Halmahera · Indonesia · Reef · Coral garden · Sand slope
Tanjung Bakau 3
Coral garden slope reaching sand at 25 m, five minutes from Kusu
One of three separately catalogued Tanjung Bakau sites, five minutes south-west of the Nabucco Spice Island Resort on Kusu. It is a marginal reef with a coral garden that slopes down to a sandy seabed from 25 m, so the dive is a coral slope with a clear bottom limit and most of the interest in the shallower garden.
Where it is and how deep
0.4666° S, 127.6909° EApproximate position — the dashed circle shows where the site lies; your operator's briefing has the mooring.
The dive
Tanjung Bakau 3 is a five-minute boat ride south-west of the resort. You drop onto a marginal reef and swim down through the coral garden; the slope runs down to a sandy seabed that begins at 25 m, so 25 m is where the reef ends and the sensible maximum for the dive. The garden is the point of the site, and it occupies the water shallower than the sand.
The plan is to go to the reef bottom early, look along the edge where the coral meets the sand at 25 m, and then work slowly back up the slope through the garden. Finishing shallow keeps the profile comfortable and puts the last part of the dive in the best-lit coral; the safety stop is made over the reef top before surfacing to the boat.
Marine life and season
The sources we used don't single out particular species here.
| Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good | Good |
Season follows Halmahera: Open all year; the resort calls sea conditions much the same month to month. Rain falls year-round, heaviest Dec–Mar and lightest Sep–Oct in the Labuha climate record.
Questions divers ask
How deep is Tanjung Bakau 3?+
The coral garden slopes down to a sandy seabed from 25 m, so the reef itself occupies the water shallower than that and 25 m is the practical limit of the dive.
Sources
- Tanjung Bakau 3 — Scubago (SSI)
More dive sites in Halmahera
Reef
Coral slope to 25 m, five minutes from the Kusu jetty
Reef
Gentle reef slope to a sand plateau at about 20 m, good for all levels
Reef
Sheltered coral garden sloping to sand at 20 m
Similar dives elsewhere
Five hefty giant clams lying in a row on the sand
A coral-covered rock standing alone on the sand
A no-take reef since 1982, with turtles on nearly every dive
The protected shallows where Balicasag's turtles are thickest