Are you among the people who love international travel and have missed taking vacations to some of the planet’s most exciting locations for scuba diving? The coronavirus pandemic created challenges for dive travelers as well as the destinations and resorts they love to visit. This has certainly been the case for Wakatobi Dive Resort in southeastern Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The owners of Wakatobi Resort and the Pelagian liveaboard have some exciting news to share. Now that Indonesia has ended quarantines for all arrivals from overseas, the resort is reopening on June 3rd and will be accessible via Wakatobi’s private guest flight from the domestic terminal at Bali’s international airport. Indonesia has also announced that it is once again issuing visas-on-arrival to travelers from dozens of countries.

“Wakatobi is back,” says Karen Stearns, director of marketing and media relations. “The resort officially opens June 3rd, but the staff is there and ready now.”

To ensure that all amenities and operations of the resort are ready for guests, the resort’s team will conduct a “rehearsal” in May.

“We are excited to once again welcome guests from around the world,” says resort founder Lorenz Mäder. “Wakatobi has always felt like a family, and that family includes all of our friends from around the world who come to share the magic of our island and our reefs.”

The Resort’s Response to the Pandemic

While the resort has not welcomed guests over the last two years, the resort’s management team created a plan to weather the pandemic. They supported the local community and continued their forward-thinking conservation efforts. Stearns says that it has been a challenging two years for the entire Wakatobi “family,” but they were able to maintain the resort’s commitment to the local community and its conservation mission.

“The priority of Wakatobi these past two years has been its staff and the local community,” says Stearns. Lorenz Mäder remained on the island the entire time and several staff stayed on. “The goal was to take care of local people and to take care of the reefs. Wakatobi continued to support the staff, many of whom have worked at the resort for many years.”

The management team helped get staff and local people vaccinated against COVID-19, updated facilities, accommodations, and the dive boats, and widened and improved the jetty and upgraded the airstrip under the supervision of a certified runway engineer. Additionally, they continued to fund patrols of the reefs, kept community social programs going and made lease payments to local villages to ensure no-take agreements remained in place.

“The reefs are healthier than ever,” Stearns says. “The house reef is a spectacular site and that’s a rare thing when you look at what’s happening in other parts of the world.”

The Conservation Mission and Vision

Indonesia’s Southeast Sulawesi — where Wakatobi Dive Resort is located — is within the Coral Triangle and the Wakatobi National Marine Park is one of the world’s largest marine protected areas. In 2012, the park was designated as an UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve, recognized as one of the most biodiverse marine ecosystems in the world.

Mäder had a vision for Wakatobi long before most dive resorts in the world recognized the importance of protecting their most important asset, the local coral reefs. Mäder developed a plan to ensure Wakatobi would both protect the surrounding marine environment and provide sustainable economic benefits and educational opportunities to local villagers.

He negotiated an agreement designating a 3.7-mile section of the reefs as a no-fishing zone, in exchange for lease payments made directly to local villages. This was the beginning of the Collaborative Reef Conservation Program, which was formed in 1998 and has since been expanded to cover over 12 miles of coral reef.

Today, those efforts have paid off. The award-winning Wakatobi Dive Resort Collaborative Reef Conservation program has become a model for how a sustainable, eco-conscious resort can succeed.

The resort’s “backyard” ranks among the world’s finest diving and snorkeling destinations with more than 900 fish species and 750 coral species found in its waters. Whether you are diving from shore, one of the custom-built boats, or aboard the luxury liveaboard Pelagian, divers and snorkelers have exclusive access to pristine reefs, atolls and bays that teem with the region’s marine life. Divers and snorkelers can explore the resort’s celebrated House Reef that is brimming beautiful coral reef and amazing creatures, while dive boats whisk divers and snorkelers to over 40s spectacular sites.

