Jez Tryner — North Sulawesi
FiNS Magazine contributor Jez Tryner is currently on his virgin trip to North Sulawesi. He’ll be visiting several resorts in the popular dive haven for the next few weeks, and will be sending us updates from location.
26 June: We’re finally back after a superb month of diving in North Sulawesi. Here’s an update on the balance of our trip:
Following our stay with Two Fish Divers on Lembeh Island we hopped across the Strait to Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR) for a few days. KBR was the first dive resort to appear on the Lembeh scene, and it’s now managed by Eco Divers. Actually, two of our long time friends, Steve and Miranda Coverdale, are at the helm, so we were pretty eager to get there!
Right from the word go, the diving was amazing. We submitted our wish list of top-ten critters to our eagle-eyed guide Ben, and we were really impressed he found everything! In fact, on one of our first dives, we dropped straight down onto a bright green Rhinopias, the holy grail of underwater photography.
In rapid succession, we came across an orange frogfish, then a beautiful if timid wunderpus, and finally the number one fish on my wanna-see list — the incredibly bizarre hairy frogfish!
After our very enjoyable stay at KBR we moved back across to visit KBR’s sister dive resort, Tasik Ria Resort where we continued diving with Eco Divers, who also run the dive centre here.
Tasik Ria sits a little further down the coast from Santika Hotel and the Thalassa Dive Center, where we had stayed earlier in the month. Staying at Tasik Ria gave us good access to a site I had been wanting to dive all month — Popoh.
Popoh is the North Sulawesi west coast’s answer to Lembeh. Topographically, Popoh is similar to Lembeh, with a light sandy slope running down from the village (of the same name). The area is filled with all types of critters. In recent years, this area has become renowned for its high number of Rhinopias encounters, and although we didn’t come across one this time, Andrea’s ever-sharp eyes spotted our first ever Halimeda ghost pipefish and a beautiful yellow thorny seahorse just hanging in the seagrass.
After Popoh, we returned to the waters around Bunaken, which continued to amaze us. For instance, the biggest turtle I’ve ever seen greeted us. It was just swimming lazily along the wall checking out the nooks and crannies until it stopped right where we were to pose a while. Eventually we swam away, leaving him to ponder turtle thoughts and greet the next bunch of divers.
After a few days with Tasik Ria, it was time to head off once again, and we next visited a place I’ve heard lots about and have been wanting to visit for a while — Gangga island, which lies only 30 minutes off the mainland.
Our hosts at Gangga Island Resort & Spa were Gaspare Davi and his wife, a really nice couple from Italy. Apart from two villages on the island, the resort is the only place where you’ll bump into anyone else. Gangga really is a “get away from it all” destination.
The diving around Gangga covers a chain of five islands and the northern stretch of the North Sulawesi coastline. Our first dive was at Pulisan on the mainland. Having heard some reports of dugong sightings here recently, we were already excited. The marine life along the walls are awesome, with huge gorgonian seafans creating a stunning profile in the early morning light.
Next we visited Paradise Pier, where we saw our first crazy looking pair of Ambon scorpionfish, along with robust and ornate ghost pipefish, leaf fish, octopus and schools of swirling silversides — a fantastic site that has everything you could want.
…and now, back to reality. Sadly, we reached the end of our tour of North Sulawesi, and we’re now back in the real world. We would like to thank all the resorts and hotels that hosted us and really wish we were still there.
North Sulawesi is a place that is a still relatively secluded and untouched. The views and diving are fantastic, and the variety of life in these waters is astounding, This truly is a unique and amazing place. If you get the chance to visit, you won’t be disappointed. Although this was our first trip, it certainly won’t be the last!
29 May: We’re back with our friends Nigel and Tina Thomas at Two Fish Divers, but this time at Lembeh.
Nigel and Tina have opened their second operation in North Sulawesi in the macro heaven of the Lembeh Strait. The resort is situated on Lembeh Island, with fan-cooled accommodation, restaurant and dive centre all right on the beach in a small private bay.
Two Fish Lembeh currently accepts a maximum of only six divers, so Tina and Nigel they have successfully maintained the cozy and welcome atmosphere that we enjoyed at their resort on Bunaken Island last week.
This is my first trip to Lembeh Strait, and I couldn’t wait to get in the water to see if all the wild stories of mad critters, seahorses and nudibranchs galore were true. Guess what? They are. This place is amazing!
We dropped into Nudi Falls, one of the area’s legendary dive sites, and aside from spotting at least ten different species of nudis we saw three pygmy seahorses, Banggai cardinalfish and mantis shrimps — all in the first ten minutes! It got even better from there.
I was ecstatic. And with no enforced time limits on diving, this was probably one of the best dives of my life.
25 May: Today we moved from Two Fish Divers to Thalassa Dive Center located at the Hotel Santika Manado.
This high-end resort is perched on a small hillside and blends perfectly into the lush green surroundings, complete with amazing views.
Thalassa Dive Center general manager Simone Gerritsen met us at the 500-metre long jetty and walked us through the dive centre and resort. The motto here is “Come as a guest, leave as a friend” and we quickly felt right at home.
Later in the afternoon, we headed out for our first dive with our new hosts. Stunning walls and swirling schools of barracuda and jacks greeted us, along with the varied macro life that inhabits this area. My wife Andrea found her first oranguntan crab, which unfortunately totally avoided posing for the camera.
Spinecheek anenomefish, leaf scorpionfish, numerous different nudibranchs and a super-friendly green turtle followed. Lucky for me, the turtle took an interest in my macro port and unknowingly posed for me.
The diving so far has been amazing and seems to keep getting better. Wish you were here…
23 May: Approaching Bunaken Island for the first time, we passed over the island’s dropoff, and we were immediately struck by the deep blue colour and clear visibility. This set the tone for the next few days of diving.
We were met on the beach by Tina — one half of the partnership of Tina and Nigel Thomas who own and operate Two Fish Divers. This cozy resort has a great family atmosphere, and it wasn’t long before we were swapping stories with the other guests over the dinner table. We were made very welcome and a felt an integral part of the “Two Fish Family” right away.
In the morning, we boarded the dive boat, and 20 minutes later I was introduced to my first-ever pygmy seahorse, this one discovered only three years ago and not even officially named yet! Leaf scorpionfish, ghost pipefish, flamboyant cuttlefish and nudibranchs galore soon followed. The walls and reefs here are amazing and littered with critters…we are simply loving it!
Keep checking the FiNS blog page for more of my travels and discoveries…