Boating to Bunaken

Boats arrive through a clearing in the mangrove.
It was a 45 minute ride to our dive resort “Living Colours” on the eastern side of Bunaken [Bunaken-travel-guide-862175] island. While this is the mangrovey side of the island, it is also the side that doesn’t receive the garbage from Manado [Manado-travel-guide-866704] city.

I could sense Kim’s disappointment as the boat pulled in through the mangroves ... through a small clearing we beached the boat on a very small beach with a small bar and equipment shacks. From here we could see the chalets built on the hill behind. Jaako, the Finnish owner greeted us and went through the paper work.

The walk up to chalets is steep ... with monster steps of up to 42 cm in height ... Jaako said they were in Finland when the steps were being built and were shocked by the outcome upon their return!

It is normal in Bunaken for dive resorts to charge more for non-divers as they’re not bringing additional income to the operator. It’s actually good practice ... because there isn’t nothing much to do for non-divers ... there’s no real beach but there is excellent snorkelling if you walk out through the mangroves and swim out about 50m. The mangrove is sandy rather than muddy, so it isn’t too bad.

Believe me, while it is called a dive resort, it isn’t a resort at all for non-divers.