Dive Review of Wakatobi Dive Resort in
Indonesia/Southeast Sulawesi

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Wakatobi Dive Resort, Sep, 2008, by Lisa Vitale, TX, USA ( Contributor 15 reports with 10 Helpful votes). Report 4517.
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	Flew Singapore Airlines to Bali. Stayed in Ubud for 5 days at the Alam Jiwa. which was an amazing place. To get the true feel of Bali you have to get away from the Kuta Beach area. We hired a driver for $45/day. This is the way to go, they will take you everywhere. Saw lots of Bali, it is a beautiful country. Wakatobi Dive Resort has its own plane that takes you to the resort. The flight is about 2.5 hours. Upon arrival, you take vans to the dock where one of the dive boats will take you to the resort. The resort is spectacular!! I can’t say enough about it. Accommodations are individual villas. We stayed in a garden villa (#9), which was probably the best one…although it was not “ocean view”, there was nothing in front (with the exception of some landscaping) to block your view. The villas are great, each has a porch and some have chaise lounges with umbrellas in front of them. The dining room is very nice and the food was great. There always a selection of Indonesian food as well as Americanized food to choose from for every meal. Deserts were wonderful that the pastry chef made. You must try the Indonesian coffee; it was interesting, but wonderful also! I loved it! There was more than enough food and they would put out snacks between meals. There is a jetty that has a bar at the end of it, the Jetty Bar…the place to be for happy hour which took place from 4:30 to 5:30 every day, and drink specials during this time. You must try the Bintang Beer, it is one of the best I have ever had! All dive briefings took place in the long house. The divide all divers onto three dive boats. Each boat holds 12 people, to which they divide into groups of 6 with one divemaster. The divemasters were great. Excellent dive briefings and great dive guides. If you want to see the small stuff, stick with the divemaster and they will point out everything for you. There is a dive “locker” area; each diver is given a basket with a number, your leave your dive gear in the basket and it is loaded on your boat every day. They also put together your dive gear and when you get on the boat for the morning dives your gear is all set up and ready to go. They have 3 Indonesian type dive boats. You do a giant stride off the side and get back on by a ladder on the side. They provide drinks and snacks between the first and second dive of the day. There is also a restroom on board. You do two morning dives then go back to the resort for lunch and an afternoon dive. There is unlimited shore diving. With the shore diving, they will take you out by boat and drop you off up current. You drift until you get to the second gully, which you cant miss, then you exit. There will be someone there to help you with your gear. You can also exit at any time and swim up to the shore and they will help you. The house reef was one of the best I have ever seen. In fact it was one of the best dives of the entire trip, there were only a couple other dive sites we did that were better. The diving was great. The soft corals were unbelievable, and the colors were amazing. There were lots of reef fish, but few pelagics. Most dives were slight drift dives. The way the islands are situated, when the tide changes, there are always currents. Most were mild, a couple were crazy! There is lots of macro sea life to see and beautiful soft and hard corals. My favorite dives were Magnifica and Pastel. Here is the dive schedule: Breakfast at 6:45 Dive briefing and first two dives at 8:30 Lunch at 12:30 Afternoon boat dive 2:30 Night dive (2 scheduled during the week) 6:00 Dinner 7:00 I used a 5 mil full suit, but could have used a 7 mil...I think the currents and lack of my having to move around much lead to my being cold a lot of the time. Visibility during this time of year is not that great, only about 30-60 feet, has to do with the strong tide changes that occur there. The said that November has the best visibility. Most of my diving is liveaboard, but Wakatobi was just like being on a liveaboard but on land. You did not have to lift a finger the entire trip, everything was taken care of. There is a computer available for pictures and one for internet. Yes, they have internet and wi-fi in the rooms. Cell phone service is also available, although sometime it could be spotty or you would have to walk out to the end of the jetty to get a signal. But who wants these things when you are on vacation! Wakatobi certainly had it down. The resort and diving is stunning. I can’t say enough about it. The entire trip was well worth every penny!
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Mexico, Belize, Honduras, Galapagos, Cayman, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Hawaii.
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-81°F / 26-27°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Divemasters were a little restrictive at first, however my group was experienced and relaxed after we discussed this with her.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	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	They have an entire air conditined camera room. There are power strips with US plugs and clean towels. Lots of room for all the photographers.

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Dive Review of Wakatobi Dive Resort in Indonesia/Southeast Sulawesi

Wakatobi Dive Resort, Sep, 2008,

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 Wakatobi Dive Resort in
Indonesia/Southeast Sulawesi