Bunaken · Indonesia · Wall · Reef
Bunaken Timur
A reef so long one dive doesn't cover it
Photo: mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Timur means east, and this is the long wall on the east side of Bunaken Island, long enough that a single dive does not cover it and divers come back for another stretch. Soft corals and leather corals cover the shallows above a face that runs down to 35 metres. There is usually no current, though it can pick up, which is why the site is normally reserved for intermediate divers.
Also known as East Bunaken.
Where it is and how deep
1.6134° N, 124.7832° EPublished position for this site.
The dive
Which stretch of reef you get depends on where the boat drops you. You start over the reef top, where an array of soft corals and leather corals grows in the shallows, and drop onto the face below, trimmed with fine lilac lace coral. Pick a working band and hold it: the wall runs to 35 metres and the reef simply carries on ahead of you, so the dive ends where your air ends rather than at a feature.
The face is cut with many small caves and cracks holding fish and invertebrates, and that is what makes it ground for macro work rather than blue-water watching. You may spot several different types of nudibranch as well as plenty of bright butterflyfish, including the ever-present crowds of pyramid butterflyfish and the rarely seen zebra butterflyfish.
There is usually no current, but there can be one at this site, which is why it is normally reserved for intermediate divers rather than treated as an easy wall. Keep an eye on the open water as you go: with luck, whitetip reef sharks and turtles turn up along the face, and schools of eagle rays glide out into the blue. The reef can be dived all year.
Marine life and season
- Reef sharks
- Sea turtles
- Nudibranchs
- Reef fish swarms
- Eagle rays
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Prime | Good | Good |
Season follows Bunaken: May–October dry season gives the clearest water; some rain and runoff November–April.
Photos from Bunaken Timur
q phia · CC BY 2.0
mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0
mattk1979 · CC BY-SA 2.0
Dive videos
Bunaken Timur & Sachiko's Point · Bubble Vision on YouTube
Questions divers ask
How deep is Bunaken Timur?+
The wall runs down to 35 metres, with soft corals and leather corals in the shallows above it. There is usually no current, but it can pick up, so the site is normally kept for intermediate divers.
Is Bunaken Timur good for macro photography?+
Yes. The wall is cut with many small caves and cracks holding fish and invertebrates, and it produces several types of nudibranch as well as crowds of pyramid butterflyfish and the rarely seen zebra butterflyfish.
Sources
- Bunaken Timur dive site — Divezone
- Diving sites Indonesia: Manado, Bunaken — Dive The World
Photo credits
- Damselfish over a hard coral reef with mounding corals on Bunaken Timur by mattk1979, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Openverse
- Longnose hawkfish perched on soft coral branches at Bunaken Timur by q phia, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
- Regal angelfish swimming past mounding coral heads on the reef by mattk1979, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Openverse
- Small reef fish schooling over hard coral terrain on Bunaken Timur by mattk1979, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Openverse
More dive sites in Bunaken
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Fissured wall with pygmy seahorses, and a night-dive standby
Five hefty giant clams lying in a row on the sand
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The sheltered Lekuan site, and Bunaken's night dive
Perhaps ten green turtles live on this wall alone
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Whip corals along a drifted wall, with bumpheads passing
An amphitheatre-shaped wall worked by reef sharks
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Turtle city: greens and hawksbills on the wall off the village
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Whitetip sharks resting in caves down the wall
Similar dives elsewhere
Coral outcrops one side of the village, a wall past 40 m on the other.
Sea fans and frogfish on a wall, a 150-year-old wreck below
A drift from schooling fish on the point to macro on the slope
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An open-top cave in the northwest wall of a limestone island