Top Twin Centre Options in Manado & Derewan, Indonesia

Indonesia’s many remote locations mean that dive sites are rarely crowded and marine life is abundant, with an almost water tight guarantee of seeing something new each day. It’s little wonder that Indonesia is one of Regaldive’s most popular diving destinations.

Diving Regions of Indonesia

  
WORLD CLASS DIVING IN Manado

The dominating volcanic landscape creates a dramatic backdrop to the world class diving available in North Sulawesi. Conditions are generally calm all year round, and the deep waters offer excellent visibility. The seas are home to many unusual species, ranging from the prehistoric ‘coelacanth’ fish through to reef shark, green turtles, napoleon wrasse and dugongs. Diving in the region is concentrated over two areas: Bunaken National Marine Park and the Lembeh Straits.

Dive Bunaken National Marine Park

The Bunaken National Marine Park has won numerous international conservation awards and is home to the majority of the dive sites the resorts visit. Most of the reefs are rich and unspoilt, offering pristine and abundant soft coral and fish life in huge concentrations. The night diving is spectacular, providing frequent encounters with rare nocturnal creatures. For a change of scenery, the Molas wreck is remarkably intact for a WWII ship.

Diving in and around Bunaken is predominantly wall diving and drift diving. There are also numerous beautiful coral slopes suitable for novice divers. The variety of both fish and soft coral is outstanding, and marks out this area as one of the most bio diverse marine environments in the world. With visibility around 25m and water temperature 26-30 C, this is an excellent destination for underwater photographers and naturalists alike.

Schools of Barracudas and Jacks, Green Sea Turtles and reef sharks, Sea snakes and Napoleon wrasses are among the resident inhabitants of the steep coral walls fringing Bunaken Island.

Dive Lembeh Straits

The Lembeh Strait is world famous for its macro life and is accessible from Dive into Lembeh and neighbouring resorts. This is arguably one of the finest destinations in the world for macro and photography enthusiasts.

Lembeh plays host to a cornucopia of weird and wonderful creatures. Diving is over shallow black sandy slopes where seahorses and nudibranches are found in abundance. Many of the species that are encountered are simply not found elsewhere. Inimicus devilfish, dwarf lionfish, scorpion fish, puffer fish, mimic octopus, pegasus sea moths, frogfish, ribbon eels and flying gurnards to name but a few.

The Lembeh strait is a unique dive destination and a haven for experienced divers who are looking for species that are unusual and rarely seen. The dive guides and instructors are extremely experienced in locating and identifying the many unusual species that are encountered.

DIVE East Kalimantan

Located in the Sulawesi Sea, on the coastal shelf of East Kalimantan, the Derawan Islands offer that rare combination of big and small underwater life. They include Derawan, Sangalaki, Kakaban, Maratua, Panjang and Samama Island and submerged reefs and islets. 

Located in a biodiversity hotspot, the islands feature 872 species of reef fishes, 507 species of coral, and invertebrates including protected species such as giant clam, two different sea turtles and coconut crab. Some of the islands harbour the largest green turtle nesting sites in Indonesia. Travel between the months of September - November for increased likelihood of seeing larger species.

Twin Centre Trips

Twin centre trips are a great way to enjoy a diving experience in two contrasting regions, without the need for two separate trips. It’s very rare that you can find a 10 -15 night dive trip offering such wide variety as you can in Indonesia. You can encounter a vortex of barracuda, mantas and turtles in Derawan and combine this with the coral garden of Bunaken, or the critter capital of the world Lembeh. 

We are pleased to offer twin centre trips combining both sides of Manado, an ideal blend of colour and abuance on the Bunaken side and world class muck diving on the Lembeh side. We also offer twin centre trips combining Manado and East Kalimantan. You may also want your trip to include a stopover in Balikpapan to see the Orang Utan Conservation, proboscis monkey, the sun bear of Kalimantan or some Dayak culture, if time permits. 

our most popular Resorts for Twin Centre Trips

Murex MAnado

With its onsite dive centre, Murex Manado is a comfortable diver's resort. The management have a hands-on, personal and friendly approach, making your stay a very welcome one. The resort has undergone substantial investment, with a fantastic dive centre upgrade and new facilities.

Under European management, Murex Manado dive trips are always led by a dive leader who is an experienced guide and Instructor. The management team has a programme of vessel upgrades and facility improvements in place to enhance guest comfort and enjoyment. 

Dive into Lembeh Resort

Nestled in Kasawari Bay, Dive into Lembeh Resort is a 'boutique style' hotel built with divers in mind. With just nine sea view private bungalows, guests enjoy personal service and great diving on the house reef. The resort has been likened to a comfortable 'land-based liveaboard'.

British owned and managed, this lovely small hotel is located on the mainland of the Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.  A true macro photographer’s paradise, the resort is just off the north east coast of Sulawesi and is famous for its 'muck diving' on black volcanic sand.  Muck diving is all about spotting weird and wonderful underwater critters, species that you would normally not find during a regular dive.

Virgin Cocoa island Resort

Virgin Cocoa Island Resort is a deluxe, intimate island resort just off the coast of East Kalimantan. Sitting proud on a private, white sandy beach, this small and exclusive lodge is guaranteed to help busy minds begin to switch off.

With just 18 beach bungalow, clients can enjoy the simply and chic furnished rooms finished in modern style. The resort is calm and built for relaxation after diving. The superior suits are based on the lagoon's edge complete with private terrace. The resort's outstanding location offers the chance to see mantas and schooling barracuda. Macro fans can enjoy pygmy seahorses, blue-ring octopus and frogfish.

Indonesia will appeal to divers looking for world class diving in uncrowded dive sites. Members of the Regaldive team have visited Indonesia and they would be pleased to help you to plan your Indonesian diving adventure. 

To find out more, call our friendly team on 01353 659999, or visit: Dive into Indonesia