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Diving in Sulawesi, Indonesia is an absolute treat. Still, many divers don’t know much about the area, what to see, or how to get around. Murex Resorts and Lembeh Resort decided to close that gap with their unique Passport to Paradise concept.
Three incredible diving areas, three beautiful resorts, and one amazing all-inclusive holiday for you – welcome to Passport to Paradise.
How to plan your Passport to Paradise diving trip
What is special about diving in North Sulawesi?
Diving in Sulawesi is not on many divers’ agenda yet, though it really should be. Unlike Komodo and Bali, it is wonderfully uncrowded, and unlike Raja Ampat or the Banda Sea, it is a lot easier to get to. Plus, diving in Sulawesi offers something for everybody: colorful unspoiled reefs, impressive pelagics, steep walls with countless turtles, and some of the best muck diving in the world.
There is no best time to dive in Sulawesi as there is great diving all year long. Sure, sometimes it gets windy, and you may need to find a different, more sheltered dive spot, but in general you can also find a great reason to dive in Sulawesi during the dry and wet seasons.
The biggest plus: you can combine some of the best diving areas in North Sulawesi on one trip thanks to Passport to Paradise.
Introducing Passport to Paradise
North Sulawesi is connected to the rest of the country quite well as it has its own international airport. That said, traveling from one coast to the other or from one island to the next can still be a challenge. Public transport is limited; there’s only one new highway, and the roads are steep and mountainous.
Getting from A to B, especially when carrying a lot of dive gear, reminded me a lot of diving in Malapascua. Bumpy drives, wonky boats (sorry, Philippines!), and a whole lot of time wasted in transit.
Murex Resorts and Lembeh Resort came up with a clever concept to forego all that stress: Passport to Paradise.
The advantages of Passport to Paradise
- 3 Incredible diving areas – Bunaken, Bangka & Lembeh – in one trip
- No time lost in long, cumbersome transfers
- No unpacking & repacking your wet dive gear – it travels with you in a crate!
- Meet the same faces and make friends at the 3 resorts
- Full flexibility for your dates and how long you want to stay/dive
- Non-divers are not only welcome, but each resort offers a myriad of things to do for them
A Passport to Paradise trip will take you to three different locations around North Sulawesi: Bunaken, Bangka, and Lembeh. In addition to your accommodation and dives, they will also organize all your transfers.
The unique detail: you’ll be transferred from Murex Manado to Murex Bangka, and from Murex Bangka to Lembeh Resort, by boat. On your way, you will do 2 dives and thus not lose any time of your holiday in transit. It is almost liveaboard diving, but you’ll sleep in your cozy resort room at night, not in a tiny cabin.
All your luggage either accompanies you on the boat or is taken by land if many people are transferring at the same time.
You may also be assigned one guide who will come with you, as most of them move back and forth between the three resorts. This is lovely, as guides will obviously remember your diving preferences and what you like to see underwater. And you may see the same guests moving from one resort to the next – it makes it so easy to make friends during your trip, even if you are a solo traveler like myself.
How the logistics are done, I do not know (it is a bit like magic), but another big plus: you can freely choose how long you want to stay where. There are no set arrival and departure days like so many other resorts, and of course liveaboards have.
Note: Transfers from one island to the next are weather-dependent. In my case, this meant we had to cancel our transfer from Bangka to Lembeh and go overland instead. While the sky was blue, the water was too choppy, so the team and the boat’s captain deemed it not safe enough to go all the way by boat. Instead, we added two more dives in Bangka and then took a very comfortable minivan transfer. Safety first!
Passport to Paradise: 3 resorts – 3 paradises
I recommend you do the full circuit when heading to North Sulawesi. Though I was skeptical about Bangka, I was glad the team convinced me to give it a go. All three islands offer something very different when it comes to diving, and the resorts are unique as well. Here is what to expect:
Murex Manado
Murex Manado is your starting point if you want to go diving in the Bunaken Marine Park. Conveniently located an hour away from Manado airport on the mainland, the resort reaches all of the best Bunaken dive sites with a short boat ride. Turtles galore and beautiful walls await, as well as some great macro in Manado Bay.
The resort has everything you may need: comfortable, beautiful rooms, amazing food, a great happy hour with views to match, and incredible staff.
Lembeh Resort
Lembeh is one of my favorite places in the world to go diving. I adore muck diving and there are wonderful healthy corals as well as excellent snorkeling in the area. Still, I say, even if you don’t know if muck diving is for you or not, give it a try!
Lembeh Resort is stunning and has only 20 rooms. The food is amazing, the staff incredible, and the dive center truly one of a kind. They also have a photo center that offers Backscatter equipment, the first in Asia. You can not only buy gear but also rent it, and in addition to regular PADI courses, they also offer various underwater photography and video workshops.
Murex Bangka
Whether you are coming from Lembeh or Manado, Bangka Island, Sulawesi, is the second stop for most doing the whole Passport to Paradise circuit. To be honest, I was a bit hesitant to add too many nights as I wasn’t sure what to expect.
However, Bangka is a true gem – both above and below the surface and a favorite for many visitors.
