Dive Review of Wakatobi Dive Resort in
Indonesia/Sulawesi

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Wakatobi Dive Resort, Jul, 2008, by Steve Tulsky, CA, USA ( 2 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 4319.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Going to Wakatobi is like going to a summer camp for diving. The trip begins and ends on the same date for everybody. All the campers gather in the VIP lounge of the Bali airport nervously awaiting the adventure to come. One can practically picture the parents scurrying around wondering whether Junior remembered to bring his toothbrush. Finally the plane is ready, and the campers file aboard for the two and a half hour flight. On this writer’s particular outbound trip Wakatobi was using a new charter airline, and the seats were adequately comfortable. The return flight on their regular provider’s plane had seats that were positioned insufferably close together, a form of torture for the vertical overachievers. When the plane lands on Wakatobi’s private jungle airstrip, a handful of counselors scoop the campers into a half dozen dilapidated minivans for the five minute jaunt through town (and its throngs of excited, welcoming children) to the dock. From there one of Wakatobi’s spacious dive boats takes them on a fifteen minute cruise to the next island and the resort. Once there, before they are allowed to go to their bungalows, the campers are herded through the sign-in and equipment rental process which the camp staff wants to complete before the impending dusk. This is annoying given that everybody is tired, still dressed in travel clothes, and tripping over their hand luggage, but is necessary to enable the diving to start first thing the next morning. Fortunately this process is efficiently completed, and the campers are finally shown to their bungalows, which they find to be spacious, nicely appointed, and appropriate for the setting. Prior complaints in UC about inadequate bedside reading lights seem to now be inoperative, undoubtedly the victim of the Swiss owners’ passion for making the Wakatobi experience absolutely perfect. One thing to know about Camp Wakatobi is that it is spread over a couple of adjoining areas that while separated by less than a two minute walk, are latitudes apart in terms of weather. Coming from the San Francisco Bay Area, your scribe thought that he knew all about microclimates, but this was ridiculous! His party was housed on the blowy South side of the resort, and experienced what felt like gale-force winds and crashing surf during much of their stay. A very brief traipse towards the center of the resort, however, quickly ushered them into an island paradise of sunny skies, calm winds and quiet seas. It was completely bizarre, and made their choice of premium waterside accommodations feel wasted. It is soon time for the first camp dinner, where the campers learn the mess hall routine. Tasty, hearty food mixing Indonesian and Western cuisines is served buffet-style in the large, comfortable restaurant. It is all-you-can-eat, as long as you are able to keep the overly eager bussing staff from scarfing your utensils while you go for seconds. A lot of love is put into meal preparation at Wakatobi, and the chef makes great efforts to serve food that accommodates a broad range of tastes. Hot beverages are gratis, and alcohol and soft drinks are available at the cash bar, but here is where the campers discover Camp Wakatobi's only true deficiency--there's no Bug Juice!!! Which kid who has ever been to camp can forget the Bug Juice, the colorful, iced sweetened liquid poured generously from large pitchers at all meals. Wakatobi should offer some kind of cold flavored beverage (sweetened, unsweetened, iced tea, Kool-Aid, anything) as an alternative to the unappealing desalinated sea water that they otherwise serve to those who don't choose to purchase sodas, cocktails, or bottled water. The next morning arrives and the campers finally get to go diving! They are each assigned to one of the four Wakatobi longboats, which they will remain with throughout their stay. There are no more than 15 divers assigned to each boat, and most have a dozen or less. At their first dive briefing the campers meet their dive counselors, who will remain with their group except on their rare days off. When they reach their boat, the campers find their equipment waiting for them on-board, placed there by the two tank attendants who will do all of the heavy lifting for the remainder of their stay. As the group heads off to the first dive site, the campers quickly discover what makes these boats so wonderful. They are comfortably large, the cabins are completely shielded from the equatorial sun, and they have plenty of space for prepping cameras, a very low freeboard for easy exits and entries, and perhaps most importantly, very large and very useable toilets! Furthermore, the crew are great. The tank attendants work hard to learn the campers’ personal preferences, from equipment set-up to choice of after-dive hot or cold beverage to the dry towels presented after each return from the deep. The program is two tanks in the morning and one in the afternoon. Two of the afternoon dives during the course of a ten-day stay are replaced by night dives. The divemasters are generally excellent both as underwater spotters and as counselors striving to show the campers a good time. The corals are awesomely beautiful and healthy, the fish are fascinating and often well camouflaged, and there’s lots of cool tiny stuff to see. As at all great camps, the adventure ends too quickly. The departing campers are shuttled to the airstrip, crossing paths with the next load of eager new campers as they deplane from the inbound flight. It takes almost an hour at the primitive airstrip to painstakingly refuel the plane out of half a dozen steel drums. The campers know they’ve returned to civilization when upon arriving at the Bali airport, a huge tanker truck pulls up which will accomplish that same task in five minutes. The campers say a fond farewell to their new friends, already looking forward to returning next year.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	51-100 dives
Where else diving	Bonaire, Maui
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	77-78°F / 25-26°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Time limit--65-75 minutes, depending on the dive.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	1 or 2
Dolphins	1 or 2	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	[None]

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Dive Review of Wakatobi Dive Resort in Indonesia/Sulawesi

Wakatobi Dive Resort, Jul, 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/Sulawesi