Wakatobi - has anyone been recently

Having read the disappointing review of KBR, I am a little concerned with our plans to go to Wakatobi which we are about to put down a deposit for. I will be going with a small group including a non diver and children. From all the discussion threads, I have come to the conclusion that the diving is fantastic, somewhat regimental dive guides. Has anyone been recently and can comment on what the living conditions and food are like?

Similar to KBR, it is not a cheap holiday by any means, and I am a little worried of similar disappointing experience.

Jing

I was there this August. The accommodations are excellent, large bungalows, comfortable beds, working ac and internet connection in the room. The food is exceptional, the best I've had at a dive resort. The only issue for non-diver and children is that it's very isolated. The only other thing to do is hang out at the beach and read.

Having read the disappointing review of KBR, I am a little concerned with our plans to go to Wakatobi which we are about to put down a deposit for. I will be going with a small group including a non diver and children. From all the discussion threads, I have come to the conclusion that the diving is fantastic, somewhat regimental dive guides. Has anyone been recently and can comment on what the living conditions and food are like? Similar to KBR, it is not a cheap holiday by any means, and I am a little worried of similar disappointing experience.

I was there, again, in September of this year and while I do believe the food was not as good as it has been in the past, there is no comparison between it and KBR. Wakatobi, in my opinion, has it all over KBR. The dive guides are a bit more enviromentaly concious than you will see in most other parts of Indonesia, but I don't believe that translates to regimental. To me it just means I won't be seeing someone with a stick digging a hole in the reef so some photog can get their shot.

The bungalow accomodations are superb, but the longhouse is not a place I would prefer, so be aware of the difference. The eats are very nice and a highlight of the food are the baked goods.

All in all you should not fear getting KBR service, food and accomodations at Wakatobi. It is a different level of resort entirely, though it is all about diving and little else. Pick your time of the year carefully, Wakatobi has some periods where those of you who don't dive might not like being stuck indoors because of the weather.

I was there at the end of October. It was fantastic. Wakatobi far exceeded my expectations. I think it was because I hadn't kept up with the happenings and improvements.

1) Great Diving

2) Awesome food, I mean really awesome.

3) Awesome dive guide

4) Large comfy dive boats

5) Very nice bungalows with A/C, often not necessary

6) Great camera room

It was our favorite dive trip ever. Lembeh was the previous best. Although Lembeh was superior for wild critters, overall the Wakatobi experience was the finest.

The other great part of the trip was spending several days in Bali. We did tour around North Sulawesi, but definitely doesn't compare to Bali.

I haven't posted any photos, but here's a link to the temporary gallery which includes many resort shots:

Wakitobi/Bali gallery

thanks for the posts! Very reassuring!Getting excited and looking forward to it, even though it's still months away!

You won't be disappointed!!

maybe not quite the right question to ask in this forum, but as I am going with a family with young children who do not dive, is the snorkelling near the resort good, easy to access and safe (no speedboats zooming around)?

maybe not quite the right question to ask in this forum, but as I am going with a family with young children who do not dive, is the snorkelling near the resort good, easy to access and safe (no speedboats zooming around)?

The snorkeling in front of the bungalows is fantastic with shallow sea grass beds and quite a few anemones with spine cheek and clarks anemone fish, and patchy rocks with nice populations of smaller fish all in about 3 feet of water. The boats are fairly conscious of snorkellers/divers in the sea grass, but it would never hurt to have them swim about with a safety sausage for better visibility. The tides make the snorkeling periods limited, but during the high slack tide there's still a couple hours of some nice calm water.

I used to manage the resort and had a great time with kids and Families, though it was very rare the resort had kids there. I would take the kids on many of the day boat dives which you should also do. There will be great snorkelling on most of the boat dives as well and the boat crew will look after you well. Ask the guide about he days dive plan, most of the days you will all be able to go along and enjoy it together.

If you are very keen snorkellers and interested in seeing some unique marine life as well, ask one of the dive guides to guide you snorkelling on the house reef. This is where they should be able to show you many great critters, most of the best critters I saw from Wakatobi where in this area, and in only 1-3m of water on the reef top on the house reef!

Go enjoy!