Route Description - North Sulawesi - Togians (Bitung - Luwuk)
For those familiar with the team, this cruise offers a sense of returning home, as it takes place in a region they know intimately—having begun operations there in the early 2000s. Departing from Bitung, the "Central Sulawesi" route explores the east coast of Sulawesi and the Togian Islands.
DAY 1
Transfer to the boat in air conditioned vehicles (transfer takes around 1hour 20 minutes) which is moored in Bitung Check in - Meet the crew - Welcome briefing - Assign cabins Departure during the night for Ratotok.
DAY 2
Diving along the East coast of North and Central Sulawesi: Ratatotok will be our check dive, on a gentle slope with nice corals and lot of critters. Dive will follow at Tanjung Flesko (North Point, Pinacle) with more action around this rock packed with fishes. Napoleon wrasses, schools of surgeons fishes and baracudas, enormous murenas. The 3rd dive is a beautiful slope with many critters in the bay of Flesko, where we will do a night dive and spend the night.
DAYS 3-4
Going West, we will dive along the coast in Bolsel area, a recently discovered zone that looks very promising. 6 dives (Kuwait, Soputa, Bares, Sakau, Matilda, Silver tower)
DAY 5
Gorontalo area. Fantastic walls with overhangs, crevasses, beautiful soft corals and the famous "Dali" sponge (so called because of it's intricate swirling surface pattern). Also possibility to see whale sharks. we'l do three dives + a night dive there before to navigate to Togian islands during the night Dives: Whale sharks, Olele Wall, Sweling steps
DAYS 6-7
Togian, Una-Una island. We will stay 2 days around this vocanic island (last eruption was in 1984 and the traces are clearly visible) where the dive sites look like boosted by the volcanic ashes. The dive site of Apollo is home for probably what is the biggest school of barracudas in Indonesia, tunas, napoleon wrasse, and lot of other fishes. Other dive sites have also very rich fish life; sponges of all shapes around Una-Una are enormous. Dives (Apolo, fishomania, turtle point, una-una mooring, menara satu, katupat peer)
DAY 8
Togian islands, Kadidiri area. 2 dives in Kadidiri including the sea mount of "Batu Gila" (crazy stone), where fish life is impressive, including generally grey reef sharks and eventually hammerhead sharks. We will then pass a narrow strait between the islands to reach the site of B24 plane wreck.
DAY 9-10-11
Pulau Dua area. The diving take places on rocky ridges and pinacles or big boulders on sandy bottom. Colorfull soft corals, black corals, sea fans cover the rocky substrat; the fish life is exremely wealthy; While some reef dive sites are very fishy, some others are more for critters and macrophotography. Dives in Pulau Dua: Solan Reef, Ali baba, entre deux mers, Tompotika house reef, Batu gong, reef tengah, Solan reef)
DAY 11
Breakfast on board - Check out Transport to Luwuk airport: assistance for check-in.