The Resort: A World Apart

The secluded property includes 29 private bungalows set in a beachfront coconut grove, along with two one-bedroom oceanfront villas, and two two-bedroom oceanfront villas with pools. The traditionally designed villas and bungalows are constructed from native materials and tucked into lushly landscaped grounds. Each offers verandas and decks for enjoying the sea breeze, spacious interiors and spa-style bathrooms. Guests enjoy five-star service and gourmet dining, along with many amenities such as an onsite spa, which offers Balinese and hot stone massages.

All accommodations are within easy walking distance of the resort’s central facilities, which include an open-air dining pavilion with ocean views, and the central longhouse, which has a lounge area, multimedia facilities, a boutique and the dive center.

The resort also provides beach activities and additional watersports, and land-based experiences such as Indonesian culture and cooking classes, nature walks and tours of local villages.

The Dive Center: Unparalleled Service

The resort’s dive center is equipped to handle nitrox and rebreather divers, and those seeking scuba instruction, from intro to advanced four-day courses. The dive center amenities are perfect for underwater photographers, who have access to a climate-controlled camera room and spacious workstations. A fleet of custom, 70-foot dive boats make daily departures to more than 40 sites within the resort’s private marine preserve.

The resort also has two custom-built private dive boats that offer guests a mini liveaboard experience complete with a flexible diving and snorkeling itinerary. When guests choose this option, they can enjoy meals prepared and served onboard and can even opt to dine al fresco on the boat’s top deck. It’s hard to beat an evening spent on a private boat’s top deck where you can kick back and gaze at the spectacular spectacle the Milky Way puts on.

But the marquee attraction here is the diving itself. A few favorites: The Zoo, a small bay close to the resort featuring a plethora of creatures, beautiful hard and soft corals, and a large, 20m expanse of beautiful rose coral; Blade, a series of jaw-dropping coral-encrusted pinnacles; Teluk Maya, a shallow and colorful coral garden that slopes down to an exploration-worthy wall; Roma, a pinnacle that’s home to schooling barracuda and swirling shoals of tropical fish; and Magnifica, a stunning drop-off featuring rare black corals. And divers and snorkelers are known to explore the House Reef for days.

The Pelagian Liveaboard: Adventure and Luxury

For those seeking adventure that’s farther afield, Wakatobi’s luxury dive liveaboard Pelagian transports guests to remote corners of the Tukang Besi archipelago. Even better, your resort stay can be combined with a Pelagian charter.

Pelagian has several routes it can take depending on conditions, but dives are typically conducted around three of the four main islands in the Tukang Besi group of islands, as well as Buton, a satellite island off the Sulawesi mainland. The muck-diving in Buton’s Pasar Wajo Bayis where guests can find tiny frogfish, blue-ring octopuses and pygmy seahorses. In season, Pelagian’s signature dive at Magic Pier offers guests an incredible opportunity to witness the mating of mandarinfish.

Pelagian provides thoughtful amenities delivered by an attentive crew. It takes a maximum of 10 guests, with dives conducted from a pair of custom-made, 18-foot rigid-hull inflatable dive tenders, equipped with double 50HP four-stroke outboard engines, tank racks and secure stainless-steel ladders.

Pelagian offers guests a floating boutique-style hotel experience. The five designer cabins are spacious, with full ensuite shower rooms. The “Superlux” cabins have queen beds, while the Master Suite stateroom has a king-size bed and separate sitting area.

The immense sun deck is a lovely place to enjoy the ocean views, read a book or nap. The salon is the social hub of the yacht. This is where chef-prepared dinners, hot and cold beverages, fresh-baked cookies, and post-dive snacks are served.

Pelagian’s dedicated climate-controlled camera room is a light-filled workshop that has ample space for underwater photographers to work and recharge equipment.

Act Now!

Contact the Wakatobi team as soon as possible to secure a booking or schedule a date for a postponed booking. Time slots in 2023 are already filling up.

The Wakatobi team is ready to welcome guests. Discover why there is no other place like Wakatobi, one of the last untouched spots on Earth.

Contact: Email: [email protected]

Inquire: here

Customer Service: wakatobi.com/customer-service