Any WAKATOBI positives???

OK, I'll be at Wakatobi in less than two months with my fiancee who has never dived Indo waters before. I figured Wakatobi would be a good jumping-off point for her Indo experience, being a novice diver.

I have been reading mucho negative feedback regarding Wakatobi recently....and honestly, I am getting worried. Fortunately, we will be spending some top-side time in Ubud and in the highlands of Sulawesi with the Toraja.

Can anybody lift my dwindling enthusiasm with some positives about Wakatobi? (At this point, even if you have to exaggerate I'll be satisfied eg, the desserts are pretty good, etc...)

Thanks...

No need to exaggerate, we had a pretty good time at Wakatobi. I do agree with some of the posters in other threads that their methods are a little forceful, and that some dive masters dont mix well, and even that some dive masters there were just plain rude. But there are also some really nice people there, and if you try to follow their rules, and show interest, it'll work out fine.

I have a tripreport online but it's a few years old.

Cor

I don't have to exaggerate - I had a fabulous time at Wakatobi this past November. Now, I was with a large group the leader of which has been bringing people there for 10 years, so maybe we got a little extra leeway since we took over most of the resort. The accommodations are very nice, the food is very good, and I thought the diving was some of the best I've ever done. The reefs are in really good shape (I think, although not much in the way of pelagics) and while not as "critterlicious" (is that even a word?) as some places like Lembeh or PNG, over the course of 8 days I saw lots of cool stuff. The house reef would be a 5 star dive at many many other places.

The place can accommodate a lot of divers, so of course there have to be some rules, none of which seemed unreasonable - they were such a non-issue that I don't recall anything specific. I mean, c'mon - bottom time was a "recommended" 70 minutes. Where else have you heard that? I will concede to one of the recent commentators that the briefings are a little over done, but oh well.

I didn't have any problems with any of the dive masters, socialized with several at dinner and at the jetty bar for cocktails at night and they were passionate about diving, well-traveled and interested in insuring the guests had a great time.

With Ubud, Toraja and Wakatobi, you're going to have an awesome, awesome trip. Feel free to PM me if you want more info.

What Phil said.

I've been twice and would go back in a heartbeat.

Great diving, wonderful food and acomodations.

Don't believe everything you read on the internet. Different people have different views on things.

Don't worry, you will have a great time.

OK, I'll be at Wakatobi in less than two months with my fiancee who has never dived Indo waters before. I figured Wakatobi would be a good jumping-off point for her Indo experience, being a novice diver.

I have been reading mucho negative feedback regarding Wakatobi recently....and honestly, I am getting worried. Fortunately, we will be spending some top-side time in Ubud and in the highlands of Sulawesi with the Toraja.

Can anybody lift my dwindling enthusiasm with some positives about Wakatobi? (At this point, even if you have to exaggerate I'll be satisfied eg, the desserts are pretty good, etc...)

 

Thanks...

Haven't been to Wakatobi so can't comment, although I know people who loved it - Anyway Toraja and Bali are wonderful places (these I've been to )

Any positives?

Yeah, I'm positive you will have a great time.

A friend of mine went there about a year ago and as soon as she came back, she organized a group trip for her friends. I trust her judgment implicitly and I have no qualms at all about our upcoming trip in Sept. As for 70 minute limit on dives, the Nimrod in the GBR had that limit on static dives. Drift dives were 50. But even with a 5mm, I would get cold before the 70 minutes were up so honestly, I see no problem with that limit.

As Jim said, we were there with him, the food is great, the boats excellent the diving superb, and the rules and briefings no more intense than many other swiss/german run dive outfits, they just seem to be that way.

And dive time limits of around 70 mins and they are even flexible about that, half mine were >70mins no problem.

Tim Digger

I was there last Christmas, and it was (by far) my favorite dive trip. In fact, I booked our return trip for this July. I thought that all aspects of the resort were excellent. I have not seen the comments that you must be alluding to that were negative, but our experience was excellent. The divemasters that we had were very good and helpful, and excellent critter spotters. I had three divemasters during our stay, and they were all good. Some of the comments in this thread imply that there were some people who had trouble with their divemasters; we did not experience any problems, and I did not hear any complaints from the other guests that I talked with. The boats were comfortable, as were the cottages. Some of the reviews state that the food was great. I sort of disagree with that. The food was good, but not great. The diving, that was great. The overall experience was also great.

I just came back from Wakatobi and there is some truth to comment about divemasters being too "restrictive". Many people in our group felt that some of the rules were too confining, like limiting the dive to 70 min and "staying as a group". I personally ran into "trouble" one time for diving for 74 mins because I overextended my safety stop and got entertained by watching what was going on below. One could say that they take their rules too seriously. I do give them credit though, for any rule that promotes the conservation of their surrounding reefs. Considering the breath-taking reefs that surround Wakatobi, I find this a minor annoyance, and I would go back to Wakatobi again.

