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7 Good Reasons to choose Raja Laut

7 Good Reasons to choose Raja Laut - Raja Laut
 
 
 
1. OUR LOCATION: The island of Bunaken apart from rare exceptions is surrounded by mangroves, which for good reason, can not be cut. We are one of the few stretches of coast where the green tape stops naturally. From a ground raised our eyes can range from Manado at the northern tip of Sulawesi. We have easy access to the reef (Timur) in front of Raja Laut: This reef is an excellent spot for snorkeling and scuba diving. We are just a few hundred meters from the village of Bunaken, this means being able to easily immerse in local culture and easy access with the  public boat service that landed just at the beach in the village.
 
 
2. OUR SIZES: We are a boutique resort. We have 4 bungalows, 3 Superior and 1 Standard. In the Resort, there will never be more than 08/10 guests simultaneously and this results in a personalized service with great attention to your needs. The atmosphere is friendly and relaxed, and decisions about the next day program are taken by mutual agreement during dinner.


3. OUR DIVING PHILOSOPHY: Diving is always in small groups with 1 guide per 2 or 3 divers. The courses are almost always face to face with the instructor, snorkelling is accompanied by a snorkeling guide. We do not use Nitrox and we don't practice technical diving, in our view in Bunaken we do not need either of them.
We are characterize by the flexibility and willingness to please our customers because we are divers like you, we will dive with you every day and we want to have fun exactly like you.

     
4. OUR KITCHEN: Our restaurant is on the sea front, sometimes during a meal we get to see dolphins or sailfish jumping and playing a few meters from the reef. Our cuisine is authentic from North Sulawesi with fresh fish every day, we have only "limited" the use of chili peppers. Obviously at times there will also be Italian pasta, Roberto can not do without.

 
5/6. OUR  HOUSING and our  ECOLOGICAL soul: our bungalows were built by local craftsmen with coconut palm wood and are perfectly integrated into the surrounding countryside. They are generous in size and even with unnecessary frills allow a stay in a spacious, clean and fresh environment The beds are comfortable and fitted with mosquito nets as are all windows.
The Resort's electricity comes from a photovoltaic power plant, we refill your plastic bottles or we offer water dispensers (20-liter bottles). The black water is not dispersed in the sea but reach proper wells, the toilet water (WC) is brackish and is pumped from a well. Fresh water (shower and sink), is provided by the desalination plant of the village and taken by boat to the Resort. This resource is a valuable asset in Bunaken (for decades, water scarcity slowed the development of tourism on the island) and need to be used without waste. The dive equipment is rinsed with rainwater that is collected and funneled into special tanks.


 7. LAST BUT NOT LEAST: THE COST. We offer dive packages at a very good price. With 75/95 euros per person per day (cost based on a couple with a minimum stay of 5 nights) we offer: accommodation, 3 meals, water / coffee / tea / seasonal fruit, 2/3 dives daily (including the whole equipment, boat passage, guide, 12-liters aluminum cylinders, weights). The cost is further reduced in low season.

How to reach us

How to reach us - Raja Laut
To reach the International Airport of Manado the shortest and more comfortable way is to flight with Singapore Airlines (Barcelona-Milan-Singapore), connection in Singapore with Silkair flight with final destiantion Manado. Checked baggage will be collected in Manado (up to 30kg for diving equipment provided). Total flight time:15/16 hours. Cost: from 800 € to 1400€. From 'the Airport of Manado to the harbour, about 30 minutes by taxi. Boat to Bunaken: crossing time about 45 minutes. If you wish, Raja Laut will handle the transfer from Airport.

Other possibilities (longer travel time): flights from Milan or Rome or ohers european cities to Jakarta with various carriers: Emirates via Dubai, Qatar by DHOA, TURKISH via Istanbul, Lufhansa via FRANKFURT.

Manado is then achieved with domestic flights (LION AIR or GARUDA) from Jakarta.
The online purchase of domestic flights by local companies is NOT possible (unless you use an Indonesian or Malaysian credit card ). Is possible instead to use a Travel Agent like  www.travelindo.com or  http://ticketindonesia.info/ 

Another possibility is to reach Bangkok or Kuala Lumpur and continue to Manado. Unfortunately, Air Asia has removed the connection KUALA-Manado but is still availble the Kuala-Makassar option.

www.singaporeair.com/saa/en_UK/index.jsp

www.emirates.com/it/italian/

www.garuda-indonesia.com/

www2.lionair.co.id/

Best Period

Best Period - Raja Laut
Bunaken National Marine Park is 1° Latitude North from the equator. The days are characterized by 12 hours of light and 12 hours of darkness. The seasonaly gives way to a dry season (late March to October) and a rainy one (November to February). Even in the rainy season are still rare prolonged periods of bad weather and the air temperature never drops below 25/26 ° C. The waters of the park are generally very clear (from 20 to 40m), allowing the underwater photographer to capture subjects very different from each other: from macro of  to colorful sea slugs and pygmy seahorses until the shots dedicated to large pelagics.
The water temperature varies from 30 ° to 26 ° and a wet suit of 3mm, is normally used on every occasion. For chilly or night dives, a 5mm.
Raja Laut for a small fee for dive (5USD) gives you all the equipment (excluding computers) and in addition to the standard weight bell and tank (12 liters Aluminum) provides you with scubapro/mares octopus (with gauge and depth gauge), BCD (mares or Cressi Sub) fins, mask.

Useful links

Useful links - Raja Laut
BUNAKEN

www.tripadvisor.it/Tourism-g1071666-Bunaken_Island_Sulawesi-Vacations.html
Tripadvisor Bunaken.

"Papa" Klaus has been visiting and diving in Bunaken for many years. He put online this website to give usefull information to anyone wishing to discover and visit this unique dive destination. Recommende (German & English)

www.dive-the-world.com/it/it-diving-sites-indonesia-manado-bunaken.php
Page form the web site: dive the world (italian).

www.divenorthsulawesi.com/nswa.html
Formed in mid 1998, the North Sulawesi Watersports Association (NSWA) has adopted as its primary goal the promotion of North Sulawesi as a world-class marine tourism destination (english).

www.iisd.ca/oceans/woc2009/
Manado hoted in 2009 the World Ocena Conference (WOC 2009) (english).

http://wikitravel.org/en/Bunaken#Sleep
Wikitravel tab on Bunaken: useful travel information (english).

http://dive-center.org/index.php
Web site with a lot of informations about Dive Centers around the World (english).

http://yourdivebook.com/
Your log book online. Very cool (english).

MARINE BIOLOGY

www.starfish.ch/
www.frogfish.ch
Zubi is a passionate swiss diver. She travelled and dived all East Asia from Indonesia to Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, Burma and even Galapagos. She especially loves critters and fogfishes and her web sites are a mine of information (english and german).

www.nudipixel.net/
Very good web site for nudi lovers (english).

www.nudibranchi.it/
Nudibranch (italian).

www.seadb.net/
Database on marine species (particularly indonesian) from University of Marche (english, italian).

PHOTOGRAPHY

www.photo.net/photos/roberto_miotto
I'm a keen photographer and I publish some of my shots on photo.net. Leave a comment.

www.ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2007/09/indonesia/doubilet-photography
National Geographic page dedicated to Sulawesi (english).

www.indonesiaphotography.com/
Stock photography (english)

WEATHER FORECAST

www.weather-forecast.com/locations/Manado (inglese).
it.weather.yahoo.com/republik-indonesia/sulawesi-utara/manado-1047862/(italian).