Bunaken, World Class of Indonesia Scuba Diving

Bunaken is an island of 8 km², part of the Bunaken National Marine Park. Bunaken is located at the north of the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It belongs administratively to the municipality of Manado. Scuba diving attracts many visitors to the island.

Bunaken, claims to have seven times more genera of coral than Hawaii, and has more than 70% of all the known fish species of the Indo-Western Pacific. Moreover, there are over 3,500 species living in Indonesian waters, including sharks, dolphins, manta rays, turtles, morays, cuttlefish, octopus and scorpionfish, compared to 1,500 on the Great Barrier Reef and 600 in the Red Sea.

Within the Bunaken Marine Park, visitors can see various strange and colourful marine life along its sea bed. To reach this park, you can take a motorboat. The journey from Manado takes around 40 minutes. Entrance fee is 25,000 rupiahs per person per visit.

For those who enjoy scuba diving, this is a great place to be. With about 20 dive spots to choose from, divers will have the chance to swim below the sea, and frolic joyfully while admiring the sea creatures.

The Dive Sites :

Most diving takes place near Bunaken and Manado Tua, because of their many excellent sites. The following is representative of the diving in the area.

1. Depan Kampung

Located in the south east section of the island and literally meaning "In front of the village", Depan Kampung offers quite a variety in underwater Bunaken diving terrains. Starting your dive on the wall to the west, you can drift along at a healthy pace admiring the vast numbers of pretty pyramid butterflyfish, black damsels, and juvenile redtooth triggerfish. Neon and yellow dash fusiliers are scattered everywhere.

2. Lekuan Walls (I, II, III)

This long wall on Bunaken is divided into three sites: Lekuan I, II and III. Together they represent the park’s best. Steep walls are marked with deep crevices, sea fans and giant sponges. The shallows are filled with fishes. The wall, often protected from stronger currents, is frequented by bumphead parrotfish, turtles, and Napoleon wrasses.

3. Mandolin

Mandolin has a knockout reef crest and a wall that attracts thousands of fishes like schooling fusiliers, surgeonfish, unicornfish, and bannerfish. They are acclimated to divers and are easily approachable.



4. Bunaken Timor

There are strong currents and lots of fishes on this long wall. The shallow reef isn’t as spectacular as some but there are turtles, sharks, eagle rays, and other big fishes in the blue. Overhangs and small caves mark the wall.




5. Tanjung Kopi

Tanjung Kopi is a nice wall with a small school of barracuda and lots of sweetlips. Visibility in the shallows is not terrific but the numbers of fishes make up for it. Nudibranches and fire gobies are easy to spot here.

Getting There

Bunaken Island is easily reached from Manado by motorized outrigger boat start from Manado harbor, Molas, Kalasey and Tasik Ria beaches. The public boats from Manado to Bunaken are leaving daily around 2 p.m (depending on tide), except Sundays, from Pasar Jengki near Manado harbor. Back from Bunaken to Manado usually early in the morning, around 7-8 a.m.

Bunaken Diving Season

Optimum conditions are more or less between the months of April and November but it is possible to dive Bunaken all year round without running into conditions that are less than acceptable.

Other Things to See or Do

• Diving, swimming, and snorkeling.
• Walking around on the beach.
• Sampling the tempting seafood cuisine.
• Ornithologists and amateur bird-watchers might find visiting Tangkoko Dua Sudara Nature Reserve entertaining.

Travel Tips

• Entrance tags and tickets can be purchased through marine tourism operators based in Manado and in the Bunaken National Park, or can be purchased from one of three ticket counters in Bunaken and Liang villages on Bunaken Island and on Siladen Island;
• You should be aware that during the absolute peak season months July and August it usually gets VERY busy. Many of the better resorts and dive operators will not be able to accept walk-ins during that time since they are fully booked. Better make a reservation before;
• Try to hire equipment from larger firms as these tend to be more reliable, but remember the responsibility of checking the equipment is ultimately yours.

