Location Description Halmahera is the large odd-shaped island just west of the Raja Ampat region and east of northern Sulawesi. In terms of tourism, it's pretty much new to the scene. With the exception of the occasional liveaboard passing through and the two snorkel and dive resorts in the southern tip, Halmahera is rarely visited by snorkeling enthusiasts. This lack of tourism is by no means a reflection of the area's reefs and snorkeling potential, quite the opposite actually. Halmahera's unique position between two of the world's most bio-diverse marine eco-systems—Sulawesi and Raja Ampat—makes it one seriously good destination for snorkeling. There are two ways to arrive to Halmahera for snorkeling, with the first being by plane. There are a number of routes in which to arrive, however, the easiest and most comfortable is via Manado in North Sulawesi. From Manado, it's a short hop to the small port town of Labuha which may or may not involve a brief stopover in Ternate. Once in Labuha, it's a quick shuttle ride to the harbor followed by a 30-minute boat to Kusu Island Resort where all the snorkeling will stem from. The other way to get to Halmahera is by liveaboard. At least at the moment, liveaboards do not start or finish from Halmahera directly. Instead, any liveaboard snorkel safari to Halmahera will begin in Sorong and sail through Raja Ampat as well as Halmahera before finishing in Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi, or vise-versa. There's just not enough infrastructure to support the refueling and stocking of high-end liveaboards in Halmahera at the moment. The best snorkeling in Halmahera is around the south between the Bacan (pronounced Bachan) islands and the long southern tip of Halmahera. Around this channel, you'll find numerous smaller islands and several large shallow sea mounds which
Location Description Halmahera is the large odd-shaped island just west of the Raja Ampat region and east of northern Sulawesi. In terms of tourism, it’s pretty much new to the scene. With the exception of the occasional liveaboard passing through and the two snorkel and dive resorts in the southern tip, Halmahera is rarely visited
In late November of 2021, I had the pleasure of being able to visit a brand new snorkel and dive resort in Indonesia called Kusu Island Resort in southern Halmahera. Halmahera, if you're wondering, is the large odd-shaped island just west of the Raja Ampat area. I was visiting Kusu Island Resort for two reasons, the first was to check it out as a potential resort to run our snorkeling safaris through, and the second was to produce some promotional content for the new resort. As Kusu Island Resort is not 100% open to the public yet because of the seriously annoying restrictions to still in place for foreigners visiting Indonesia, I was the only “guest” and had the whole place to myself for two full weeks. Yes, my job has some serious perks! Anyway, my time was not spent lounging around, quite the opposite actually. I used every bit of daylight and a good portion of the night to explore as much of the reefs and resort as possible to make sure everything is “up to snuff.” Here's what I found. The Resort Upon landing at the Labuha airport on the island of Bacan (pronounced Bachan), just off the southwest corner of Halmahera you'll be met by a member of the Kusu Island Resort team and taken to the nearby port where you'll jump into the resort's comfortable speedboat and driven about thirty minutes to Kusu Island, where the resort is, obviously. The resort has been incorporated into the island in a very natural way and the only evidence you'll see of the resort, in the beginning, is a long—beautifully built pier that extends from the mangroves and ends where the reef drops off into the blue. It's only when the boat is parking on the wooden pier that
In late November of 2021, I had the pleasure of being able to visit a brand new snorkel and dive resort in Indonesia called Kusu Island Resort in southern Halmahera. Halmahera, if you’re wondering, is the large odd-shaped island just west of the Raja Ampat area. I was visiting Kusu Island Resort for two reasons,
