Komodo Island and national park reserve offers just about every type of tropical diving imaginable - from calm and colourful shallow reefs alive with hundreds of colourful reef fishes and crammed with invertebrates, to current-swept deep water sea mounts, walls and pinnacles patrolled by sharks, tuna and other big fish. The variety of marine life for scuba diving in Komodo rivals the world’s best dive destinations. This is the world’s epicentre for marine diversity and you’ll see loads of stuff here on a diving cruise that you just won’t see anywhere else in the world - From whale sharks, sunfish, mantas and eagle rays to pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, clown frogfish, nudibranchs and blue-ringed octopus - all at home amongst a spectacular range of colourful sponges, sea squirts, tunicates and corals - a macro enthusiast’s heaven. The island is also famous for its Komodo dragon monitor lizard, the largest lizards in the world. An alert and agile predator and scavenger that can reach 2.5 metres in length and 125 kg, they are known locally as ‘Ora’ and now about 1,100 inhabit the island and about half that live on nearby Rinca Island.
2. Bunaken Island
To dive in the deep waters of the Bunaken Island National Marine Park in Manado is to be among some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world, with outstanding fish variety and world-class wall diving. When you’re scuba diving in Bunaken you can see seven times more genera of coral than Hawaii, 33 species of butterflyfish and over 70% of all fish species known to the Indo-western Pacific. From the smallest commensal shrimp to black tip reef sharks and eagle rays, there is something for everyone in this very special destination. Bunaken diving is very popular with fun divers and marine biologists both of whom can take great pleasure from the diversity of coral and fish found here. You will surely encounter marine life here that you have not come across elsewhere. Various schemes are being undertaken to encourage responsible attitudes towards the reefs, the sea life and with regards to refuse disposal in the area. In Bunaken your few dollars really do make a difference!
3. Raja Ampat Islands
Located off the northwest tip of Bird’s Head Peninsula on the island of New Guinea, Raja Ampat, or the Four Kings, is an archipelago comprising over 1,500 small islands, cays and shoals. Put simply, Raja Ampat diving is the bees knees in the world of scuba. If you don’t enjoy your dives here, you may as well sell your dive gear! According to the Conservation International Rapid Assessment Bulletin, the marine life diversity for scuba diving in Irian Jaya is considerably greater than all other areas sampled in the coral triangle of Indonesia, Philippines and Papua New Guinea - the cream of the cream in world diving. Over 1,200 fish species - a world record 284 on one single dive at Kofiau Island, the benchmark figure for an excellent dive site of 200 fish species surpassed on 51% of Raja Ampat dives (another world record), 600 coral species , 699 mollusc species - again another world high. The term “Frontier Diving” seems to have been invented for Raja Ampat in Irian Jaya. To visit these waters is to feel at the edge of the earth. To gaze over crystalline seas at the beehive-shaped, largely uninhabited islands is to be as far away from it all as you can imagine. At night time in Misool you can peer out at the horizon and maybe see one or two distant specks of light.
4. Bali Islands
One of the most beautiful islands in the world, Bali is Indonesia’s most popular dive holiday destination. Many visitors find the attraction of good shore-based diving set against a stunning back drop of huge, magnificent volcanoes and picturesque rice paddy terraces, simply irresistible. The greatest feature of scuba diving in Bali is the rich and varied sites - deep drop-offs and steep banks, coral ridges and bommies, one of the most famous wrecks in the world, volcanic outcrops and seagrass beds. With the colourful and diverse marine life, there’s enough here to keep you coming back for more. If you wanted to record all the animals you can see here, you’d need to bring along a mini-library of marine guide books. From hairy frogfish, cockatoo leaf fish and pygmy seahorses in Secret Bay and Menjangan on the north west tip of the island, to bumphead parrotfish and reef sharks in the north and east at Tulamben and Candi Dasa, to the sunfish and trevallies of nearby Nusa Penida and Lembongan islands, the Bali sights are truly fascinating. Allow yourself to be surprised for you really never know just what you might see in this ever-changing underwater jewel.
5. Sumbawa & Flores Islands
Diving in Flores gives you the perfect chance to add new, small fish and aquatic animals to your knowledge base since it is known for its endemic species. Although the combined effects of dynamite fishing and the earthquake and tsunami of 1992 caused damage to certain areas including Maumere, the regeneration of the reefs here is cause for celebration. Space was cleared by these natural phenomena, which has allowed new corals to flourish and bring an even greater diversity to the sites. These sheltered and varied havens offer crystal-clear waters, deep and vibrant walls, steaming underwater volcanic vents, fertile breeding grounds and conditions that are prefect for some fantastic macro diving opportunities. Sumbawa scuba diving has its own vast schools of countless triggerfish and butterflyfish, macro sightings of blue-ringed octopus, clown frogfish and nudibranchs, numerous reef sharks and tunas in the deep walled sections. Allied to this are the topside visual attractions of volcanoes and bat colonies, and you’ll soon have enough reasons to plunge deep and explore the underwater tapestry of Sumbawa.
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