Liquid Art

Get off the beaten track and dive into Sulawesi’s lesser-known underwater paradises... 

- Imran Ahmed

You must have heard stories about diving in Manado, Indonesia, and if so, you will certainly have been inspired to dive there after seeing pictures of its exotic inhabitants and beautiful coral covered walls. Yes – it’s a beautiful place.

However, I recently had the opportunity to discover some of Sulawesi’s secret spots, dive sites that are off the beaten track. These are plentiful, and a lot of fun to explore. The local dive community keeps many of them closely guarded secrets, only whispering about these spots to a lucky few. Others take years to locate and some well-known dive sites are seriously underrated. All in all, it can be said with confidence that there are new wonders and untold stories to be discovered in Sulawesi.

Bolsel

My journey started with a seven-hour car ride from Sam Ratulangi Airport in Manado to a place called Bolsel in the South Bolaang Mongondow regency of North Sulawesi. The coast is lined with winding roads, snaking through the cliffs and greenery.

The diving is as exciting as the journey there. During our dives, we were greeted with beautiful hard coral structures, huge, beautiful gorgonian fans and macro that rivals the Lembeh Strait. The outstanding clarity of the water is close to being gin clear and the fish life is abundant. Being on the coast, most of the diving is just 30 metres from the side of the road. We dived Sakau Point and Silver Tower – rumored to be visited by hammerheads and thresher sharks during the early morning. We have yet to see them, but we will be back on our next exploration.

Gorontalo