Wakatobi Dive Resort
I had high expectations going to Wakatobi, and it certainly did not fail to impress. We stayed in an Oceanside bungalow, which had a great view of the water and was perfect for my girlfriend and me. It wasn't too fancy, yet it was extremely comfortable. The staff was also a highlight of Wakatobi. Everyone was extremely friendly from the kitchen staff to the divemasters. Then there is the food, which was excellent in my opinion. It is buffet style, but there are plenty of delicious options, and also plenty of food for those with big appetites.
Now let's talk about the diving. I was absolutely blown away by the reefs. Most of the dives are sloping to steep walls with incredibly healthy reefs. The coral thrives, and with it so do the reef creatures. Highlights included frogfish, cuttlefish, ornate ghost pipefish, turtles, nudibranchs and a bunch of pygmy sea horses. Macro life was solid (but not fantastic), and larger pelagics were not around (no sharks and only a few larger fish); to me, however, this didn't matter given the incredible reefs. The divemasters were very adept at finding the creatures that we wanted to see and gave extremely thorough dive briefings. Finally, Wakatobi is well set up for photographers. It has a great photo room, and dives are ideal for the photographer (usually 70 minutes at a very slow pace).
Overall, Wakatobi will cost a pretty penny, but I definitely thought it was worth the money.
