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Dive Review of Wakatobi / Pelagian/Pelagian in
Indonesia/Wakatobi

Wakatobi / Pelagian/Pelagian, Sep, 2008,

by Gene Huff, CA, USA (Sr. Reviewer Sr. Reviewer 9 reports). Report 4430.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments You go through Bali to get to Wakatobi and the Pelagian so a few Bali bonus days added greatly to our trip. Wakatobi arranged for our dive gear to be stored on our return so we could travel around without the extra luggage. The Pelagian is a great boat with a wonderful crew that took care of our every request. See their website that has accurate boat details. There were 8 guests and 12 crew on our trip. Meals cooked to order were excellent and there were at least two choices for lunch and dinner. The boat bought a fresh caught tuna one day from a local fisherman and we enjoyed fresh sushi for two days. The Pelagian has a standard itinerary that is more focused on muck/macro diving, but also does reef and wall dives. On our 10-day trip we spent two and a half days at Buton. The piers and muck diving at Buton were outstanding providing ornate and robust ghost pipefish, mating mandarin fish, cockatoo waspfish, juvenile batfish, frogfish, at least 7 types of eels, numerous nudibranchs, octopus, cuttlefish, various pipefish, dragonets, twinspot lionfish and the list goes on. Magic pier at night was sensory overload. The other days were spent in the Wakatobi chain and also provided great diving. We did only a few dives that were also done from the resort, so the boat really does offer a different experience. There are four dives offered each day (two the last day) with the last being a twilight/night dive. DMs Marco and Sissi, and the new DM Cornelis were very friendly and mingled with the guests. They let us dive our own profile(s) but also pointed out critters for those who stayed with them. Two inflatables are used for diving and the tender drivers and DMs made the diving easy. The inflatables have great ladders and the crew would lift up your weights and BC if you wanted. We saw only a few sharks and rays, but knew this was not a pelagic trip so were not expecting more. The coral and reefs are very healthy. Sodas, beer, and wine were an extra charge. Nitrox, banked at 32%, is available and was packaged at $220 for our 10 day trip, which was 34 dives. The Pelagian is not cheap but the diving, accomodations and service are outstanding.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving PNG, Fiji, Christmas Is, Hawaii, Bonaire, Belize, etc.
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, cloudy, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 78-81°F / 26-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 25-80 Ft/ 8-24 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 70 minute day dives and 60 minute night dives were the stated limits but a few extra minutes was never a problem.
Liveaboard? yes Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks 1 or 2 Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles > 2 Whales None
Corals 5 stars Tropical Fish 5 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 3 stars
Large Pelagics 2 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities N/A
UW Photo Comments Nice room dedicated to photographers with a 110 and 220 power strip, plenty of clean towels and good lighting. Bring an extra power strip if you need multiple outlets. Crew handled cameras gently on inflatables.
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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.

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