Location Description North Sulawesi is home to Bunaken National Park, Gangga Island, and Lembeh—which are some of Indonesia's most beautiful and tranquil snorkeling destinations. Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi Regency and is where all the flights will arrive and depart from. From Mando Airport it's just a quick car ride to the harbor followed by another quick and comfortable boat ride to one of Bunaken National Park's resorts. There are many great resorts in the Bunaken area, but our go-to resort for our snorkeling safaris is Siladen Resort & Spa, which is located on Siladen Island—the smallest of the islands in Bunaken. The Bunaken area is comprised of five tropical islands, one of which is a stunning dormant volcano called Manadotua. The islands are all quite close together making travel times between the different island's snorkeling sites quick and easy. Lembeh is a beautiful island just off the northeastern tip of Sulawesi. It is easily accessed by boat from Bunaken with good weather, or by car should the sea conditions not be ideal for a boat transfer. This area is quite volcanic with several semi-dormant volcanoes clearly visible on the horizon. Every now and then, if you are lucky, you may see one of them give a little smokey 'burp'. Like Bunaken, there are a number of fantastic resort options, but our go-to resort is Lembeh Resort as they are not only one of the oldest and most reputable resorts in the area, but also very well set up to accommodate snorkelers. Gangga Island is a small tropical island fringed by white a white sand beach and sits just off the northern tip of Sulawesi. Gangga Island does have a very beautiful boutique resort that is well equipped for snorkelers, however, for the snorkeling safaris we typically
Location Description North Sulawesi is home to Bunaken National Park, Gangga Island, and Lembeh—which are some of Indonesia’s most beautiful and tranquil snorkeling destinations. Manado is the capital city of North Sulawesi Regency and is where all the flights will arrive and depart from. From Mando Airport it’s just a quick car ride to the
Indonesia is a massive country, and as a result of being broken up into tens of thousands of islands, Indonesia is the world's largest archipelagic country, and the 14th-largest country by area. The country occupies the area between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian and consists of some of the most dynamic islands on earth, like Sulawesi, Borneo, Papua, and Halmahera. These are not only some of the largest island in Indonesia, but also some of the most biodiverse above and below the waterline. So, since Indonesia is so enormous and has so many different islands each offering a very unique snorkeling experience, we like to break it up into a few different regions, like North, South, East, and West as this is the only real way to accurately describe snorkeling in Indonesia. North Indonesia generally tends to represent the global image of Indonesia with its lush tropical islands, white sandy beaches, and stunning shallow coral reefs. North Indo is where you'll find Bunaken National Park, Raja Ampat, and Halmahera, among many other fantastic snorkeling areas. Again, each of these areas has its own unique characteristics that make them completely different from one another, but in general, these North Indonesian snorkeling destinations offer snorkelers more of a quintessential tropical snorkeling experience. White sand beaches are prevalent if not right in front of the resort, the islands are covered in dense tropical jungles, the climate is as predictable as it gets in the tropics with blue skies and the occasional afternoon rain storm that quickly passes through, and of course, the reefs are stunning and come right up to the surface. With the exception of Raja Ampat which has a more strict snorkeling season, North Indonesia can be snorkeled year round. That's North Indonesia in general, but again, we're talking about
Indonesia is a massive country, and as a result of being broken up into tens of thousands of islands, Indonesia is the world’s largest archipelagic country, and the 14th-largest country by area. The country occupies the area between the Pacific Ocean and the Indian and consists of some of the most dynamic islands on earth,