Siladen Resort & Spa

Types of Diving Available Bunaken Marine Park offers divers several distinctive styles of diving, and with over 50 dives sites within close proximity to Siladen Resort & Spa, you will never get bored diving here. The ocean bed in Bunaken Marine Park is extremely deep and the only shallow points are close to the shore line. There are very shallow coral reefs surrounding all five islands within the park — beyond the shallow reef, the seabed drops away very quickly, forming the walls that Bunaken is famed for. Many of these walls are vertical with huge caverns and overhangs, however some are more gentle slopes that allow more reef building corals to form. On the North Sulawesi mainland, the seabed drops away much faster, and the seabed is mostly made up of mud or white sand. Due to the number of rivers flowing into the ocean, there are not many areas with spectacular reefs, however the harsh living conditions have allowed stranger things to flourish. It is here, on the mainland, that we can visit black sand sites for muck diving — looking for bizarre critters that have evolved unique survival methods. We also visit some of the white sand sites, which offer some beautiful coral reefs, but without the walls. There is also a fairly intact (entirely sponge encrusted) wreck within easy access of the resort.

What to Expect Bunaken Marine Park is most famed for its dramatic walls and its rich variety of life — in particular, its macro life. Every site has a plethora of critters dwelling in every nook and cranny you look in. Popular regulars include pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, hairy squat lobsters, and blue ringed octopus. Although not well known for larger species, the open waters are home to a number of pelagic species that often make an appearance during dives, such as napoleon wrasse, tuna, and giant trevally. Both white tip and black tip reef sharks are resident on many dive sites, and white spotted eagle rays often make an appearance. Another thing Bunaken Marine Park is famous for, is its healthy turtle population. Bunaken Island, in particular, has many turtles living here year round — it is not uncommon to see more than ten on a single dive. The most common species are green and hawksbill, however, loggerhead, olive ridley, and leatherback, can all be found living in the park.

Diving Conditions Bunaken Marine Park boasts stunning visibility for most of the year. On the walls, the average visibility is around 30m, whilst on a good day it can easily exceed 40m. We consider anything below 20m as low visibility, although it rarely stays below this for an extended period of time. On the mainland, visibility is usually a little lower than on the walls. The year-round average (depending upon the site) is around 20m. Tidal excursions and weather can have much greater effects on the mainland visibility than the walls, so when planning these dives we need to take these into account. Like much of Indonesia, Bunaken Marine Park can be subject to strong currents. To prevent diving in overly strong currents, we conduct current checks at the beginning of every dive. Still, the currents can change very quickly, so to reduce diver stress we practice drift diving procedures for every dive — regardless if a current is present or not. All of our guides carry SMB’s to deploy after the dive, and the boat will meet the divers for pick up. The year average water temperature is 28º C, so a 3mm full length suit should be adequate for most divers. As this is a National Park, gloves and knives are forbidden.

Siladen Resort & Spa is an exclusive boutique dive resort located on Pulau Siladen, a lush tropical island in the heart of the Bunaken National Marine Park, a protected ocean area known worldwide for the richness of its waters and epicentre of global marine biodiversity. Since 2003 the resort offers international guests the most attractive exquisite and secluded comfort in Sulawesi.