Indonesia Diving Liveaboards: Selayar Island Diving Liveaboard

Selayar Island Diving Liveaboard - South Sulawesi Travel Guides

Selayar Island and Taka Bonerate Atol

Selayar Island
The island of Selayar lies off cape Bira on the southwest tip of Sulawesi. The long island has been slated for tourism development and offers some good exploratory diving both around the island and the cape.

Selayar Island
A mountain range runs along the eastern side of the island rising to 600 meters and dropping to over 2,500 meters below the surface. This makes for some awesome wall diving in great visibility. There is a stunning 3 kilometer long house reef consisting of pristine coral slopes and walls where drift diving can be done. Marine life is astounding with huge shoals of fish and bigger visitors including hammerhead sharks and blacktops.

It is difficult to divide the sea around Selayar into single dive sites as the whole coast can be considered as one huge dive site. The reefs that surround the east side of Selayar are mostly steep walls that are full of overhangs and small caves. Slopes and an underwater mountain are not far from the resort. Even before the naval marine park was founded, the unique richness of the fish in Selayar was extraordinary. Since the reefs were put under protection in 2000, there has been breathtaking growth of corals. Soft corals growing on the steep walls and hard corals at the reef top impress every diver. The Indo-Pacific is known as the world’s ocean which is richest in species. And at Selayar there is the chance to see everything that the tropical underwater world has to offer – from pygmy seahorses to hammerheads. Here are a few highlights to give a first impression of what is waiting to be seen under water:

House reef
The house reef is certainly a highlight in Selayar! Those who have not had enough after two boat dives can ‘send themselves to the bottom’ at any time directly at the house reef drop-off. For those who prefer more comfort, we have built a new 80 metre long jetty, completed in October 2005. By Christmas 2006, this should be extended to 100 metres and will reach the edge of the reef. However, the way to the house reef drop-off is rewarding in itself: a field of sea weed and a coral garden make it into a special experience. It is impossible to explore the full length of the house reef in just one holiday. There is so much to see in the first 20 metres that normally nobody – or at least no photographer – will manage to get much further. No-limit-diving at the house reef is included and we guarantee that no one will get bored.

Caves & Overhangs
Length of trip – 5 minutes: a wall that slopes on a length of 45 metres, with caves and overhangs. This is an ideal place to discover snails, crabs and a great variety of gorgonian fans and other soft corals. There are ideal subjects for both wide-angle photography and macro photography. ‘Caves and Overhangs’ is the home of pygmy seahorses ( also pygmy seahorse ‘Denise’, the smallest and last to be discovered in the family). The current flows slightly northwards most of the time, and we surface on the dive on an extraordinary reef top.

Shark Point
Length of trip – 10 minutes: the dive begins at a deep drop-off, which becomes a slope after about 200 metres. We dive along a wall that is beautifully overgrown with gorgonian fans, sponges and whip corals. When the current sets in, we meet big schools of jacks and snappers. After we arrive at the slope, we go down to about 40m depth. With a bit of luck, you can meet every kind of predatory fish there - grey and white-tip reef sharks, as well as eagle rays and at some times of the year, hammerheads. The site always offers a lot of diversity, and even if there are no predatory fish, you are bound to come across turtles and napoleons. Back on the reef top, we pass a coral block with leaf fish and snails. Before we surface, we have a look under a table coral where some small sharks offer them accommodation.

Bira
There are a number of impressive dive spots around the peninsular here but currents can be strong and unpredicatable. Sharks are often sighted in the waters around Pulau Kambing where the walls drop to below 60 meters and there are plenty of big schooling fish on the hunt. The Cape has a couple of good spots and some interesting coral formations including a spur at 30 meters that is often surrounded by reef sharks. Maramasa Pinnacles are located to the north of Bira and offer good diving although evidence of dynamite fishing can be seen.

Taka Bonerate Atol
Just southeast of Selayar Island is the third largest coral atoll in the world. The Taka Bonerate National Park was setup in 1992 to protect the ecosystem of the 2,220 square kilometer area. The atolls rise abruptly from a deep oceanic trench and offer some fantastic wall diving in good visibility. There is an astounding variety of coral growth and sea-grass on these atolls, fringing and barrier reefs. Marine life is equal to any other area in Sulawesi with huge schools of fish, pelagic and bigger hunters. The additional advantage here is that the area is still untouched by dive tourism and can be considered as one of the worlds few remaining dive frontiers.