Bangka Island is in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, and the northernmost of the three islands. Murex Bangka is located on the south shore and resembles a chic Survivor camp with clear turquoise water and a sandy beach. At first, it might not look as fancy as Murex Manado or Lembeh Resort, but many divers love it for its barefoot luxury feel and rustic island charm.
They have three accommodation options: Standard Oceanfront Cottages, Deluxe Hillside Cottages, and Premium Oceanfront Cottages. I recommend you splurge on the latter as they are incredibly spacious, modern, and have a wonderful patio with ocean views and a large daybed. Of course, each room has AC, good wifi, hot showers, a drinking water dispenser, and even a little minibar, kettle, and coffee.
All meals are served at the buffet with food options for every taste, usually a mix of international and Indonesian dishes. I especially liked the dinner when different kinds of meats and veggies were cooked and served from bamboo poles. In addition to the buffet, they usually have a live cooking station.
Bangka Island diving is underrated, to say the least. Instead of big walls, you will find small walls covered with colorful soft corals and surrounded by a myriad of reef fish. Reefs are healthy, the visibility is good, and you will find pelagics as well as critters.
Apparently, dugongs roam the waters as well as dolphins if you get lucky. I wasn’t as lucky, but the ghost nudibranch we found during one of our afternoon dives more than made up for it.
Group sizes are kept to no more than four divers per guide, offering unsurpassed service. And you may already know some of your guides either from Lembeh or Murex Manado. All of them are experts in marine biology and underwater photography as part of the resorts’ philosophy.
The dive center offers plenty of space for everyone’s gear, rinse tanks, showers, and the all-important board with boat details and dive groups. Next to it, you will find the photography room where every diver and their camera gets a desk with a few charging points.
You can do three dives per day, with two morning dives. On the boat, you will get water, coffee, and of course some all-important snacks to keep you going until lunch when you return to the resort. There is also an afternoon dive as well as a night or bonfire/blackwater dive if you are keen for more.
That said, there is also a spa, a beach volleyball court, a small library, and of course, happy hour to keep you happy and occupied after your dives.
How much is a Passport to Paradise trip
The beauty of the Passport to Paradise concept is complete flexibility – you can dive how you want and when you want.
You can choose whether you want to dive the whole Passport to Paradise circuit from Bunaken to Bangka to Lembeh (or vice versa) or only visit two islands.
First, you get to decide how many nights you want to stay at each resort and what kind of room category you want/need. They have prices for double and single occupancy. However, you can mix and match your packages and even book for a one diver and a non-diver.
Usually packages include:
- Accommodation for a number of nights
- Set number of guided boat dives with air or nitrox
- Airport transfers
- All meals, snacks, drinking water, coffee and tea
- Passport to Paradise boat transfers with two dives each way
- Unlimited complimentary dives at the house reefs
Any additional dives, as well as night, blackwater dives, etc., are extra, as are private guides, equipment hire, courses, and land-based activities. And of course, alcoholic beverages, sodas, etc.
In Bunaken, you will also have to pay 160k IDR ($9) for the Bunaken Marine Park, a once-off fee.
How to get to North Sulawesi
Sulawesi is Indonesia’s fourth-biggest island after New Guinea, Borneo, and Sumatra. It is home to two large airports – Makassar in the south and Manado in the north. This is where you will arrive when diving in North Sulawesi.
These days, the airport has one daily flight from Singapore with Scoot, as well as many flights from all over Indonesia. Many of these flights are direct, but not non-stop, and usually touch-down in Makassar.
Chat to the team for your arrival and departure times – it takes about an hour to get from the airport to Murex Manado or to Lembeh Resort. I definitely recommend adding a buffer not only to meet your no-fly time after your trip, but also to adjust to airline schedule changes (hello, Lion Air!) or cancellations.
Indonesia is located on the Ring of Fire, so volcanic eruptions and airport closures are not that rare. Especially if you have an international flight to catch, better add a night or two.
What to pack when diving in North Sulawesi?
My standard packing list is basically everything I would take on a liveaboard and worked well in Sulawesi too.
In addition, I recommend taking solid shoes and long-sleeve hiking clothes if you plan to do a tour in the national park or the highlands. Bugspray is a must, as is reef-friendly sunscreen.
One of the best features when doing the Passport to Paradise trip: you don’t have to worry about carrying your wet dive gear and luggage from one place to the next. In fact, you simply pack your regular bags, and the staff will either take it to the boat or the car, depending on how luggage travels on any given day.
Since you are diving on your way from one island to the next, your gear is already with you. Alternatively, you can leave it in your assigned crate, and again, the team will take care of it for you.
Most divers do bring their own gear, and I would definitely recommend bringing your own exposure suit, mask, and open-heel fins with booties. I took my new Scubapro 3 mm, though I got a bit chilly during my third dive of the day. I was very grateful for my hood, and if you get cold easily, definitely take something a bit thicker or layers.
With that said: don’t overpack, and don’t worry about things like towels, as you will get some in your room, for the beach/pool, and on the boat at all resorts.
While the wifi is pretty good at all three resorts, I definitely recommend an Indonesia eSIM from Sim Local for transfers and excursions.
Use my code MIDNIGHTBLUE to get 5 % off and order your eSIM here
Keen to head to Sulawesi with Passport to Paradise?!
