Information about liveaboard diving itinerary in the North Sulawesi islands

Diving the North Sulawesi islands will delight the macro lovers as well as the ones seeking for the unexplored and unspoiled. The liveaboard boats will bring you from Bunaken to Lembeh straight, passing by the Bangka and Sanghie islands; you will meet friendly people who live a happy life on remote islands, you will have thousands of acres just for you, and you will dive in warm water, with long visibility, and thousands, thousands of life.

The boat, MV Liburan and MV Serenade offers liveaboard diving trips from 5 to 14 days.

North Sulawesi liveaboards are leaving either from Manado, either from Bitung, in front of Lembeh island. The airport transportation is included, and we can arrange one or more nights in Manado town, or in a nearby dive resorts before and after the cruise. For more details and availabilities, feel free to ask us.

Here are below videos and maps describing dive sites and the area you will explore during your North Sulawesi liveaboards diving trip.

Best dive time : year round

How to get there ? International flights from Kula Lumpur or Singapore to Manado airport; domestic flight from Denpasar (Bali) or (Jakarta).

Water temperature : 27 to 31 degrees

Required level: beginner to experienced.

Bunaken islands :when the trips begin from Manado, Bunaken are the first dive sites you will visit, as it is straight in front of Manado harbour. 890 KM2 of marine park established in 1991, composing 5 islands : Bunaken, Manado Tua, Siladen, Nain, and Nain Kecil.  Around 20,000.00 people live on Bunaken, but don't expect a resort destination, oh no. It's all about nature and friendly people.

Pulau Bangka and Gangga islands: don't mix Pulau Bangka with Bangka, which is close to Sumatra. Pulau Bangka and Gangga are located in the north of the northern tip of Sulawesi island, and on the road to Sanghie islands. Liveaboards diving with short duration will pass by these 2 islands, as they are close to the coast.

Sanghie islands: it needs at least a 7 days Liveaboard to reach the Sanghie. Sangir bessar is the biggest island of this lovely archipelago. It has an active volcano, the mount Awu, culminating at 1829 m. Although Sangir Bessar has an airport, all these islands are a real remote place. Inhabitants are leaving on their own, with the same way of living as their ancestral's. They hardly speak the common Indonesian language, which makes difficult to interact with the population. During the liveaboard diving trip, you will beach and visit some of the most unspoiled places in the planet. Large mammals such as whales and orcas are sometime seen in these waters.

Lembeh straight: on the last days of the cruise or on the first day, depending if the liveaboard begins from Manado or from Bitung, you will do the famous muck dives in the lembeh straight. A muck dive is indeed, diving above the mucky bottom, where rare and endemic species are living.