Ken Knezick has strong feelings about Wakatobi National Park: “Wakatobi has presented me with the most beautiful, healthy, diverse, and pristine reefs I’ve ever had the pleasure of diving,” he began. “And I have to say that Wakatobi Dive Resort is one of the most remarkable dive-oriented operations I’ve ever visited.” Considering that Ken is a dive-travel expert with twenty-five years experience and more than 3,000 dives to his credit, that’s saying something.
The three-and-a-half-million-acre Wakatobi National Park lies off the southeastern tip of the Indonesian province of Sulawesi, in the Banda Sea. Its name is an anagram of the first two letters of the four main islands in the region—Wangi-Wangi, Kaledupa, Tomia, and Binongko; the islands of Wakatobi, combined with the area’s many other smaller islands, are referred to as the Tukang Besi Archipelago. Wakatobi is considered one of the most biologically diverse areas in the world, with more coral genera than any place else on the planet. As such, the region has been a focal point for conservation and sustainable fishery efforts championed by the Nature Conservancy, the World Wildlife Fund, and Operation Wallacea.
“There are three reasons that I find myself going back to Wakatobi,” Ken continued. “The ease of the diving, the beauty and pristine quality of the reef, and the frequency and quality of wildlife encounters. Wakatobi is not the best place to come upon big pelagics, though you’ll sometimes see them, too. On one occasion, I had a baby whale shark swim within five feet of me as I hovered on the surface after a dive; it was like a gift from Baruna, the Indonesian god of the sea. But for tropical fish and invertebrates, Wakatobi is hard to beat. I think that most divers who have been there will agree that Wakatobi has the best shore diving anywhere. Once you’ve shown the divemasters that you have a level of proficiency, you can dive from the shore at will; some folks may log five dives a day or even more. You can easily get in as much diving as you might from a live-aboard, if not more. Many of the reefs begin in three feet of water, and you can have fabulous dives in very shallow water. I’ve come upon pygmy sea horses right off the beach, along with one of my favorite species, the comet longfin. I’ve seen frogfish in as little as six feet of water. It’s wonderful for photographers, as you can try to capture shots of the same subject on numerous occasions, as many sites are simply so close to shore. For instance, there’s fine a little family of spinecheek clownfish that I’ve been visiting for many years, right off the beach.”
It’s a long journey to reach Wakatobi (they joke that “It’s not at the end of the earth, but you can see the end from here!”), but once you’re there, you needn’t travel far to find great sites. In fact, the reef that’s right in front of the resort, less than a hundred yards away, is world class in every respect. “There is a great variety of fishes, invertebrates, macro subjects, beautiful soft corals, gorgonians, tunicates, whips, sponges, rays, overhangs, and beyond all else an unsurpassed rainbow of color,” Ken continued. “In fact, the House Reef is so good that some of the first professional photographers who visited elected never to make a boat dive!” Fish species frequenting the House Reef include clownfish, batfish, crocodile fish, cuttlefish, several species of pygmy sea horses, and mandarin fish.
As difficult as it may be to pull oneself away from the House Reef and several adjoining sites (including Onamobaa Cavern, which has been likened to the famed Hanging Gardens at Sipadan), further wonders await a short boat ride away. “There’s a wonderful variety of diving at Wakatobi, and many of the best boat dives are only fifteen or thirty minutes away,” Ken said. “Wherever you go, you’re conscious of the health of the reefs themselves.” Some of Wakatobi’s most renowned sites include Inka’s Palette, Mari Mabuk, Turkey Beach, and Lorenz’s Delight (named for lodge founder and proprietor Lorenz Maeder, a Swiss national who established the property in 1995). If he were to choose one site at Wakatobi to dive again and again, Ken might select Roma. “You start in bright rays of light in water as shallow as five feet, as large schools of fusiliers, pyramid butterfly, sergeant majors, hound fish, red-tooth triggerfish, and others swirl around you in an endless dance,” Ken continued. “There’s a compact pinnacle in the center of the reef, crammed with color and life. Banded sea snakes are common here and make exciting photo subjects.
“Another thing that impresses me each time I visit Wakatobi,” Ken concluded, “is the incredible care that Lorenz and his staff take to protect the ecological system that they’ve come to love. Though the resort is hardly lacking for amenities—the kitchen is as sophisticated as anything you’d find in a European city—they’ve managed to limit their footprint.”
KEN KNEZICK is founder and president of Island Dreams Travel (800-346-6116; www.divetrip.com). He has logged more than 3,000 scuba dives, at locations virtually all over the world, including Truk Lagoon, Palau, the Philippine Islands, the Red Sea, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Maldives, Fiji, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, New Caledonia, Costa Rica, Cocos, the Galápagos Islands, Hawaii, Mexico, the Caribbean, Sea of Cortez, Eastern and Western Europe, the Soviet Union, and Japan. He also has extensive experience as a dive-master in the Texas Gulf of Mexico, working as a divemaster aboard the M/V Fling and M/V Spree. A professional group-dive trip leader with more than twenty-five years’ experience, Ken has led more than fifty dive groups to Cozumel alone. Since 1985, he has served as chairman of the Houston Underwater Club’s Seaspace Exposition, is past president of Houston International Diver’s Club, and a founding member of the Houston Underwater Photographic Society. He has presented seminars for Seaspace, Beneath the Sea, Our World Underwater, Ocean Expo, Scuba Show Long Beach, Boston Sea Rovers, and the Diving Equipment Manufacturers Association (DEMA). A graduate of Rutgers University and a member of Mensa, Ken has made Houston, Texas, his home since 1977. In 2002, he was inducted into the Scuba Schools International (SSI) Platinum Pro 5000 Society; in 2005, he was recipient of the PADI Project Aware/Seaspace Environmental Awareness Award.
Getting There: You’ll first need to reach Denpasar, Bali, which is served by Continental Airlines (via Hawaii and Guam), Singapore Airlines (via Singapore), and Cathay Pacific (via Hong Kong). From Denpasar, there is a charter flight to Wakatobi.
Best Time to Visit: Prime times are between April and June and September and November. Diving can be quite good at other times, too; Wakatobi is closed during January and February, the rainy season.
Accommodations: Wakatobi Dive Resort (www.wakatobi.com) is the only on-shore option at Wakatobi, but it’s an excellent option with a friendly staff, great food, and a commitment to hard-core divers.
Jonathan Bird’s marine neighbor, Gene the wolf fish, smiles for the camera.
