Dive Sites around Pulisan: Lembeh Strait, Bangka Island, Cap Pulisan

There are more than 40 divesites around Pulisan: all kinds of underwater landscapes in distances between five and seventy boat minutes and all degrees of difficulty between 7 and 42 meters to choose from: coral walls with overhanging soft corals, a true symphony of colors, sunken atolls, huge table corals, pinnacles (Bangka archipelago), caves, black and white sand bottoms (muck dives at Lembeh Strait) as well as lava slopes, and shipwrecks (critter dives, Lembeh).

Lembeh Strait in the cross waters of the Moluccan Sea and the Sulawesi sea which is world renowned for its most unusual critters, sponges, corals and a whole variety of feather stars. They house several camouflage shrimps, crabs and clingfish as well as rare pygmy seahorse and colorful nudibranches of all kind . When the current is running, the tree corals blossom into an explosion of colors. Several huge shipwrecks from World war II, which have grown into reefs now, accommodate innumerable critters. So do the murky mud waters which house litter, but in between the most awkward creatures rarely found elsewhere in the world: stargazer, scorpion leaffish, hairy frogfish, mimic octopus. This is a haven for macro photographers.

The Bangka Archipelago with steep drop-offs as well as slopes and pinnacles which exhibit almost undamaged marine life fames with soft corals, sponges, sea fans and crinoids. hosting all kinds of scorpion fish, frogfish, ghost pipe - fish but also many pelagic fish as sharks and napoleon wrasses. Around Sahaung you will encounter large schools of snappers, surgeon fish, and fusiliers. There's also trigger fish and batfish around, parrot bumphead, large moray eels and an occasional turtle or group of eagle ray. Don't miss the baby sharks under the large table corals or the rock tuna rushing past! At Sahaung and Batu Gosh there can be strong currents and surges, sometimes high waves on the surface (especially between mid-July and mid-September). Around Bangka you can also encounter the small stuff like mini shrimps, pygmy seahorses, pipefish, nudibranches. Dives range from 7 - 42 metres, visibility is best from March to June and October to December, often exceeding 35 metres.

Another dive area different from Lembeh and Bangka, stretches out off the rugged northern coastline of Sulawesi, and besides some more well known sites like Batu Mandi and Paradise Jetty, is rarely visited by other dive centers or speedboats buzzing over from Manado on a day trip. Here diving is still exploring, and you will be the one to do that - guided by our expert staff. Barracuda point outside the resort in the blue open water is "fish soup" around a single rock that starts in 24 m and takes you to 42m down to the bottom of the sea. Napo Kalinaun, just 5 minutes away, is a shallow dive that encounters you with crocodile- and scorpionfish, an occasional shark or turtle. Feared by the seafarers is "Priests rock" just off the steep Cape Pulisan. If the corals open up here you find yourself in an underwater flower garden. Napolean wrasse, parrot bumphead, eagle ray and trevally can be encountered here. Or look for the numerous nudibranches and shrimps living in the soft corals covering the rock walls. Take a night dive at Efrata Point (15 minutes by boat) and amaze at rock and slipper lobsters, giant red sea stars, Spanish Dancer, saragassum angler fish. Another highlight is Punteng, a rock that stands out and is inhabited by colonies of seabirds. If you dive down to 33 metres you will encounter the pink pygmee seahorse, you will definitely meet several lionhead, stone fish, crocodilefish and several kinds of scorpionfish, maybe a sephia, an octopus, a turtle or a potato grouper. French marine biologists around Ginette Allard and Patrick Scaps have called this area the golden triangle of marine biodiversity.

Day-trips can be organized also to world-famous Bunaken Marine Park which fames with its thrilling marine life along steep drop-offs housing invertebrates like giant barrel sponges, black corals, gorgonians, and giving home to huge schools of plankton-feeding fish. You can also encounter turtles, large emperors, jacks, groupers, large napoleon wrasses and barracudas.

Diving Seasons

Simply spoken you can dive all the year round as for each of the described areas there are different seasons. Your guide will decide which of the many sites are suited to go to. Usually May and June as well as mid September to mid-November offer very tranquil seas with excellent visibility to more than 32 meters for all dive areas. Starting from July, and well into September, the southeastern monsoon brings in a dry wind with often quite strong waves between Lembeh and Bangka. Then you'll be fine at the northern shore from Cape Pulisan to Paradise Jetty. Between November and April, when the Manado side is badly hit by the northwestern monsoon, you will be fine around Pulisan and Lembeh Strait waters.
The water temperature is around 26 - 28 degrees Celcius, slightly colder when the SE monsoon is on. A 3mm wetsuit should be fine, except if you are a chilly Billy. Air temperature is between 27 - 34 degrees, not being felt though at Pulisan Jungle Beach Resort due to its unique location with shady old beach trees and a sea breeze blowing most of the times.

Reef protection

The reef just in front of Pulisan Jungle Beach Resort is protected now by government and under village law, which secures you a great variety of colorful fish as well as intact corals. At times, even during snorkeling, you encounter dolphins, dugongs or eagle rays. At times green turtles come ashore to lay their eggs. The white sand beach is a fantastic spot for small children to play, as it is very shallow to enter the water and shady. While others sit with a nice book and relax.

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