The Best Night Diving in Wakatobi, Indonesia
John Muhilly/seapics.comIt's the little things off Wakatobi that make the diving incredible.
Indonesia
“My breath stopped — I kept looking for my dive buddy,” says Karen Stearns, a manager at Wakatobi Dive Resort. At the time, she was experiencing a night dive at the hot spot known as the Zoo, 10 minutes by boat from the resort. In that moment in April 2015, a decades-long hunt had ended: A flamboyant cuttlefish fluttered up to her mask for the first time, and she needed proof.
“You may see something like that only once in your lifetime,” says Stearns.
Night dives inside the Coral Triangle — the hotbed of marine-species diversity that includes Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and a handful of other island nations — can be so rewarding because nearly every inch of dive-site real estate is home to another oddball: a bobtail squid, mantis shrimp or bobbitt worm.
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And each is a first worth celebrating.
“Before I started diving at Wakatobi, we did the shark diving and the other big-animal stuff, and I wasn’t so fascinated with small things,” says Stearns. “But now, it’s so exhilarating — these things are so tiny and weird-looking that I’m hooked.”
That’s not to say Stearns has become immune to big.
If You Dive in the Daytime
The day dive topping Stearns’ must-do list is Roma, a coral-covered seamount on the north side of the resort’s island.
“Most dramatic is this turbinaria coral, as beautiful as it gets, and it’s as big as 10 of me,” she gushes. “It resembles a blooming rose — it’s just lovely.”
DIVE CONDITIONS: Water is warmest in November, reaching 85 degrees F. In August, temperatures cool to their lowest at 78 degrees F. Visibility doesn’t change much by season; instead, expect 100 feet or more on a good day, and 75 on a bad one.
INSIDER TIP: Check your contact or mask and eyeglass prescription before you travel. Contact-lens wearers should also pack extra pairs so as not to miss a moment on the macro scene. “You don’t want to nose up to a pygmy seahorse and not see it,” says Stearns, who has seen precisely that happen on several occasions.
FOR MORE INFO: wakatobi.com
