1. CRITTER CENTRAL This Lembeh Strait site has divers grinning at the sheer abundance of hairy, giant and yellow frogfish, octopuses hiding in coconut shells, and seahorses promenading over the sand. (Blacksanddive.com)

2. BANGKA Lies just Minahasan beyond Lembeh Strait and harbors several excellent muck-diving sites, plus some spectacular craggy pinnacles in the gin-clear visibility of its colder waters. (Murexdive.com)

3. MANADO CITY While most travelers pass over Manado en route to destinations around it, those interested in local culture will find fish and vegetable markets that are the hub of the city’s social interaction, plus an impressive Chinese temple.

4. BATU KAPAL Unlike Lembeh’s shallow, black-sand dive sites, Batu Kapal — at the northern tip of Lembeh Island — is a deep plateau with a sharp drop-off, where divers can see another rare creature: the graceful, distinctively long-tailed thresher shark. (Nad-lembeh.com)

5. SANGIHE ARCHIPELAGO Beyond Bangka lies the rarely explored sangihe archipelago, current-swept islands that harbor the dormant volcano at ruang, where the lava streams are still evident, and the mysterious Drowned Village at Sangihe Island, which was lost to the ocean in the 1963 earthquake. (Dive-the-world.com)

6. WATERFALL TOUR If you haven’t had enough of getting wet, visiting the Kali waterfall will provide you with a fun, if soggy, experience: A bridge arches below the waterfall to provide great viewing but also full exposure to the mist of spray boiling off this powerful force of nature.

7. BUNAKEN NATIONAL MARINE PARK Giant walls, huge sea fans and clear waters await divers at Bunaken, North Sulawesi’s other major diving area, and with a completely different topography to Lembeh and Bangka. Dive sites here take several days to properly explore. (Eco-divers.com)

8. VOLCANO TREKKING Trekking here in the Ring of Fire, there are two volcano treks nearby. Mahawu features a lake in its crater, while Lokon still belches steam and the stench of sulphur. Both afford beautiful views over the surrounding countryside.

9. MINAHASA HIGHLANDS If you want to beat the heat, head up into the cool environs of the Minahasa highlands, only 15 miles from Manado. There’s a wealth of cultural and natural attractions to explore, from traditional wooden-house buildings (which can be completely disassembled in a matter of minutes) to the famous color-changing lake.

10. TANGKOKO NATURE RESERVE Not many people get the chance to come face to face — or eye to eye — with a tarsier, one of the the world’s smallest primates. A hike into Tangkoko offers the chance to spot them, as well as the black-crested macaque.

Discover more about scuba diving in this vast island nation by visiting the Indonesia section of our website.