Bau-Bau, Buton
There are a number of great dive sites which can easily be reached from Bau-Bau town, on Buton Island. There are some great Bau-Bau dive sites for macro stuff as well as sites where you can see the big stuff, like reef sharks, rays and turtles etc.
Nirwana Beach & WameoThis area is great for macro stuff and
underwater photography. We regularly see frog fish,
scorpion fish, turtles, sea horses, ghost pipe fish, moray eels, and
occasionally reef sharks.
This area is also great for night dives which give an amazing
opportunity to
see octopus, lobsters, coral crabs, and the night time coral flowers.
Dives starting at Pantai Nirwana, Bau-Bau, area are
generally
shore dives, and there are a number of unique sites to explore. The
sandy slope
makes for easy entry to the water and we often carry out our dive
training projects here.
Siompu Island
This is the area to dive if you
want to see the big stuff. We have yet to dive in this area and not see
it teeming with reef sharks.
Although the coral here can no longer be described as pristine, it is
still pretty spectacular and the reef is
teaming with fish, which in turn brings the bigger fish. We regularly
see black-tipped and white-tipped reef sharks in large
numbers, turtles, dog
toothed tuna fish, napoleon fish, bumpheads, barracuda, eagle rays and more.
Dives around Siompu are boat
dives, and we travel by speed boat which can accommodate up to 15
divers. It
takes approximately 1 hour to reach this area from Bau-Bau, and once
here there
are a number of great dive sites to choose from. Dive sites we often visit include; a ridge, a pinnacle, and a wall dotted with small caves where sharks like to hide.
We also stop for lunch
on the small uninhabited white sand Tongali beach, where there are caves to explore, shady patches to sleep in, and rocks to jump off.