Other positives:

- Excellent arrival logistics. A rep greets you in the Bali airport, does the visa for you and lets you skip the immigration line. In the parking lot you are greeted by cell phone from the office and reminded of the departure time to Wakatobi. Once you drop your luggage in the Bali airport, it arrives to your room at Wakatobi.

- The day of departure from Bali to Wakatobi, you are lead to the VIP room at the airport. They have breakfast, massage and lounge.

- Food is good to excellent. Desserts were the best. Examples were lychee mouse, peach mouse, cappucino mouse, apple strudel, home-made ice cream ... must be the Swiss heritage.

- Acommodations are excellent. The bungalows are furnished with Indonesian wood furniture and European style bathroom fittings. The bathrooms feel like a bathroom of five-star club.

- The camera room is great for setting up your equipment close to the docks. 110v power strips and daily towels are available.

- Taxi service for shore dives. They can take you on a skiff to any location on the house reef.

- Divemasters are good at finding creatures sp. pygmy seahorses

I'll be writing a trip report soon.

Eddy.

Since I am one who made a strong negative statement, I would like to list some qualifications. First my main issues were with the staff, not the resort. In my generation lingo, I got a bad vibe from the place. The diving is very good, the reefs are healthy, altho as in many areas ther are no big/predator fish left. If you can accept a rigid, highly structured system and staff, you probably will enjoy the trip. We all may have different expectations, and I did. I got great pictures and so will you.

OK, so a question - what about dives on the house reef? We are going as a group of four, and we all really enjoy dawn dives. On the website, they say that shore dives are unlimited and "anytime" - is this reality? Will they force a DM upon us, and if so, will the DM proceed to herd us around? I am cool with the 70 min dive times as long as I can do multiple shore dives, but I am not too excited to be forced to dive in a pack every time I get in the water. (A loose pack? Very loose? Fine. But I really do not being lined up and trotted off by DMs - if this is the case, I may sacrifice my deposit.) I am actually looking forward to ditching the boat on occasion and diving right from shore.

Thanks a lot to everyone who's posted about this place - being prepared will certainly help.

We dove on the house reef by ourselves all the time.

Cor

Hi!

We've been there for a week at the begining of March, and loved it a lot. The 70 minutes divetimes were enough for me (in my logbook I see that we had divetimes ranging from 67-79 mins). Accomodation, food, logistics really great. Had no problem with the staff. Didn't expect pelagics (done some reading beforehand) but as a surprise I saw a tiny blacktip shark at the end of the week just before breakfast

This was my first indonesian divetrip, so no other experience...but I really loved what I saw. Took some nice pictures. My only "problem" was that because of the tight logistics, we could visit one site only once during the week. So no returning to fav spots, but I could cope with that.

Liked the place, would love another week or more there...have a nice time!

zook

Diving on the house reef is easy and on your schedule. When our group was there we had a few of us who'd roll out of bed at 5:30, amble over to the dive center, grab a tank and go. In the water by 6:15 and we'd be out and ready for breakfast and in time to make the first boat dive briefing at 8:30. Same with late afternoon/evening/night dives. Just had to grab a tank, put your name on the board and go. You'll have a great time!

OK, so a question - what about dives on the house reef? We are going as a group of four, and we all really enjoy dawn dives. On the website, they say that shore dives are unlimited and "anytime" - is this reality? Will they force a DM upon us, and if so, will the DM proceed to herd us around? I am cool with the 70 min dive times as long as I can do multiple shore dives, but I am not too excited to be forced to dive in a pack every time I get in the water. (A loose pack? Very loose? Fine. But I really do not being lined up and trotted off by DMs - if this is the case, I may sacrifice my deposit.) I am actually looking forward to ditching the boat on occasion and diving right from shore.

 

Thanks a lot to everyone who's posted about this place - being prepared will certainly help.

I dove the house reef a great deal while I was at the resort with a buddy/model only. No DM. An extremely attractive wall surrounding the resort with a shelf at 140ft +/- and the top at about 20ft. They have a water taxi which will take you to either end of the reef depending on tidal current. There are only a few times when they will recommend you do not dive as the currents can really rip, causing major up/downwellings. They have a tide chart posted at the dive gear station and a whiteboard to sign up for the taxi service. Make sure you spend some time near the pier. The jacks hunt in the area and make for some great pictures.

I believe if you explain to the divemasters ahead of time that you are taking pictures and do not want a pack up divers as a background, they will probably cut you some slack after checking out your buoyancy skills. They may ask you to carry a pony bottle setup if you are diving solo, which is a good idea.

They may ask you to carry a pony bottle setup if you are diving solo, which is a good idea.

I did a couple of solo dives the end of last year. They provided the pony setup. There may be a rental fee for it thou.

Do they supply the pony and do you have to be solo certified?

What the heck is "solo certified"? Please excuse my ignorance.

Steve

OK, I must admit I am feeling much LESS nervous now regarding our June trip to Wakatobi.

Thanks for all your feedback!!!

I'll still be looking out for that Frenchman DM