and every island group across the Pacific all the way to the Pitcairn Group, I can say that this was some of the most unexciting, uninteresting and disappointing diving I have seen in the Pacific. Conversations with other guests indicated the same level of disappointment. No one voiced a desire to come back. The entirely local dive staff at Sali Bay has clearly been fully trained and drilled in what to do. Unfortunately they do not understand the “why.” For example, on one dive we had spent the last 10 minutes in a beautiful shallow coral area between five and six meters deep. The dive guide then signaled to each diver that they needed to do a three-minute safety stop. Clearly he was unaware that , in fact, we had all just done a 10-minute safety stop. Every dive briefing was identical in terms of conditions expected and sea life we might see. They could easily have just played a recording. As guides spotting sea life for the guests, the quality of the staff was highly variable. Some were very good, and some were useless. If you are looking for a nice, remote spot to read a book or go snorkeling, you will like Sali Bay. But if you are going to travel that far because you want to dive, there are dozens
Websites	Sali Bay Dive Retreat
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	Labuha	Getting There	Very difficult -- required five flights from East Coast of U.S. including two on local airlines that are less than dependable.
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy, cloudy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 minute maximum
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	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	[None]

Report currently has 1 Helpful vote

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Dive Review of Sali Bay Dive Retreat/Same in Indonesia/Maluku Islands

Sali Bay Dive Retreat/Same: "Nice resort by very disappointing diving", Feb, 2020,

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 Sali Bay Dive Retreat/Same in
Indonesia/Maluku Islands