Sources :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tourism_in_Indonesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunaken
http://www.dive-the-world.com
http://www.divetheworldindonesia.com/manado-diving-sites-bunaken-island.htm
http://www.visittoindonesia.com/2010/02/07/bunaken-diving-north-sulawesi-indonesia/
http://www.indonesia.travel/en/destination/33/bunaken

Kuta Bali

Kuta is the most famous and the fastest growing tourist place in Bali and it is the heaven for foreign countries tourists. The beach of Kuta is one of the first favorite beaches discovered by tourist. It is famous with the spectacular white sandy beach. Kuta in addition to being the Sunset Site Number One, with its daily spectacular sunsets.

On the south, the beach is fenced by the Ngurah Rai airport’s runway, which gives you a breathtaking landing experience. The beach stretches as far north as the eyes can see. As short walk away north, waves will invite you to test your surfing. It is a popular place with the surfing activity besides of beautiful sunset.

Kuta is also known as the center of night life activities in Southern Bali and a shopping mecca, with its lines of shops, boutiques, and galleries. Restaurants line up the streets as well as the Hotels, ranging from a small, inexpensive home stay to a luxurious resort, will ready accomodate you. We can also meet a lot of good shops selling multifarious items of tourist need like clothes, cassette ribbon, airplane ticket, souvenir, handicraft, sport gear and others.

Kuta is very short drive away from the airport, and transportation is readily available to take you from and to Kuta to and from anywhere else in Bali. Kuta is administratively a district (kecamatan) and subdistrict/village (kelurahan) in southern Bali, Indonesia. A former fishing village, it was one of the first towns on Bali to see substantial tourist development, and as a beach resort remains one of Indonesia's major tourist destinations.

It is known internationally for its long sandy beach, varied accommodation, many restaurants and bars, and many renowned surfers who visit from Australia. It is located near Bali's Ngurah Rai Airport.

There is a new tourism object in Kuta built in the center of this place called Bali Bomb Monument to commemorate the Bali Bomb Tragedy on 12 October 2002. Bomb which burst at Sari Club and also Paddy'S club have killed 202 people.

It is one stop place for holiday in Bali by offering the plenty of selection we need and make it the right place to visit on your vacation in Bali.

Sources :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kuta
http://www.balistarisland.com/Bali-Interesting-Place/Kuta.htm
http://www.indo.com/active/kuta.html
http://pariwisata-indo.blogspot.com/2009/02/kuta-bali.html
http://www.balitoursclub.com/berita_59_Kuta.html
http://balihotelfinder.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/peace_memorial__kuta_bali.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngurah_Rai_Airport

Bali "The Island of Gods”

Just like the title, Bali…The Island of Gods, yes..that is the proper name to describe how the truly beautiful of this island. A tropical island that inhabited by a remarkably artistic people who have created a dynamic society with unique arts and ceremonies.

Bali also have many names. Some call it the ‘Island of the Gods’, the ‘last paradise’, the ‘dawning of the world’ and the ‘centre of the universe’.

Where is Bali ?

Bali is small island but it is one of the most important islands of Indonesia. Just 140 Km by 80 Km and lies between Java, the most highly populated and influential of all the islands, and Lombok, one of the quieter and moderately slower paced islands.

It is one of the country's 33 provinces with the provincial capital at Denpasar towards the south of the island. Bali of today is one of the twenty six provinces of the Republic of Indonesia, divided administratively between eight districts that take their names and boundaries from the island’s old Hindu kingdoms.

Daily Life in Bali

Daily life on Bali is culturally linked to satisfying and appeasing the gods, spirits and demons in the midst of breathtaking panoramas of cultivated rice terraces, impressive volcanoes and pristine beaches. Bali’s main volcano, Gunung Agung, is still active and sometimes explosive and is considered sacred among local people as it is believed to be the centre of the universe.

Bali is famous for many forms of art, including painting, sculpture, woodcarving, handcrafts, and performing arts. Balinese gamelan music is highly developed and varied. The dances portray stories from Hindu epics such as the Ramayana. Famous Balinese dances include pendet, legong, baris, topeng, barong, and kecak (the monkey dance).

The Balinese are noted for their traditional dance, the distinctive music of the gamelan and for their skills in weaving cloth of gold and silver threads, Songket, as well as for embroidering silk and cotton clothing.

