Takabonerate Island

Takabonerate Island

Spread over 2,220 square kilometers in the Flores Sea south of the island of Sulawesi, Takabonerate is the largest atoll in Indonesia and the third largest in the world. The 21 small ilands of Takabonerate offer nesting areas for sea turtles, which thrive here on the huge meadows of seagrass. The atoll rises sharply from the side of a submerged ridge 2,000 meters below the surface. Once a huge volcano, it has since subsided, leaving a wide ring of coral. The waters inside the atoll are magnificent turquoise, surrounded by the deepest blue imaginable. And they are rich with 158 species of unique corals. Our dive starts at 2-3 meters over the reef top and then swim out over the outer wall of the atoll. Visibility is normally about 30 meters and the wall seems to extend downward forever. The growth of cirak and garganians was excellent and schools of jacks cruise the wall. In the huge cuts and crevices in the wall, we see giant groupers, Napoleon wrasses, sea turtles, lion fish and moray eels.

Takabonerate island

Selayar Island

Diving Selayar is without question on of the best dives in Indonesia. The Eastern coast of Pulau Selayar is THE BEST, but his side of the island is ONLY accessible in the months of October through May. This is caused by the prevailing winds from the east in the months of June-September create massive wave action on the eastern side of Pulau Selayar. Over the months of October - May the western winds are deflected by a 600 m mountian range and glass like water conditions create visablity of up to 50m, calm anchorages and is the best time to dive Selayar. The Local Government has recently enacted a law that stives to protect the east coast of Selayar from distructive fishing practices. At present the Southern extreme of Selayar is classified as a Marine Conservation Zone, and for that reason the future of this area is insured to continue to get better and better. A small Conservation Zone Fee of 100,000rp per diver is charged for diving this area and divers visiting this zone are required to pay this fee to the park management.

The walls of Selayar are massive and in excellent condition. ANYONE diving Pulau Selayar will classify this area as WORLD CLASS diving.

This drift drive offers excellent visibility of about 30 meters and a massive population of lion fish. The wall drops to about 50 meters with a rather strong current caused by the mixing of waters from the east and west coasts of this elongated island.