Bastianos Bangka, Bangka and Gangga Islands

Bangka Island’s diving is very different from that at Bunaken or Lembeh and is known for its reefs and rocky pinnacles, strong currents, colourful soft corals and plentiful fish life. Like the rest of North Sulawesi, guests can expect a fantastic diversity of species and divers stand a chance of encountering everything from big Napoleon wrasse and huge schools of snapper, to minute pygmy seahorses and colourful leaf scorpionfish. There are plenty of interesting reef critters, and sites where you can spot blue-ringed octopus and mimic octopus. The seagrass beds around the islands are home to resident dugong and while encounters are never guaranteed, underwater encounters with these vanishingly rare animals happen every year.

Diving at Sahaung

Bangka’s signature site is at Sahaung where ridges of rock separated by a jumble of large boulders descend from the shore to a sand bottom. The dive starts by dropping down one side of the ridgeline to where the current hits the rock. This area is a fish magnet and the entire slope of boulders is covered in a huge school of blue-line snapper and anthias. On the other side of the ridge, the boulders and ridges are covered in spectacular red, orange and yellow soft corals and there are big sea fans and more schools of snapper and anthias. The whole site has plenty of reef fish with lots of small groupers, butterflyfish, surgeons, redtooth triggers, bannerfish and batfish. Sahaung’s other sites have large, isolated pinnacles on a sand and rubble floor, covered in fans, soft corals and large schools of baitfish and glassfish. Be aware – the best sites here can have strong currents and can be tricky, even for experienced divers, so always carry a surface marker buoy.