INDONESIA’S LARGEST, most-northerly city and capital of the province of North Sulawesi is a food haven, geographically located on a long promontory, backed by a number of active volcanoes, while facing the open sea. Visitors have marvelled at the perfectly cone-shaped mountain of Manado Tua, which, together with the islands of Bunaken, Mantehage, Siladen and Nain form the Bunaken-Manado Tua National Park on the west coast. To the east, closer to Lembeh, Tangkoko National Park is habitat to the world’s smallest monkeys, the tarsiers.
Yet, everyone knows it is also home to world-class diving, from the coast off Manado to Bunaken National Park or Bangka Island, to the Lembeh Strait, which offers muck diving at its finest. We take a closer look at one of the world’s best diving regions…