The Hindu new year, Nyepi, is celebrated in the spring by a day of silence. On this day everyone stays at home and tourists are encouraged to remain in their hotels. On the preceding day large, colorful sculptures of ogoh-ogoh monsters are paraded and finally burned in the evening to drive away evil spirits. Other festivals throughout the year are specified by the Balinese pawukon calendrical system.

Bali Climate

Lying just 8 degree south of the Equator, Bali can boast a tropical climate with just two seasons a year and an average temperature of around 28 degree Celsius. From December to March, the West monsoon can bring heavy showers and high humidity, but usually days are sunny and the rains start during the night and pass quickly. From June to September the humidity is low, and it can be quite cool in the evenings. During this time of the year, you'll have hardly any rain in the coastal areas

Even when it rains in most parts of Bali you can often enjoy sunny days on the "Bukit", the hill south of Jimbaran Beach. On the other hand, in Ubud and the mountains you must expect cloudy skies and showers throughout the year (this is why the international weather reports for "Denpasar" or "Bali" mention showers and rain storms during all times of the year). In higher regions such as in Bedugul or Kintamani you'll also need either a sweater or jacket after the sun sets.

Bali Flora

The wide variety of tropical plants is surprising. You'll see huge banyan trees in villages and temple grounds, tamarind trees in the North, clove trees in the highlands, acacia trees, flame trees, and mangroves in the South. In Bali grow a dozen species of coconut palms and even more varieties of bamboo.

You'll see and smell the fragrance of flowers like hibiscus, bougainvillea, jasmine, and water lilies. Magnolia, frangipani, and a variety of orchids are found in many front yards and gardens, along roads, and in temple grounds.

Flowers are also used as decorations in temples, on statues, as offerings for the gods, and during prayers. Dancers wear blossoms in their crowns, and even the flower behind the ear of your waitress seems natural in Bali.

Bali Fauna

You can watch schools of dolphins near Lovina, Candi Dasa, and Padangbai. Divers will see many colorful coral fish and small reef fish, moray eels, and plankton eating whale sharks as well as crustaceans, sponges, and colorful coral along the east coast and around Menjangan Island near Gilimanuk.

Wildlife, however, includes various species of monkeys, civets, barking deer and mouse deer, and 300 species of birds including wild fowl, dollar birds, blue kingfishers, sea eagles, sandpipers, white herons and egrets, cuckoos, wood swallows, sparrows, and starlings.

What Makes Bali So Special

Bali is a land that seems to have a magnet at its very heart. It is a feeling that is difficult to understand unless experienced but once visited you are surely compelled to come back and you may even want to stay forever, such is its pull. Maybe its Bali’s beauty, maybe the friendly people, or maybe even the influence from spirits that certainly abide in this place.

There is the combination of the friendly people, the natural attractions, the great variety of things to see and do, the year-round pleasant climate, and the absence of security problems. And then there is Bali's special "magic", which is difficult to explain.

As soon as you step off the plane you might sense the difference. In the villages you'll notice the quietness and wisdom in old people's faces, and the interest and respect in the young's.

Old men sit at the road side caressing their fighting cocks. Beautifully dressed women walk proudly through rice fields and forests carrying offerings on their heads to the next temple. There is the smell of flowers, and in the distance you hear the sound of gamelan music.

Gods and spirits have been an important part of Bali's daily life for hundreds of years. Gunung Agung - Bali's holy mountain - is internationally regarded as one of the eight "Chakra" points of the world. This may be more than a coincident. Watch out, the moment you feel the magic of this island, you're addicted for the rest of your life.

Sources :

http://www.indo.com/geo/gen_info.html
http://villarainforest.com/bali-island.html
http://www.baliocean.com/en/about_bali.blueseason
http://iwyrobi.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/bali_sunset.jpg?w=300&h=221
http://aspac-bonsai-suiseki.com/images/11_about_bali.jpg
http://blog.baliwww.com/guides/94
http://blog.baliwww.com/bali-news-events/9131
http://beritakarangasem.blogspot.com/