Wakatobi Dive Resort
My time last year at Wakatobi's resort was amazing. The resort made me fill out a questionaire prior to my arrival, ranging from size of tanks I would like, to food preference, to what kind of diving I enjoyed and even the pace that I like to dive at. Once at the resort they had then split up divers into groups based on preference, catered to each individuals dive profiles. The resort was also extremely helpful with arriving in Bali, having already set up a driver for me for the few days we were staying in Bali before flying out to Wakatobi. I also got to bypass the customs line coming in to Indonesia because they had already made arrangements, which saved me at least an hour of waiting. Upon arriving, every person I talked to already knew my name, and was extremely welcoming. The atmosphere itself was quite laid back, as if everyone was already friends with one another. Another instance of showing how laid back the place was, when I first arrived they told the guests that while you could wear shoes, it was more likely we would be walking around barefoot. This is because in front of every room is a small water pool that you would step in to easily wash off the sand off your feet. And looking back, I don't think I saw one person wearing shoes while on the island. The food was also outstanding; I think I would go back simply to have more of their wahoo sashimi.
Now for the diving! The sites were fantastic, the hardest part of each dive was trying to figure out if I wanted to shoot macro or wide angle. The pristine coral life is jaw dropping, but once you start looking closer you will see that there is in fact growth on growth on growth. While the whole reef scenes are astounding, I think the macro stuff is where this resort really shines. They have so many endemic species here, and there's so much of it, that it will blow your mind. You could do an hour long dive and move 10 ft and not have seen everything there. And while I'm sure I missed seeing many things, the dive guides did a fantastic job finding stuff. I don't know how they do it. The only thing I wish I could have done, was spend more time on the house reef. I did one dive there, and wished I had spent more time. The problem is that you are diving at all these other great locations constantly, so I didn't give myself any down time to explore more of the reef right in front of the resort. I guess this just gives me a reason to go back again :)
