Diving in Indonesia

Photo: Alex Mustard Map of Indonesia Soft corals, crinoids, tunicates and sponges compete for space, while glassfish throng the reef in Bali Photo: Alex Mustard Map of Bali USAT Liberty wreck Photo: Alex Mustard Neon triplefin Photo: Alex Mustard Indonesia sits at the heart of the Coral Triangle, a cradle of marine life biodiversity Photo: Alex Mustard A diver is surrounded by a school of bigeye jacks in Bali Photo: Alex Mustard Map of Sulawesi A pair of Coleman shrimps make their home among the poisonous spines of a fire urchin Photo: Alex Mustard

Indonesia is so vast and diverse that the travel industry tends to treat it as a series of distinct destinations. The archipelago comprises 18,000 islands in a wide arc that bridges the Indian and Pacific oceans – it would take a lifetime of exploration to get to grips with the sheer variety of its reefs.

During the ice ages, sea levels rose and fell across this region, causing some species to be isolated in enclosed seas, and then reintroduced to the open ocean. Marine life adapted and readapted to the changes, so successive ice ages created a sort of geological pump that has resulted in Indonesia’s current status as the world’s centre of marine biodiversity. Put simply, you’ll see more different kinds of fish and coral here than anywhere else in the world.

That isn’t to say you can just jump in anywhere and have a ball. Indonesia has a population of 230 million, and many areas are polluted or have been destroyed by dynamite fishing. For this reason, virtually no-one visits the country to dive off the most populous island, Java. For the diving market, Indonesia’s marine parks and remote territories are the big draw, and it is here that you can dive in some of the world’s richest marine environments.

If you want to see shipwrecks and sharks, it’s probably best to look elsewhere – there are a few wrecks, but the only one of note is the Liberty in Bali, and even that’s more of a coral and fish dive. As for sharks, you may see a few, but most of them have been claimed by the finning industry.

If you’re considering Indonesia, the chances are you’re interested in coral reefs and exotic benthic creatures. Alongside Papua New Guinea and a few parts of Malaysia and the Philippines, Indonesia has the world’s best coral reefs – there are more sponges, more corals, more critters here than anywhere else. Its weakness lies in the general paucity of pelagic and schooling fish, though there are some areas where fish can still be seen in great numbers.

In this INdepth, we explore some of the archipelago’s best dive spots, highlighting the good, the bad and the bug-eyed best of this sprawling nation. This feature was prepared before the recent earthquake in Sumatra and does not include any areas affected by the devastation.

BALI

Bali is the easiest Indonesian dive spot to travel to from the UK. Admittedly, you’re still looking at 14 hours in the air over two flights, but for the other far-flung destinations within this feature, Bali is just a jumping-off point.

Bali is the archetypal tropical paradise. The cultural cognoscenti will tell you to avoid the far south of the island, a backpackers’ ghetto with nothing of interest to visiting divers. Instead, most divers head up the east coast to the village of Tulamben, where the famous Liberty wreck can be dived from shore. Offering schooling fish, a coral-festooned wreck and plenty of macro life, the Liberty is one of the world’s great all-round dives. Indeed, some people dive on it every day for the duration of their stay.

In fact, there’s quality diving all along Bali’s east coast. The fishing village of Amed, just southeast of Tulamben, has some general reef dives; the best site is the island of Seraya, where there’s pristine coral and a fast current that can bring in grey reef and hammerhead sharks.

Bali’s most famous coral reef site is the island of Menjangan, just off the northwest coast. It’s a good option for anyone who enjoys diving a big wall – the gorgonian fans here are spectacular – but the fish presence is sparse and there’s not much by way of macro life. If you’re based on the east coast, the coral at Seraya is just as impressive, although the wall isn’t quite as dramatic.

In the far west is Secret Bay, a shallow, highly tidal inlet that acts as a nursery for larval fish. It’s an unglamorous dive over coral rubble and muddy volcanic sand, but it succeeds in delivering critters – frogfish, scorpionfish, shrimpfish, mimic octopus, harlequin shrimp any many others are routinely spotted.

