Wakatobi: A paradise for divers

Arief Suhardiman, The Jakarta Post, Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi | Sat, 04/24/2010 9:56 AM

“Wow... it’s beautiful,” said a passenger sitting beside me as he was watching a vast expanse of blue sea and green terrain from the plane window upon its landing at Matahora Airport, Wakatobi, Southeast Sulawesi.

Heaven underneath: A diver observes coral reefs at Waha, Wakatobi archipelago, Southeast Sulawesi.

Its gorgeous beach covered with white sand was clearly in sight, enhancing the magnificence of Wakatobi archipelago.

Passengers seated in the middle also tried to peek from nearby windows for a better view of the panorama outside. Nearly all those boarding the plane with a capacity of 30 people were amazed as it touched down at the airport located in Wanci, Wangi-wangi Island.

Wakatobi is an acronym of the names of major islands composing this island group: Wangi-wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia and Binongko. The other name is Tukang Besi as the islands’ population is famous for its blacksmiths, who used to supply the domestic and war equipment for the Buton kingdom.

As part of the Heart of the World Coral Triangle Center, Wakatobi is believed to have become a magnet for divers from all over the globe. Marine expert Jacques Cousteau even described Wakatobi as the finest diving site in the world.

Wakatobi has at least 100 diamond-class dive sites. Situated between Banda and Flores seas, the island group has the most beautiful coral ridges in the world’s coral triangle. The coral ridges found in Kaledupa are even the longest in the world, extending along 48 kilometers.

“Top dive sites are mostly located in Tomia,” said Jupri from the Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Ministry. “There we can see various species of fish and coral reefs,” he added. Jupri has worked in the Wakatobi National Park for three years now.

Ragged-finned firefish (Pterois antenatta)

Wakatobi’s varied and unique marine resources with its enchanting underwater panoramas make this archipelago a submarine paradise lying in the Heart of The World Coral Triangle Center, a zone with the highest diversity of coral reefs and other biota covering the Philippines, Indonesia and Solomon Islands.

The underwater biodiversity of Wakatobi is claimed to be higher than that of the Caribbean and Egypt, currently known as the world’s top diving centers. Around 90 percent of the globe’s 850 coral species or 750 species are found in Wakatobi. The Caribbean, famous for its marine tourism, only has 50 species and the Red Sea, Egypt, 300 species.

At last, my dreams of diving in Wakatobi waters came true, after skin diving in Raja Ampat, Papua, two years ago, and later in Tulamben, Bali and Bunaken, North Sulawesi.

At midday, with seven other divers, I began my first dive on Hoga Island. It took about 45 minutes to reach this island from Wang-wangi by speedboat. Hoga has been the center of Operation Wallacea — a series of biological and conservation management research programmes — activities since 1995. Several students, mostly from Britain, have been conducting research in the area of Wakatobi National Park.

On this site we were diving along a slope of between 60 and 70 degrees. We had 30-meter visibility thanks to the clear seawater. Coral reef density was not so high and the number of fish species not so large either.

However, we could still observe gorgonian fans about 2.5-meters wide on coral along with giant barrel sponges.

There were also leaf corals, presenting attractive formations at a depth of 12 meters. Small fish such as cardinal and damsel fish were swimming around them, while hundreds of yellowback fusiliers were moving in a group near the surface.

The 45-minute dive failed to satisfy my curiosity as I hadn’t yet encountered anything that matched my expectations. I really wished to relish truly amazing views, those of the underwater paradise.

By afternoon we returned to Wangi-wangi and then on to Waha to join other divers. It was cloudy with a rather strong current in Waha. With the urge to watch submarine splendor, we began our dive in front of Waha’s drop-off.

A few moments after descending, a fantastic sight appeared before us. An extensive stretch of stunning coral reefs aroused our admiration.

Painted rock lobster sits in coral

We let ourselves drift along while enjoying the wall diving. A group of purple and bright yellow fish were swimming along the coral wall, followed by some batfish and butterflyfish in a marching formation.

Before dark, I decided to dive 25 meters deep. At 10-meter visibility, I kept drifting right before the wall, directing my torch at the coral while trying to identify the various biota. I was staring at black and white snappers and moorish idol. But as the current grew stronger, I couldn’t stay much longer.

Time went by so fast and we wound up our dive. On the surface, we could hear the call to dusk prayer. The sky was getting dark, golden yellowish on the horizon.

“This is great” said a diver, with which his peer concurred. “We’ve got to come back here tomorrow,” I proposed.

We returned to Waha the next morning. It had been raining hard that morning, which worried me a little. But fortunately the rain soon subsided and it was bright again. I enjoyed every bit of this last dive. On this site, Wakatobi proved its reputation as one of best dive sites in the world besides Raja Ampat in Papua.

As soon as I peered down underwater, a splendid sight emerged right before my eyes, more gorgeous than any artist could ever paint.

Dazzling, fresh and varied coral reefs in bluish seawater were teeming with colorful small fish moving around amid the striking natural surroundings.

Round and oval corals with very elegant textures, were growing along with soft corals.

Diving 18 meters deep, I saw a painted rock lobster hiding in its nest resembling a small cave. Some 1.5 meters from the first lobster, a second could be found snug in its hole, as if watching me taking the pictures of the other while gesturing with its antennae.

Slowly, I went further to a depth of 25 meters. After a little while, I noticed some ragged-finned fire fish, locally called lepu, swimming upside down under coral, and pixy hawkfish hiding in sponge.

After admiring the biota, I tried to again descend to 35 meters deep, where I could see a yellow trumpet fish swimming peacefully near a pink sea fan. In a few moments I ascended slowly to get back to the near-surface biodiversity.

The 40-meter visibility and the wide variety of observable undersea biota made me wish I could extend my diving experience.

Sadly, time was limited even though there were many more dive sites to visit. But this may well prompt me to go there again some day.

There’s still much more to explore. Ben, a British student who had to go home after two weeks’ of surveying on Hoga Island with several peers agreed.

“I’ll be back in July,” said the marine biology student aboard the boat that would take him to the site for another dive in the paradise of Wakatobi.