Scuba Diving Vacation at the Wakatobi Dive Resort

With all we had read about the Wakatobi Dive Resort, we had high expectations. And we weren’t disappointed! We have to admit that all the good things we had heard turned out to be true. Run like a Swiss clock, every detail was taken care of making the experience of staying at Wakatobi simply a fantastic dive holiday.

So, how to sum up Wakatobi? It was like being pampered at a luxurious resort while diving next to some of the most pristine reefs we had ever seen.

We had actually won a discount voucher at the New York travel show last year allowing us to plan our stay around our birthdays. We had been anticipating this trip for well over a year.

From the initial contact through the booking process, the team was responsive and helpful. From the meet and greet on arrival to the luggage handlers, drivers, and various helpers that we encountered before even setting foot at the resort, we felt well taken care of. Every detail around logistics was anticipated, thus removing much of the stress associated with traveling to the opposite side of the world.

Being a full 12 hours of time difference, we opted to add a few days in Bali, Indonesia, to acclimate. The resort organized all our transfers and even a couple of local Bali tours.

Getting to Wakatobi

The name Wakatobi is an acronym of the names of the four main islands that form the archipelago: WAngi-wangi, KAledupa, TOmia, and BInongko.

To head to the resort, we had a 6:30am private transfer to the charter plane that would take us on the almost 3-hour flight from Bali to Baranda Maranggo Airport on Tomia Island.

From there, local drivers in a caravan of cars took us to the taxi boats which brought us to one of the dive boats for a 30-minute water transfer.

The scenery flying across Indonesia was spectacular. We flew by Mount Rinjani, an active volcano, at 3,726 meters (12,224 ft) and we were close enough to see the caldera lake. All the little islands and atolls looked inviting from the air, and all looked like they’d be perfect for scuba diving.

Believe it or not, this is the easy way to come. Before the charter flight it was a 2-day adventure of busses and small boats. Quite unlikely that we would have ever contemplated that regardless of how good the diving may have been. Be sure to leave some buffer in your arrival time because if you miss the charter, it’s back to the old way or basically waiting for the next bi-weekly flight.

The arrival experience

At the Wakatobi Dive Resort itself, from the moment we arrived everyone was so friendly and welcoming. As with Indonesian custom, you take your shoes off before entering the buildings which is nice and makes it feel like you’re stepping into someone’s home. Everyone seemed to know our names already.

Our dive guide came over to explain how the resort worked and walked us through the various areas before taking us to our room. Later on, he would take us on our check-out dive on the Wakatobi house reef.

Wakatobi Dive Resort Amenities

Ocean Bungalow room

We had opted for a waterfront ocean bungalow room which is a middle end offering. They have one- and two-bedroom villas with private pools and garden facing bungalows too. For the two of us this was more than adequate.

We had a comfortable king size bed with a large writing desk and chair as well as a couple of lounge chairs. There were plenty of plugs and even some USBs near the bed to keep our phones plugged in. The plugs were the universal type and our US devices worked without adaptors. There was even a pillow menu to pick between various pillow types.

A nice touch was that they even have the tropical pacific fish identification and reef creature identification books in the room for reference. This was very helpful for filling in our dive logs.

There was a modern and sufficiently powered AC unit that kept the bedroom area cool and comfortable. A coffee and tea maker were present and refilled daily. A mini fridge that had ample soft drinks (also free/included) was included. They would replenish drinking water twice daily in a pitcher. The tap water was ok for brushing teeth but the bottled or purified water in the pitcher was recommended for drinking.

There was also a decent sized safe and a large closet with a couple of shelves. We would have appreciated a dresser drawer for our clothes, but we made it work by hanging things in the closet and using the shelves on the wall unit. Those cabinets up high are actually out of reach for anyone under 7ft tall!

They also supplied a flashlight for walking the paths at night. Not a bad idea, as we saw some monitor lizards (one big one!) along the brushy areas beside the path.

The bathroom was stocked twice daily with ample towels and amenities. There were toothbrushes and shavers in case you forgot your own and bathrobes were provided (but no slippers, everyone was barefoot so perhaps not customary here).

The bathroom opened to an outside (only) shower. This was nice and also served as a good spot for drying bathing suits and clothes as the open top area often had full sun.

In addition, there was a large veranda with a sitting area where we often sat to enjoy our coffee watching the ocean and the sunsets. A short distance away there were a couple of lawn chairs and a beach umbrella along with a hammock. Not a bad setup at all!

Celebrating our birthdays we got some nice decorations on the bed from the housekeeping staff as well as nice t-shirts as gifts. There were daily towel decorations of sea creatures that always made us smile.

