The resort

It is not a 5 start resort, actually a moderately priced 3 star resort on the quiet island of Bunaken. It is located on a nice beach on the southern side of Bunaken Island, the rooms are very basic but comfortable with (mostly) a nice balcony looking right over the beach and towards the Manado Tua volcano.

The Bastianos Bunaken Resort is a homely and well-established diving operation. The resort is at the lower end of the pricing scale for resort stays in Bunaken, so one must temper one's expectations

Bastianos Bunaken is a (PADI) Dive Resort which located on the West part of Bunaken Island. Accommodation at Bastianos is in traditional wooden rooms with western style bathroom and hot water.
 

Getting there

We arrived on Manado airport and where picked-up by the Bastianos crew. They transported us from the airport towards the harbor of Manado. Bunaken Island is located in front of Manado, 60 minutes by boat from the harbor.
The trip went very smooth, and the crew was very helpful to us. Mostly, this is included in the package prices, however if you arrive in the evening then there may be a small surcharge for individual collection.

They have 9 Standard Rooms and 2 Budget Rooms (both types are with Fan only) at the hill-side that are situated close to the restaurant under lush tropical vegetation, most with fantastic ocean views. They also have 17 Superior Rooms with AC at beachfront-side and there are great views of the open ocean and the beautiful sunset near Manado Tua.

The Beachfront-side rooms are only a few meters from the ocean and on the longest and finest light sand beach on Bunaken Island.

Superior Room with A/C

They have 17 Superior Rooms in total. All of them are located at the beachfront-side. They are all with double bed (queen size) or twin bed (2 single beds), have AC and an en-suite bathroom consisting of a shower, with hot water and western-style toilet.

Standard Room Fan

From the 9 Standard Rooms they have, most of them are with fantastic view to the ocean. They are all located at the hill-side and with double bed (queen size) or twin bed (2 single beds), they have fans and an en-suite bathroom consisting of a shower, with hot water and western-style toilet

 

Budget Room Fan

They also have 2 Budget Rooms that can accommodate budget travelers or divers when the size is not a problem to them. Budget rooms are similar to Standard ones but it is smaller. They are all with double bed (queen size), have fan and an en-suite bathroom consisting of a shower, with hot water and western-style toilet.

The Restaurant

The Spacious open-air restaurant serves local and western food in buffet form. Dining is an informal affair, with all meals being simple buffet spreads and taking place in the elevated restaurant area, where spectacular sunsets can complement dinner times.

The restaurant that can accommodate up to 80 persons.

Breakfast is served at the relatively relaxed time of between 7:00-9:00 am. Lunch takes place at around 1 pm (after the second dive of the day), and dinner is served at 7 pm.

Breakfast is eggs, pancakes or waffles, hot or cold cereals, toast, fruit, and of course tea & coffee.

Lunch and dinner are similar to each other, with a soup or salad starter, a meat dish, fish dish, vegetables, one other dish (depending on guest requests and requirements), and rice, followed by fresh fruit with pastry at dinner.
Most meals are Indonesian or Asian in origin but with Western influences.

Fruit, biscuits, drinking water, tea & coffee, and Milo are available throughout the day. Vegetarians and vegans can simply be catered for since the resort orders fresh produce daily from the Manado mainland (though choices are limited). ….

BBQ

We can recommend the outdoor barbeques they organize approximately once a week. They prepare the meat on a large barbeque on the patio next to the beach and in front of the resort. They serve for example the famous traditional Indonesian Sate! Besides the very good quality of the food, is dining along the beach is really nice!

Resort Facilities

Right out front of the resort is safe for swimming and if you like to do some Snorkeling, the coral reef drop-off is only about 40 meters from the front of Bastianos. They also have a swimming pool at the resort, which it’s mainly used for scuba diving courses. This resort is fully focused on divers, I won’t recommend to pick this location if you’re traveling with (young) children or if you’re planning a ‘family holiday’.

Besides diving there’s not really much out there…
They do have some facilities, but remember you’re on a remote Island so don’t expect too much of it….

On the second flow next to the restaurant is a large common area. This is an elevated, open-air wooden roofed structure. From here you can keep an eye on what's happening in the whole resort.

It has a great view over the sea, back to the mainland and to Manado Tua volcano.
Here, there are sofas, a TV and DVD player, diving and novel book libraries, pool table.

