Night Diving Manado Bay
Night Diving at Murex Manado
Manado Bay’s reputation for incredible critter life and muck diving continues to grow stronger year after year. No longer is Manado a place to stay if you want to dive Bunaken; it’s a place to stay if you want see Bunaken’s stunning walls and reefs and fantastic muck all in the same place.
The twin spot lion fish can only be found during night dives
Our daily schedule is usually based around two morning dives in the Bunaken Marine Park followed by an afternoon dive in Manado Bay and a night dive before dinner. Night diving in Manado Bay is an absolute highlight as so many of our weirdest and rarest critters are nocturnal. When the sun goes down many of our favourite species are only just coming out to play. Here are some of the highlights of night diving in Manado:
1. Numerous Dive Sites: Murex Manado is situated at the heart of some of the best muck diving sites. Our beach front location means it is easy to get boats in and out and take you to some on the best sites including Bulo, Celebes Reef, City Extra, Batas Kota and Tanjung Papaya. These sites are all hotspots for nocturnal critters.
A typical muck dive in Manado Bay
2. Conditions for all levels: The Manado Bay coastline is relatively protected and many of our dive sites are located in recesses and bays. Our favourite sites have little to no current making night diving easy for all levels of divers. The calm conditions are also ideal for underwater photographers hoping to capture some of our rarest species.
Squids are often found hovering in the water column at night
3. Crazy Critters: There is a long list when it comes to our favorite critters when night diving Manado Bay. Some of our favorites include stargazers, long-arm and starry night octopus, cowries, big fin reef squid, cuttlefish, moray eels, sting rays and all manner of crustaceans including the comedic sponge crab which carries cut out pieces of sponge coral on its head as a cunning disguise!
4. Lights out, Camera, Action: While we spot some nocturnal species during day light dives they are not usually exhibiting their nocturnal behavioural traits. During night dives we see the real action – hunting, feeding, flashing and free swimming.
5. Murex House Reef: Have you dived the Murex Manado House Reef? Our House Reef is a mix of sandy patches and coral reef – it’s a great dive site for making night dives. Look out for the big fin reef squid which like to follow divers and benefit from their torch light when hunting as well as numerous species of cuttlefish and octopus. Did you know our House Reef is a hotspot for Spanish dancers too?
A nocturnal critter, found on the Murex Manado house reef, a starry night octopus (Callistoctopus luteus)
6. Night Dive Every Night: Night diving is available every night – just let us know which nights you’d like to go out. Due to the numerous sites we have available we’ll aim to take you to a different site each time but some are so good, we’re sure you will want to go back!
Another creature of the night, a scary looking star gazer
Are you new to night diving? Not a problem, here at Murex Dive Resorts are experienced team are on hand to help, give thorough briefings before each dive and be by your side throughout. If you are an Open Water Diver we recommend taking your PADI Advanced Open Water course while you are here and we can include night diving as one of your 5 course dives!
Are you ready to explore Manado and Bunaken underwater? To book your stay at Murex Manado contact us today. Why not see even more of North Sulawesi and include a stay at Murex Bangka too? Murex Bangka’s white sand beach, kaleidoscopic corals and world-class dive sites are just 2 hours way! If you can stay for longer, our flagship Passport to Paradise program takes you to all three of North Sulawesi’s best diving destinations in one trip: Bunaken-> Bangka-> Lembeh. We offer boat diving transfers so no drying and packing gear, no wasted transfer days, you just dive, dive, dive!
We look forward to welcoming you to Murex Dive Resorts, North Sulawesi soon.
