Dive Review of Wakatobi/Pelagian in
Indonesia/Sulawesi

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Wakatobi/Pelagian, Oct, 2009, by Greg Fay, TX, USA ( Reviewer 5 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 5200.
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	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This has to be the best dive location anywhere, but you have to really want to get there. It took 2 connections to get to Bali, an overnight stay in Bali, and another flight to get to the airstrip on the island next to Wakatobi. Then there is a short bus ride to a giant set of steps down to the pier and one quick boat ride to the Pelagian. The departure took even longer as you must depart the Pelagian by 8:30 am, but the departure flight doesn't leave until 1:00 pm. That meant a boat ride to the resort and, with low tide, a transfer to a smaller boat that could get you to the pier so you can wait at the Wakatobi resort for the boat ride to the giant set stairs (again due to low tide, it actually took us boarding the small boat, transferring to the big boat and then back to the small boat because the larger boat couldn't navigate the channel). Whew! That said, the diving is incredible. I took the 11-day cruise so we did 6.5 days of reef diving and 3 days of muck diving. Expect to see: ornate ghost pipe fish, seahorses, pigmy seahorses, frog fish, jaw fish, mandarin fish, eels (ribbon, napoleon snake, and others), sea snakes, crocodile fish, wasp fish, blue ring octopus, wonderpus, cuttlefish, nudibranchs (more than I can list), orang utan crabs, eagle rays, turtles and more. The single best dive site is "Magic Pier," a muck diving site. One dive there and you will know why they call it Magic Pier. Before the first of three dives to this site, we were given specific instructions not to get other divers' attention to show them something neat you just found because they were probably already looking at something just as interesting. And there were not kidding. Everywhere you looked there were critters (this is where I saw, not one, but three blue ring octopus). One cautionary note. The cruise directors, who double as two of the three dive guides, are very strict when it comes to touching the reef or critters. They also limited the number of pictures of certain critters due to the claimed damage that numerous photoflashes could inflict. We were also scolded like school children when our group got separated on a dive that had much more current than the dive briefing led us to believe would be present (we were still within eye site, just further apart than preferred). Many on this trip were offended by these rules. Personally, these rules are well worth tolerating for the diving to be enjoyed. Go, you will not be disappointed.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Palau, Jamaica
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny	Seas	calm, currents, no currents
Water Temp	78-82°F / 26-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	1
Water Visibility	40-100 Ft/ 12-30 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	While not always, there were dives where the dive profile was strictly enforced.
Liveaboard?	yes	Nitrox Available?	N/A
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	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	N/A
UW Photo Comments	The dive deck does not have a separate table for camera equipment. That said, the lone table on the dive deck was never used for anything other than cameras. There is a room inside dedicated to UWP, although 110V plugs were limited.

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Dive Review of Wakatobi/Pelagian in Indonesia/Sulawesi

Wakatobi/Pelagian, Oct, 2009,

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/Pelagian in
Indonesia/Sulawesi