Mid August 2025 I stayed for a weektime at Sali Bay Resort located in the Bacan Strait, southwest of Halmahera.

My dates overlapped with another WP member diving from a liveaboard (who might jump in), we exchanged impressions of nearby dive sites almost in real time and got only subtle differences between resort-based and boat-based diving in the same region.

Alike almost all of Indonesia this year, the weather in northern Indonesia was unsteady, with grey clouds and intermittent rain squalls. Surface conditions were exceptionally calm—some days felt like on a frozen lake or ice-skating rink. Despite the flat seas, the overcast skies muted underwater light and the absence of current on most of the dives reduced overall visibility (from 10m to 25m when the current was exceptionally present).

I hired a private guide but except when a group came in, all the divers (majoritarily a european experienced crowd from Germany, Netherlands,or Italy) used the same big and comfortable boat. Up to 4 dives a day could be planned on demand.

The spots we dived alternated Lembeh style black sand dives (to my surprize) and lush coral reefs sloping down to a sandy bottom. Most sites featured abundant hard corals, though broken sections were visible in places (storm or human cause?). Incredibly large and healthy coral fields contrasted with areas of rubble, suggesting a reef in partial recovery. Soft corals were not that abundant although could be very spectacular on some specific sites in teh current.

I encountered zillions of small reef fish—anthias, damselfish, and purple queens—but virtually no medium-sized schooling species. Blacktip sharks appeared on almost every dive over reef slopes.

Problem is that the resort dive boat avoided even mild currents, despite divers’ experience levels. On one occasion we skipped a site enjoyed by snorkeling families (with kids!) because our guide assessed the flow could be too strong. Which resulted too often on boring dives where I surfaced with 80–100 bar remaining after more than an hour underwater because I prefered to stay in the shallows with the clouds of reef fish rather than finning over semi deserted hard corals. I even found myself switching to video (for the first times in my life!) for a quick and dirty try.

Exceptionally, the guides were probably not expecting it, a manageable current picked up at the house reef near Proco Bamboo Resort and litterally transformed the dive. Within fifteen minutes, corals unfurled their polyps, colors intensified, and fish activity spiked. That single drift dive was the trip’s standout.

Macro was OK, one of the black sand spots hosted lots of Halimeda GPF and two wonderpus, although not as much abundance of other critters than Lembeh or Tulamben.

I had hard times to have my guide confirming beforehand what was the specifity of the site we would be diving, in order to select the kind of lens I would kit my camera with (macro or wide angle). Except for some obvious sites, (black sand for Macro or Proco housereef for Wide ) Often the answer was "whatever you prefer" which in my mind didn't sound really promising in terms of critters to be spotted or for the expected reefscape.

Overall this area of SW Hamahera felt like a hybrid of several Indonesian spots:

• A touch of Raja Ampat’s reef structure but with fewer fish

• Alor’s terrain but with reduced visibility and less colors

• Komodo’s drift potential without its vivid coloration and no fish schools

• Lembeh’s black‐sand sites yet lacking a dense critter populations

Overall biodiversity was respectable but not as spectacular as the Indonesian marquee destinations. It really lacked the currents and the fish action.

On the other hand, swiss italian owned Sali Bay Resort excelled in every non-dive aspect:

• Spacious, air-conditioned bungalows with open air bathroom and a large terrace only 5m away from the sea

• A dedicated camera room at the jetty for gear setup

• A lively housereef with walking sharks on night dives

• Fresh, varied meals (foccacia to die for) and friendly, super efficient staff

The only downside was the divestaff’s reluctance to tackle currents—even when conditions were well within diver capabilities- and quite iffy Nitrox analyzers (after a the initialization readings for ambiant air randomly in between 17% and 26%, I simply set my computer to a minimal 28% )

Unsurprisingly, our return direct flight from Manado to Bali on Lion Air was abruptly canceled. They rebooked us on an earlier flight going through Makassar that departed four hours before our scheduled landing in Manado, despite a single-PNR booking from Labuha (the airport on Bacan) to Bali on Lion Group airlines. Did that raise an eyebrow on their side, I guess not even.

Resolving the routing via WhatsApp took my wife seven frustrating hours. So boohs to LionAir as usual.

Conclusion

Halmahera is quite a long way and tedious to get to due to unmatching flight connexions (Wings air flight Manado-Labuha flies only once/day departing early afternoon, hence not allowing a same day connexion from Singapore ).

