TRAVEL continued
well-known scuba diving destinations with two in the north and one in the southeast. Flying into Manado, divers can quickly visit the nearby Bunaken National Marine Park
islands (Wangi-wangi “WA”, Kaledupa “KA”, Tomia “TO” and Binongko “BI”). This area is part of a UNESCO Marine Biosphere Reserve that features wall dives, pinnacles,
(made up of five islands) that is known for its high concentration of sea turtles, pelagic fish, giant clams, and variety of corals and macro marine life. Across the northern tip of Sulawesi on the eastern side is an area known for its “muck diving” and exotic creatures along the Lembeh Strait. This is a narrow stretch
and a wide range of macro life to large ma- rine creatures in areas of active currents. There are also many dive destinations on the major island of Sumatra, such as Pulau Weh at the most western part of Indonesia in the Indian Ocean, plus Bangka and Be- litung Islands with Malaysia to the north. The Eastern Region: West of Papua New
of water between Sulawesi and the island of Lembeh which is renowned for its macro photography subjects like hairy frogfish, flamboyant cuttlefish, nudibranchs, mimic octopus, and more. To the north of Sulawesi are the volcanic Sangihe Islands, which reaches almost to the Philippines. While off-gassing, divers can tour the nearby Tangkoko Batuangus Nature Reserve, where you can find 79 mammals, 103 birds, and 29 reptile and amphibian species endemic to the island. This includes the smallest primate in the world – the spectral tarsier, which weighs less than a half-pound. Other rare animals include the crested macaque and the Su- lawesi bear cuscus. If you fly into the southern capital of Makassar (aka Ujung Pandang), you can reach another national marine park, Wakatobi, named as an acronym of its four main
Guinea and above western Australia are several thousand small islands in an archipelago featuring pristine reefs that hold over 1,600 species of fish and 550 species of coral. Most of these islands are hard to access other than liveaboards or long boat rides from developed resort areas. The first of these areas has become a hotbed for divers wanting untouched and diverse reefs and is now called Raja Ampat (formerly known as Irian Jaya, or Western New Guinea). This area contains around 1,500 small islands with fringing coral reefs around all of them with marine life to match. Raja Ampat means “four kings” in relation to its four main islands of Misool, Salawati, Batanta, and Waigeo. It has been considered the “Crown Jewel” of Indonesia’s biodiversity with the highest concentration in the world in- cluding over 1,200 species of reef fishes (many endemic) in
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