Getting there: despite Bali being a mainstream entry point into Indonesia, there are no direct flights there from the UK. Most visitors fly in via Singapore – return economy fares can cost anything between £400 and £700. Bear in mind that once you’re in Bali, you could be looking at a road journey of up to four or five hours if your resort is based in the north. Bali is a year-round scuba destination.

WAKATOBI, SULAWESI

Travellers have a way of going glassy-eyed when you mention Wakatobi, a remote resort on the island of Onemobaa off Sulawesi’s southeast coast. A luxury resort built on a white-sand beach, Wakatobi offers high-quality coral reef diving in a voluntary no-take zone.

Underwater, barrel sponges, vibrant soft corals and a smattering of reef fish dominate the scenery, though you will notice that the water column is devoid of fish. To be fair, Wakatobi does not claim to be a big-fish destination, though some pelagic species are encountered on a seasonal basis.

The area is especially popular with underwater photographers, who prize this area’s colourful fish, cephalopods and crustaceans. It’s a safari in miniature on some of Southeast Asia’s most colourful reefs. For those who want to explore the sites beyond the day boat’s range, the liveaboard Pelagian runs seven and ten-night charters in the area.

Getting there: getting to Wakatobi on scheduled flights and speedboats proved such a headache in the early days that the resort now charters its own flight from Denpasar in Bali to a specially built airstrip on an island close to the resort. It’s incorporated into the package price, which starts at about £1,300 for seven nights.

NORTH SULAWESI

If you were to hold a competition for the world’s most beautiful reefs, the northern tip of Sulawesi would be a popular contender. The big draw here is the cluster of little islands that sit off its northern tip, under the auspices of the Bunaken National Marine Park. If you want to see a coral wall at its most vibrant, this is the place, as every surface is covered with hard and soft corals, barrel sponges, gorgonian fans, whip corals and tunicates.

As already mentioned, schooling fish are not a common sight in Indonesian waters, but the protection afforded by this park means that divers are likely to encounter schools of pyramid butterflyfish, Napoleon wrasse and even those diver-dodging coral chompers, the bumphead parrotfish.

While people made such a fuss about the Manado region during the 1990s, it seems to be almost forgotten now, with West Papua and Flores becoming the latest hot spots. The truth is that north Sulawesi is still a heavyweight among dive destinations, offering a great choice of dives.

Inside the park proper, there are 20 established sites. Most of the dives tend to be easy drifts along a wall, but there are flat reefs and productive critter dives in areas of coral rubble. What can you expect to see? Pretty much anything, though banded sea snakes and giant frogfish rank among the most prestigious ‘spots’. There’s even a chance of running into a white-tip reef shark, though that’s about as big a fish as you’re likely to see.

Not far from Manado is the Lembeh Strait, which has always been popular with photographers who want to snap as many different bottom-dwellers as possible. It is home to frogfish, gurnards, crocodilefish, stargazers… nearly 200 species of fish can be seen here, and the diving is easy. Expect to be diving with a boatload of camera-wielding New York dentists on ‘vacation’.

Underwater, Lembeh isn’t pretty – you’re going to be in relatively low visibility, with a sea bed composed largely of black volcanic sand. Still, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and underwater photographers like their fish as ugly as sin. If you tire of the endless parade of bottom-dwelling Darwinian nightmares, there’s even a Second World War shipwreck, the Tanduk Rusa, which attracts lionfish by the dozen.

Getting there: flights from the UK to Manado are routed via Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, or Singapore – expect to pay £700 to £830 for a return economy flight.

KOMODO, FLORES AND ALOR

When it comes to unique selling points, Komodo has a trump card. Yes, you dive on beautiful reefs and see lots of weird fish in one of the most exotic parts of the world, but if that doesn’t close the deal, how about seeing some dragons? Komodo is, strictly speaking, the highlight of a well-established liveaboard itinerary that departs and returns to Bali, taking in the best of the Nusu Tenggara archipelago.