If you have been yearning for an exciting and unusual destination for your next dive holiday, your first choice should be Manado, a beautiful city on the northern tip of Sulawesi, the orchid-shaped island previously known as, "Celebes". It Is south of the Philippines and sits astride the equator. Manado, the accessible travel destination, offers many unique and unmatched sea and land attractions. Especially fascinating are the dive sites with endless variety of dive scenarios.

You can dive from the flat reefs to dramatic drop-offs, experience drift or current dives as well as wreck and night dives. Awaiting you on the surface is the fascinating 'Land of The Minahasas'. This is where you'll meet the delightful light-skinned Minahasa people with their quick smiles and keen interest in visitors. Unsurpassed are the islands of the Bunaken National Marine Park. Each island is surrounded a white sandy beach with the breathtaking beauty of colorful shallow coral reef and magnificent deeper coral gardens. The water is usually calm and visibility often exceeds 30 m (I00 ft). The water temperature remains about 30oC (84oF) all year round. Excellent diving conditions can be found any time of the year, disturbed only by the occasional Monsoon squall.

In this case the diving activities will be on the opposite coast, the Lembeh island. Coral reef formation begin with a flat reef to about 3 m deep, then it either slope down forming underwater valleys, or drops off vertically hundreds of meters. This forms fantastic "underwater great walls”, cut with many crevices, clefts, large caves and hanging masses of coral. On these unique coral reefs, a tremendous collection of marine life thrives: Red and orange encrusting sponges. Christmas-tree worms, basket and tube sponges, soft and hard cords of all colors, sea-fan, anemones guarded by clown fish while the larger pelagic species cruise in the distance. Often seen are giant napoleon wrasse, angelfish, turtles, eagle rays, sharks, barracudas and dolphins. In short, over 3000 species of marine animals found here including the "infamous" pygmy seahorse - not larger than the size of your finger nail! Rated by Rodale's Scuba Diving Magazine as No. 1 Wall Dive In The World - Jan/Feb 2001