The adventure begins before the wheels even hit the runway. Flying into Manado, at the northern tip of Sulawesi, the clouds roll back to reveal turquoise coastal reefs, white sands, and palm trees – a preview of what’s to come, rolling through the plane window like a picture of paradise.

 

Located right in the heart of the Coral Triangle, the coastal town of Manado sits at the epicenter of marine exploration in the Celebes Sea. Sulawesi itself is shaped a bit like an octopus, with four enormous peninsulas spiraling outwards like tentacles toward the ocean. In every direction, adventure beckons.

 

The drive from the airport brings the kind of downpour that only the tropics can conjure up; drops of rain hammer on the roof of the car, while motorcyclists, ‘bendy’ horsecarts, and peddling food stalls—the ubiquitous kaki lima of Indonesia’s street food scene—take shelter under tunnels and trees. Upon arrival at Murex Manado, the rain stops and the sun reappears. The welcome at the resort is just as warm.

 

Settling into the cozy accommodation for a good night’s sleep, the head swims with endless possibilities. Geckos croak their nightly chorus and ocean waves sing a gentle lullaby outside, whispering dreams of dives to come.

 

Days 1-2: Creatures Great and Small in Bunaken

 

After a delicious early morning buffet breakfast, followed by a safety briefing from the team of dive guides at Murex Manado, our boat (called Angelica) is loaded with tanks of air and nitrox, camera rigs, BCDs, and biscuits. Now, with Bunaken beckoning, it’s time for the main course.

 

Bunaken Marine Park is a marine metropolis, home to more than 8,000 hectares of coral reefs, rolling vistas of seagrass beds, and vast mangrove forests. These habitats support 70% of all the known fish species of the Indo-Western Pacific, making Bunaken one of the most biodiverse and beautiful dive destinations anywhere on the planet.  

 

Angelica cruises into the park over glassy waters, warm sun reflecting off the sea like a mirror. Our boat is actually named after Murex’s current owner, Angelique Batuna, whose father was instrumental in securing Marine Park status for Bunaken back in 1991. Today, it’s clear to see why he was so determined to protect this natural treasure, and why the Murex family remains committed to its preservation.

 

Read more: Top 5 Marine Animals in Bunaken

After an equipment check and safety briefing with our dive guides, we spill over Angelica’s starboard side and descend the coral slopes. A submarine pathway opens up into a series of towering walls and pulpits, where green turtles are taking a break from migration to scratch their barnacles on hard corals. 

 

In every direction, there’s life. Red tooth triggerfish and fusiliers flash between the cracks and crevices, where bubble shrimp and orangutan crabs scuttle silently between the polyps. A tiny blue and yellow nudibranch (Chromodoris annae) trundles over the coral like a disco slinky. Putting this mini menagerie into perspective, an enormous hawksbill turtle cruises overhead, splitting a school of purple butterfly fish in its wake. 

 

Several dives and countless critters later, we climb aboard the Angelica and head for home, sharing stories of what we have seen. I meet a couple from Idaho called Bob & Janis, who saw a coconut octopus, a blue spotted stingray, a crocodile fish, and a pair of frogfish. “The diving here has exceeded all our expectations,” says Janis. “I don’t have enough room in my dive log to write everything down!” 

 

Read more | You can read about Bob and Janis’ own adventure with Murex here.

Days 3-4: Exploring an Underwater Eden in Bangka

 

A short boat ride from Murex Manado, the tropical island of Bangka appears on the horizon. Rippling green hills tumble gently down to the shore. White sands, fringed with palm trees. The sweet smell of frangipani, mixed with coconut husks burning on a beach barbeque. Even the soft tropical rain can’t put a dampener on this scene—Bangka is simply beautiful.

 

The first dive is with a local guide called Tommy. Diving straight off the beach, he shows me round the Murex Bangka house reef; a pristine collar of soft corals that hugs the coastline like a necklace. In just half an hour of exploration, Tommy points out a pygmy seahorse, a painted rock lobster, porcelain anemone crabs, painted frogfish, a tiger mantis shrimp, and a blue spotted stingray.

 

After lunch in the resort’s newly refurbished restaurant, Tommy and I head out again, this time to inspect the coral crates and nurseries that Murex have been working on as part of a coral regeneration project in partnership with Ocean Gardener. Here, we find nature bouncing back in spectacular abundance—the kaleidoscopic colors of a peacock mantis shrimp, harlequin sweet lips and a blue velvet sea slug, a black giant frogfish, a pygmy cuttlefish and, best of all, an ethereal ghost nudibranch (melibe colemani); perfectly camouflaged against the corals, it flutters like lace in the undulating currents. 

 

Read more | Meet one of the Murex Resorts team of dive guides, in this blog

My favorite dive site from the whole trip has to be Sahaung—located just 5 minutes from Bangka, this awe-inspiring coastal mount features a mix of walls, soft corals, and pinnacles. The water is pin sharp, and there are no strong currents. Diving here feels like watching Blue Planet in 4K. Absolutely spectacular. At Sahaung, we see soldier fish, blue stripe yellow snapper, fusilier fish, tiger mantis shrimp, porcupine fish, yellow box fish, orangutan crabs, and sexy shrimp. There’s nudis everywhere too—Chromodoris lochi, Chromodoris annae, Nembrota kubaryana, and Coloria indica, to name just a few. 

 

We see so many critters that, after a while, I stop looking for animals and just gaze in wonder at the world around them—bubble and cup corals in all the colors of the rainbow; the feather-like frills of melithaea sea fans, jostling with umbellulifera, sinularia, mycedium, acropora, and micranthus; this underwater Eden is like a garden in full bloom. 

 

Leaving Bangka feels like waking from a dream. But there are more adventures to be had. The next stop on this trip is a chance to tick off an item from the lifetime bucket list: Lembeh.

Day 5-6: Muck Diving and Miniatures in Lembeh 

 

The Lembeh Strait is the perfect complement to Bangka and Bunaken. Here, soft corals and wall dives are replaced by black sands and sprawling substrates that shelter an infinite variety of tiny treasures. The unique, sheltered conditions of the Strait make it a haven for biodiversity, and that’s why many visitors call it the Critter Capital of the World. For muck divers, it really doesn’t get any better than this.

 

Right from the very first dive, Lembeh lives up to its reputation. There are flat worms and fingered dragonets, phantom velvet nudibranchs and porcelain crabs, along with mimic octopus, hairy frogfish, thorny seahorses, flamboyant cuttlefish, and harlequin shrimps; a world in miniature, where every dive is packed with encounters.

 

Lembeh Resort provides an idyllic end to an incredible stay in paradise. Nestled in a forested cove on the island of Lembeh, the resort features luxury accommodation with balconies overlooking the strait, a brand-new dive center and a Backscatter-Authorized Photo Center. If the diving wasn’t so spectacular, it would be tempting just to while away the hours in bliss at the resort. 

 

From Bunaken to Bangka, and from Manado to Lembeh, the journey has revealed three unique destinations in one incredible trip; with a combination of wall dives, soft corals, muck diving, and ocean pinnacles, it’s the very best that North Sulawesi has to offer.

 

Back in Manado, the wheels of the plane lift off the runway, and those rippling coastlines roll past the window one last time. Now, each of those tiny islets has its own stories to tell. New memories made. New friends left behind. 

 

The adventure is ending, but the magic of Murex never fades.

 

This travel blog was written during a week-long stay with Murex and Lembeh Resorts on the Passport to Paradise program, which combines Bunaken, Bangka, and the Lembeh Strait. To learn more about each location, and to book your own adventure with Murex, click here.