Sali Bay Resort delivers top-notch accommodations, service, and easy access to calm, (too) friendly dives. However, the conservative current management and modest marine life—particularly the absence of schooling and intermediate fish—may leave thrill-seeking divers wanting. In this respect Halmahera didn't live up the hype it is currently getting.

I’m torn on a return visit: the resort operation earns full marks, but I’d hope for more energetic drift profiles and richer fish action next time if there is one.

Here are some shots from the reefs : all wide angle shots taken with Canon R7 / RFS 18-45 / WWL1B

Some muck or night dives shot with Canon R7 / RF100+MFO1 or EFS60 : including Halimeda GhostPipeFish and Epaulette Walking shark

And now just for fun my first videos spent on Halmahera/Sali Besar reef shallows.

(Videographers and mods don't shoot me : how do you embed a video in a post?).

Edited Monday at 09:21 PM5 days by Luko
Video removed

Hi Luko

We stayed for 10 nights at SaliBay last year.
Like you I can say Sali Bay Resort : Service very good
Underwater hummm ok but ... a lot of but.. We had a lot of garbage... you didn't mentionned that... good for you.

On our side we had some dives with current... and one with a very veryy strong current who appared more or less instantanly. The guide managed the situation well and after that we stopped the dive (we was not as far from the end) The current was to strong to have fun, and was descending After this experience I understand why the guide are carrefull in case of current.

The visibility was bad, no very bad in the afternoon.

I wrote a report (in french) here CR : Voyage plongée au Sulawesi du Nord et Halmahera du 24/05 au 16/06/2024 - Compte-rendus de voyages - Plongeur.com - Le site de la plongée sous marine

Like you i'm not sure to go back again I've meet Lisa in september 2024 in Germany and in January 2025 in Paris during diving show. She said the weather was rainy (bad ?) during 2024.
You had not so good condition underwater why go back in this condition. ? Thanks for the confirmation that our experience was not as rare.

Halmahera is for me over rated.

Thank you for your report and some nice photos

Excellent pictures Luko, you've captured the essence of Halmahera! We were passing on liveaboard mid July this year and can confirm everything and above from your report as for that place. The only thing I'd add are the humphead parrotfishes, this one from Pokal island next to Sali Bay.

Other than that you were spot on with diving and weather conditions. Mostly grey above water and vis so so there. But no wonder - you were staying in middle of river!

Imagine the sheer volume of water passing through the strait with unpredictable tide schedule combined with the effect of islands blocking that straight and you easily change your opinion on guides not letting you go when they deemed currents too strong :-)

It's not as much about the divers skills but rather about the unpredictability and sheer strength of these currents. On one dive in there a current hit us so strong it almost ripped my A1 rig out of my hands. I bet your R7 setup is not smaller :-) Can't really take pictures in that :-)

On another dive our group was split in half with one part making a circle finishing where we started - all the while in big current - and the other half ended a quarter mile down the road... Funny for us but not so much for the dive operations :-)

For me Halmahera trip (we started Lembeh, moved across and also explored islands near Halmahera, was terrific. The corrals were so rich I found myself taking one picture after another just to look at the previews on my monitor! I honestly think the best way to enjoy Halmahera for non-photographers is to have like 15K lumen floodlight and enjoy the colours this way :-)

True, shoal fish can be seen only at middle of the Molucca sea at Gureda island - Pula Tifore

but we've also encountered sardines at that Pokal place

I think the hype - if there is any - is that it is so remote and so new for many people. And also perhaps fun in some currents situation. And I think it is well deserved due to combination of colours and variability of marine life - I will skip my macro life pictures as I do not want to hijack this excellent report thread :-)

38 minutes ago, RomiK said:

The only thing I'd add are the humphead parrotfishes, this one from Pokal island next to Sali Bay.

I saw the group an afternoon I was alone with a guide visibilty was bad, and current was there. But good moment

41 minutes ago, RomiK said:

It's not as much about the divers skills but rather about the unpredictability and sheer strength of these currents.

Exact.. I had "some problems" with my R5... was not easy.

Other point if you are lucky....very very lucky you can see blue whale

I saw video form 2023 and also one from 2025.

We wasn't lucky enough in 2024 ;)

For those wanting to show some more pictures from Halmahera / Sali Bay
Sali Bay 2024 | Flickr underwater and over Halmahera 2024 Aérien | Flickr

5 hours ago, CaolIla said:

For those wanting to show some more pictures from Halmahera / Sali Bay
Sali Bay 2024 | Flickr underwater and over Halmahera 2024 Aérien | Flickr

Yep, from the marine life composition through corrals - we did dive the same location! 😄 Nice pictures!