Wakatobi restaurant

The restaurant had three seatings. Breakfast before the dive at 6:30, lunch between dives at 12:30, and dinner at 18:30. If not diving, the schedule was flexible but if doing the three dives you needed to be on the boat 10 minutes before departure time 7:30, 9:30, and 14:15. Run by the Swiss, this meant that at 7:30 the motor was started and the boat was on its way. Not to worry if you missed it though, the house reef was also spectacular and thriving with life.

The staff were wonderful, and everyone seemed to remember our names. Welcoming us and wishing us well as we left.

Appetizers and small plates along with deserts were at a self-serve station. There were two cooking areas and usually we would place our order and the waitstaff would bring our selections out to our table. Coffee and tea with soft drinks were included whereas alcohol and mocktails as well as cappuccinos or expressos were at an extra charge.

There were always 2-3 selections and a lot of vegetarian options. Everything was beautifully presented with the fruits cut into little shapes such as birds and hearts. The desserts were on small plates and while we tried to limit ourselves to one, it proved to be impossible most nights. They had a homemade sorbet which was fantastic. Do try the mango flavor.

On our birthdays the restaurant made us a cake and all the staff came out to sing Happy Birthday to us. A nice touch.

Many of the friendly staff went above and beyond taking time to get to know us. We shared many funny stories together and this really made it feel like we were visiting friends. Opan, who was often the first to greet us, made all the coconut leaf decorations for the restaurant. He was a real talented artist. Adhi, who seemed to be the maître-d, also did the rounds checking for sea snakes that may come ashore looking for fresh water. He showed us pictures of himself holding these (very poisonous) creatures as he gave them a drink and sent them on their way back to the sea!

Wakatobi dive center

In the Long House there was a dive shop, boutique and presentation room. There were some informative and interesting presentations put on by the local guides on the creatures and their habitats. Check the weekly schedule that is left in the room for the details.

The boutique had all kinds of cool Wakatobi souvenirs, and we could not pass up the opportunity of getting a couple of shirts to remind us of our wonderful experience here.

The dive shop was well organized and seemed quite well equipped. Aside from borrowing some snorkeling fins on the last day, we didn’t need much else as we brought all our own (freshly serviced) gear with us. Being so remote, doing service before is recommended. One diver on our boat had a regulator issue. This is both inconvenient as well as potentially dangerous.

There was also a camera room where we had a reserved spot, but we mostly opted to take our camera to our room to upload the pictures. The dedicated camera room was kept dry with dehumidification and had air guns to dry out cameras. A nice touch for the photo enthusiasts.

Jetty bar

At the end of the jetty there was a bar which was the perfect spot to watch sunsets. We met our dive guide there on our last night to celebrate a wonderful week of diving. Most nights we were too tired and just barely got through doing our dive logs after dinner before falling asleep. Partly the diving, and the fresh air, and perhaps the time change.

The diving

For the diving, we were split into a group of divers with a guide and assigned to a boat, the Wakatobi IX. While you can rent out a private boat and pay for a private guide the standard practice is to have 4 divers with a guide that are put together based on their experience level and interests (gleaned from the pre-arrival questionnaire).

They do 3 dives a day and the dive schedule is written up on a white board at the dive center. Most days they come back between dives but occasionally the two morning dives, when further from the resort, are done in one trip. You can also do unlimited guided or unguided shore dives on the house reef which was also spectacular.

The staff takes care of all the dive gear, if you want them too. You can even sign a waiver to let them analyze your nitrox tanks for you. They will rinse all the gear at the end of the day and take it off the boat. But if you prefer to do it yourself there are rinse bins dedicated for that.

The next day if you’ve not put an x on the board to indicate you’re not diving, they bring it on board and set it up for you. But do check that all is set up the way you like and that you have everything you need before the boat leaves.

The dive boats are roomy and custom-built. There is ample staff to watch over the dive groups and to help with gear or with getting back on board. Hot and cold drinks are provided along with snacks between dives.

Before the dive, you suit up and they bring the tank over and help you into it. After the dive, you can rid yourself of the BC in the water if you like or just climb aboard using the sturdy wooden ladder. Once on board, they bring you a nice eucalyptus-soaked hot towel to wipe your face and a nice fluffy towel to dry off. I could get used to this!

Unfortunately for us, we had gotten paired up with an overzealous photographer who managed to kick me in the head a couple of times and seemed intent on pushing me out of the way to get their photos with either a poor sense of their surroundings or a blatant disregard for any courtesy. The pushing and shoving and quick aggressive approach also scared away many of the timid creatures.

