Where is Fukui?

Only a 20-minute boat ride away from our resort in Manado, you can find Fukui on the south-western side of Bunaken island. Can you spot it?

Refer to this great illustration by Machiko Kagii to familiarize yourself with the site:

Starting the dive

Descending from the boat, you first arrive above the mooring blocks at a shallow, sandy flat. This can be a great place for some macro photography and you can see nudibranchs scouring the bottom.

Coral variety

Swimming towards the slope’s edge, you move eastward to descend to a depth of about 15 meters, encountering staghorn coral as well as an impressive collection of cabbage corals. You’re surrounded by large schools of spade fishes, black snappers, goat fish and batfish. Sometimes turtles move in the area as well.

Following the slope at depth, you come to (in my opinion) the highlight of the dive: a small group of giant clams. And I do mean GIANT clams. Please keep your arms inside the ride at all times, as well as your SPG or any other equipment!

Enormous barrel sponges emerge from the bottom like alien factory smoke stacks, and carpet anemones are furiously defended by clown fish with attitude.

Coming back around

If you keep your eyes on the blue, a white- or blacktip reef shark can be seen knifing through the water, as well as the occasional school of blackfin barracuda.

Completing the loop of the dive, you return to sandy flats where your safety stop practically takes care of itself, and this is a perfect opportunity to inspect the small artificial reef here. Garden eels poke their heads through the sand to keep an eye out for predators, quickly retreating back into the sand as our boat’s shadow floats over the bottom before it’s time to go back up.

Fukui is a spectacular dive site with a wide range of life to see, and a perfect place for divers of any skill level to practice!

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