Shiatsu and Spa

Bastianos Bunaken Resort also features a spa. This facility is open daily and provides various massage services.

The Shiatsu and Spa proves to be very popular with non-diving partners and also on final "no-diving-before-flying" travel preparation days.

Resort Facilities

- Cozy mini bar at the beach, to watch sunset and listen to some nice music
- Pool table in the restaurant
- Television and satellite channel in the restaurant area
- Swimming pool
- Diving Center (Trips, PADI courses, snorkeling, equipment rental)
- Marine life library
- 24 hours electricity (220V) & security
- FREE WiFi (Hot Spot around lobby and restaurant area)
- Shiatsu and Spa

Diving Bunaken

The Bunaken Marine Park

Bunaken Marine Park is a popular destination for divers from all over the world due to the unique coral reefs and numerous different species of marine life. The park offers some of the best dive sites in the world and diving in Bunaken will be a close encounter with an amazing underwater world. The park was formally established in 1991 and is among the first of Indonesia’s growing system of marine parks.

The park covers a total surface area of 89,065 hectares, 97% of which is overlain by sparkling clear, warm tropical water. The remaining 3% of the park is terrestrial, including the five islands of Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen.

Although each of these islands has a special character, it is the aquatic ecosystem that attracts most naturalists.
The waters of Bunaken National Marine Park are extremely deep (1566 m in Manado Bay), clear (up to 35-40 m visibility), refreshing in temperature (27-29 C) and harbor some of the highest levels of biodiversity in the world.

Diving Center

Bunaken is one of the world top dive destinations.

The knowledgeable and experienced local dive team, supervised by mainly Western (PADI) Instructors, will guide your memorable underwater adventure. The Bastianos Dive Team practices high safety conscious of the diving procedures and has great respect in environmental awareness.
You can expect at least 3 boat dives a day (most of the time 4), 2 during the morning, 1 in the afternoon and an optional night dive.

The Dive Center is equipped with all well-maintained quality dive equipment and compressors which we make sure that everybody will have good and clean air to enjoy the underwater beauties.
 

The (wooden) boats are comfortable, clean and well maintained.
They have an experienced boat crew. All boats have oxygen units, first aid kits, tool and spare parts kits on board. The entire staff speaks English.

The dive guides are all locals, and are all very experienced. All guides are very friendly and helpful. Just tell them what you like to see, and they’ll find it for you! They also do a great job of taking care of your scuba gear too: packing, carrying it to and from the boat, rinsing, and locking it up.

All scuba tanks at Bastianos Bunaken come with INT / Yoke valves.
DIN adapters are available, but you better make sure to bring your own!
Enriched Air Nitrox is available for certified divers !

There is a separate camera room where you can prepare or store your camera in a clean environment. They also have a small equipment shop for primary needs, and a rental department where you can rent complete scuba and/ or snorkel outfits .

Bastianos has a dive centre that can accommodate 45 scuba divers on any single day. They do so by running various dive boats. This means they can visit locations to suit all levels of experience at any one time. Bastianos tends to focus on diving Bunaken Island itself, though they do visit the other islands in the Bunaken National Marine Park when requested. Nain and Montehage islands incur a small surcharge.

Our ratings below are based on our personal experiences. They are also adapted to our needs as divers. Meaning that we’re less focused on additional features.
Therefore you should only pay attention to our ratings if you’re planning a diving holiday.

Where we base our score on:

Scoring matrix

Its location and affordability are perhaps the 2 biggest drawcards of this resort, meaning that most people can now afford a Bunaken Island diving vacation.

For divers without any high standard requests, this is the perfect resort!
The resort ‘breathes’ diving….
The dive operation is managed very well, and the crew is great.

YES, it’s basic, but to be honest what do you need being 3 to 4 times a day underwater….
The rooms are clean, and there’s (most of the time) hot water available to wash of the salt.
The food is good enough to survive a couple of weeks….and the entire staff on the resort is very friendly and helpful.

NO, there are not many facilities available on the resort, but then again…what do you need as a diver…. Al primary facilities are available, and even an internet connection!
 

That might sound a bit strange, but there really no reason why you should choose this resort in that case. If you like quietness and a tremendous view it might be worth it, however than there are plenty of other resorts available that will fit your needs.
Almost everything on this resort is based on diving, so if you’re looking for a family holiday we would not recommend this resort.

For divers we can highly recommend this resort!