The dive guide tried to instill some sense of one-by-one turn taking but, in the end, they split us off into a separate group with a private local guide (Ali) on a different boat, the Wakatobi III which worked out well for the remainder of our dives.

In retrospect, a private guide would have been a good investment and to save some of the frustration. Of course, this can just be the luck of the draw.

Diving Wakatobi’s pristine reefs

All dives were limited to 70 minutes assuming the group had ample air. Being good on air, we had a few that went a little longer as we lingered on the reef with our private guide. Just about all the dives started off as wall dives where we followed the near vertical wall down to 70-80 feet and then slowly ascended along pinnacles or just along the wall.

We generally ended the dive up in the shallows where we could do an extended safety stop while exploring the top part of the reef. When the sun hit these top-of-the-reef spots, they were simply spectacular. So many colorful soft and hard corals full of fish as far as you could see in every direction. We had never seen such healthy reefs anywhere else.

Some dives took us to sandy areas where we’d see crocodilefish, stonefish and leaf scorpions among others.

We also saw some interesting shrimp-gobies and dart fish in these sandy patches.

Along the wall we had asked our guide to help us spot little shrimps and crabs. He was just amazing and found us hairy squat lobsters, orangutan crabs, porcelain crabs, bubble coral shrimps, popcorn shrimps, and even whip coral shrimps.

In the sea fans he also helped us spot pigmy seahorses so small that even when he pointed them out, we could hardly see them.

There was also a plethora of nudibranchs.

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I think we saw just about every variety of anemonefish and some of the anemones were enormous, many feet wide and just full of life.

We often saw huge hawksbill turtles. Aside from a couple of huge groupers we didn’t see anything else that was very big. All the same, the diving was filled with many “Wow!” moments, and we love the small macro stuff.

We also enjoyed seeing new fish species and some familiar ones with a different color pattern.

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We did a total of 16 dives with our first check-out dive on arrival followed by 5 days of 3 dives each. The last day we dried out the gear and did some snorkeling on the house reef. We usually take a break in between but there was really not much else to do at the resort (except perhaps sunbathe or do the spa) and the diving was really good and hard to pass up!

For us it was a perfect amount of time and after 5 days we could also say that the diving, while great, was perhaps getting quite similar across sites. We had seen 30 or more bubble coral shrimp and had plenty of pictures. We appreciated drying out and giving our ears a rest before what would be a long flight home.

The return

The day of the return was well planned out. Like all good things even this adventure had to come to an end. Luggage was collected at 6:30 and checkout was at 8:30. They had two tip bins that were shared equally, One for dive staff and one for non-dive staff. We tipped generously out of appreciation for the outstanding service we had received.

Unlike many places that spit out the guests and turn their sights on to the new arrivals, Wakatobi took care of us right up to our transfer hotel in Bali. The hotel made us a meal for the plane (they said it was better, and it sure was!). They provided drinks at the airport as well as extending the resort wi-fi into the airport terminal. A nice touch. The porters and the drivers were all from the resort and even our dive guide (Ali) came to the terminal with us and gave us a hug goodbye (and said he’d be waiting for us to return).

Overall impressions

We were very happy to celebrate our birthdays at the Wakatobi Dive Resort. It’s hard to imagine such a luxurious resort in the remote islands of Indonesia, seemingly in the middle of nowhere. A five-star resort next to some of the most pristine reefs we have ever seen.

The reefs were extremely healthy, and the diving was spectacular. We saw a couple of bleached anemones, but these were few and far between.

Julia, a resident marine biologist, told us that this was due to the four oceans that intersected here and how it would be extremely rare for all four to be hot at once, so the temperature was quite stable.

She was deploying reef monitoring devices to listen to the reef’s health which started a conversation about how our DRYFOB waterproof container was being used to monitor deep reefs. We exchanged contact info and have followed up since.

One thing that non-divers might miss is the lack of top-side activities aside from visiting the small village (which we didn’t do) and some local birding. Also good to know is that there is no pool (unless you’re staying in the 2-bedroom villa). Not sure we would have used it anyway, but this is something we have usually found at all other dive resorts we’ve been too. Also notably absent are any medical facilities or any nearby decompression chamber.

It was far, and it took us over 2 full days of travel to get there, so this alone may be the thing holding us back from doing it again soon. That said, was it worth it? I’d say yes indeed, it was a wonderful experience not to be missed. Perhaps over time, the memories of the diving and the friendly staff will outweigh the memories of the long travel time and we may indeed find ourselves back at Wakatobi.