Pelagics at Wakatobi?

My fiance and I are heading off to Sulawesi in June to do some topside in Torajaland and then to dive at

Wakatobi. Of course I have heard that the house reef is phenomenal, but has anyone ever seen any

pelagics or even reef sharks there? I have heard that pelagics are a very rare occurence there.

It's pretty much true. Sharks are pretty much gone, you get a few SPAG groups of grouper and snappers at the right time of month.

It's definitely a macro/coral scenery place. I personally wouldn't go there again. There are a few spots with nice pelagics but not within earshot of the resort. Pretty much fished out. For pelagics, head to Komodo or Raja Empat.

We saw one shark. Not a real pelagic moment. They occasionally get a sighting of a manta.

We saw a few more sharks on the Pelagian.

This is not a Pelagic destination.

Agreed, not a pelagic destination. I saw one blacktip, but I was already at 35m and it was still 10m or so below me.

There are a few baby blacktips on the beach in the morning though.

Yes but as others said not many and not the place to go if that's what you are looking for.

Thanks for the feedback. I do appreciate it!

Although I have not been, I think not. A friend of mine did a trip on the Pelagian around the wider area and said he saw nothing bigger than a grouper for 10 days. Although he said the reefs were beautiful.

Alex

A friend of mine did a trip on the Pelagian around the wider area and said he saw nothing bigger than a grouper for 10 days.

Well to be fair, there is a secret place where schools of GT, Nappy Wrasse and other jacks and 'cuda hang, and it's a great area for diving. Almost as good as the pelagic dives at Tatawa Kechil or Batu Bolong in Komodo. But it's too far from the resort anyhow and the Pelagian doesn't know about it.

However, for serious biomass in Indonesian waters, South East Misool is about as good as it gets.

I was at Wakatobi in December and in over 40 dives saw one black tip and one spotted eagle ray. Beautiful reefs with lots of color and the house reef is great. Fantastic resort - great staff, good food, nice accommodations, plenty of diving and lots of cold beer at the end of the jetty for sunsets!

I was there in January. Awesome place but not for big stuff.

I do appreciate the feedback!

Pelagics or not, the reservations have been made for June...so we

are Wakatobi bound regardless! Macro, muck, and color excites me so

I am sure I will enjoy the experience.

...... I'll start with positive facts:

- it is a stunning place to visit (but there are plenty others globally)

- the resort is lovely (and there are plenty of others also - which are a lot better)

- staff are true pros who love what they do and take true pride in what they are doing and where they are doing it... almost unique in fact - though one or two were downright weird.....

BUT......

we were invited, in 2005, to produce their 2006 promo vid.... upon arrival we were obviously asked where we were from etc....

"What's Thailand got that's worth diving for?" came the replies from most of the staff there....

and in CERTAIN respects they could be right (although we had our very own resident Rhinopii on our local dive site last season!)

I won't state exactly what animals in our vid were taken from the harddrive but suffice to say that most of the guides were stunned to find how much of their presentation was being played out by a non-residential wakatobi (or even Indonesian) cast....

Strangest thing about Wakatobi that I found was a situation whereby all the staff and guests seemed to be suffering from a syndrome best described in the Emporer's Robe story by Hans Anderson - click here for full story - simply put, if you don't agree with us, then you're not in our gang...... maybe it was cos people had spent so much money, time and effort getting there that they didn't want to admit that SOME of the dives were purely mediocre....

I still didn't answer your question yet, sorry - nope, not a biggy in site..... biggest we got was the frogfish.....

hope you have a great time there and please, if you've found a dive to have been "just alright" then say it! At least as a paying guest, they will be forced to respect your words....

at the end of the day, the stunning areas are drop-dead gorgeous.........

would i go back? only if they pay me, again.....

Chris

Wow Chris... I guess you're not getting hired by Lorenz again .

I think with Wakatobi's aggressive marketing and deals plus dive travel agencies owning a stake in the resort, I think many of the guests usually have their first visit to Indonesia at Wakatobi. I feel it's fair that they think that the area is beautiful if they are impressed by it, even though, in my opinion, there are definitely better dive areas in Indonesia. Some people just like the resort and staff and it's not all about the diving. That's also why it's good to have a variety of opinions on what is good diving. If everyone thought the same thing, it'd be a pretty boring world... peaceful but boring

[edit: Since Chris edited his post, I should do mine too]

Not to keep an old post from dying, but Drew is correct, it's not just about the diving. I've been to Thailand. I've been to Wakatobi. I prefer Wakatobi.

...... I'll start with positive facts:

 

- it is a stunning place to visit (but there are plenty others globally)

- the resort is lovely (and there are plenty of others also - which are a lot better)

- staff are true pros who love what they do and take true pride in what they are doing and where they are doing it... almost unique in fact - though one or two were downright weird.....

 

BUT......

 

we were invited, in 2005, to produce their 2006 promo vid.... upon arrival we were obviously asked where we were from etc....

 

"What's Thailand got that's worth diving for?" came the replies from most of the staff there....

 

and in CERTAIN respects they could be right (although we had our very own resident Rhinopii on our local dive site last season!)

 

I won't state exactly what animals in our vid were taken from the harddrive but suffice to say that most of the guides were stunned to find how much of their presentation was being played out by a non-residential wakatobi (or even Indonesian) cast....

 

Strangest thing about Wakatobi that I found was a situation whereby all the staff and guests seemed to be suffering from a syndrome best described in the Emporer's Robe story by Hans Anderson - click here for full story - simply put, if you don't agree with us, then you're not in our gang...... maybe it was cos people had spent so much money, time and effort getting there that they didn't want to admit that SOME of the dives were purely mediocre....

 

I still didn't answer your question yet, sorry - nope, not a biggy in site..... biggest we got was the frogfish.....

 

hope you have a great time there and please, if you've found a dive to have been "just alright" then say it! At least as a paying guest, they will be forced to respect your words....

 

at the end of the day, the stunning areas are drop-dead gorgeous.........

 

would i go back? only if they pay me, again.....

 

Chris

OK, let me re-phrase the question:

Has anyone seen any PELAGIC FROGFISH at Wakatobi recently?

I went to Wakatobi last spring and had a great time. It was my first Indo experience and I was impressed with the health of the reefs and the biodiversity. I enjoy the critter hunt with my macro lens so I was not disappointed. However, the wide angle reefscapes are also impressive - I have never used my fisheye on so many dives in one trip. Most of the dives are walls and I'm used to enjoying the wall and then looking out in the blue and seeing assorted pelagics. At Wakatobi I saw none. On one dive some of our group saw a blacktip but I was a bit behind and didn't see it. This was disappointing for me. I also much prefer the liveaboard dive schedule. When I go on a dive vacation I want to dive - as many times as I can. I didn't really like the schedule at Wakatobi as it's not conducive to getting in a lot of dives. Some people like to do 1-2 dives per day and lay on the beach. I want to do 5 - just my preference.

The staff were extremely attentive to all requests and the food was tasty. Some DM's were very good at critter hunting and some just swam in circles waiting for us to burn our tanks. I will say they are pretty conservative on their dive rules but I guess I can understand this given their remote location and the consequences of getting hurt. I'm really glad I went but wouldn't pay to go back - too many other places I want to go.

My $0.02. Hope you enjoy your trip.