Bunaken is part of the Bunaken National Park which is home to one of the most diverse underwater habitats in the entire world. Located close to Manado in the very north of Sulawesi, Bunaken owes it incredible diving to the intense tropical sunlight, the warm and cold currents of nutrient rich waters that pass through the area and the Wallace line that runs through the area separating the Asian species from the Australasian.

The Bunaken national Park is relatively young as one only fully established in 1991 and was one of the first of Indonesia underwater national parks. Covering almost 900 square kilometres of which only 3% is covered with land which include the 5 islands of Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen. These islands each have a character of their own but it is under the water where the real magic is found. The Bunaken National Parks is the main reason to visit Bunaken but the culture and tropical beauty of the islands is also great where there are fishing villages and beautiful volcano peaks and all sorts of other things to see in the day.

There are a number places to stay on Bunaken, many of the resorts are dive specific or at least in some way related to the diving around the area. You will find that many of these dive resorts are excellent conventional resorts with beach bungalows and beautiful luxurious facilities meaning there are often no divers who travel to the island in order to learn or without even a desire to dive. The diving around the Bunaken National Park includes over 2500 species of fish and 30 species of morphing corals with lunar cycles which create currents that trap larva and other nutrients and pull them across the reefs. With warm waters and visibility that frequently passes the 40 meter range, Bunaken is an excellent spot to have a dive based holiday.

Most of the dive centres or dive resorts on Manado offer courses as well as dives around the different islands. You can do a course or free dive. With so much to see it is good to know that the resort you are choosing is approved by the PADI Association. Most if not all of the dive resorts and other communities as well as National park staff all work together in promoting the wise use of the natural materials and the fishing techniques. The local people live off the land so resourcefulness and efficiency is in their culture.

Now Bunaken apparently is holding the flame for the rest of Indonesia about how proper wise and economic use of natural materials is possible. Some of the large fish that can be in seen around the park include Bumphead Parrotfish, Balbometopon and the corallivores that actually eat live coral with strong teeth and jaws which have evolved to look similar to beaks are used to crunch through coral on a daily basis.