wakatobi south east sulawesi

Welcome to Wakatobi - a destination where you can dive the world's most pristine reefs and experience remoteness from everyday life in total comfort. Situated on a beautiful tropical island in the remote and peaceful Wakatobi archipelago in the Banda Sea, Wakatobi Dive Resort offers what many consider to be the best reef diving in the world.

Intimate and eco-friendly"
Our intimate, eco-friendly resort is located in the Wakatobi archipelago in remote Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia where we are the only fully licence dive tourism operator. The resort itself is situated on a small island locally called Onemobaa. Our island is beside Tomia Island, one of four major islands covering an area of 821 sq. km. The beautiful resort is built directly at the seaside, with all bungalows spaced along our exquisite beach.
A whole new level
Over the years Wakatobi's grown from being a simple, remote outpost to a fully equipped resort offering comforts otherwise not associated with the best diving. Often you have to choose between comforts and diving quality. Well, not anymore!
Wakatobi now offers beautiful accommodations with fine appointments that will satisfy the most discriminating traveler! There are four (4) levels of accommodation: Villas, Select Beach Bungalows, Standard Beach Bungalows and Garden Bungalows. All accommodations are spacious and available with a either a king-size bed, and/or twin beds to sleep up to three adults or two adults and two children. All of our accommodations have a balcony in front as well as lounge chairs, tables and other furnishings. There a desk with internet access, a mini-bar, and much more. All bungalows and villas are equipped with airconditioning.
I've been to 19 different resorts & liveaboards around the world and the only place I've ever returned to, despite having had a wonderful times at every other place, is Wakatobi. And now I want to come back again! 5 time returnee T. Grogan, CA-USA

Guest conveniences
Just because we are located on a remote island doesn't mean you half to sacrifice on comfort and conveniences. We generate and provide our own electricity 24-7. All of our villas and beach bungalows are equipped with air conditing to keep you comfortable day or night. We have our own reverse-osmosis water system to provide plenty of purified safe drinking water and hot water for your shower.
To keep in touch with the outside world, we also provide guests access to the resort's own satellite communication system which handles voice, fax and 64/128 kbs internet. All bungalows have complimentary internet connectively

Delightful cuisine
Our team of top-trained Balinese Chefs prepare delicious, ample and healthy meals using fresh produce that we fly in from Bali and overseas. Added to this are loads of day-fresh tuna sashimi, excellent soups, barbecued fish, fresh fruits, steaks and oriental specialties. Be sure to save room for one of the decadent desserts made fresh every day by our pastry chef.
We are of course able to accommodate special diet needs and in advance of your arrival our attentive Bali administrative staff will enquire if you have any special wishes or needs.
"The staff is great and actually the food is mind blowing considering the remoteness of Wakatobi. Beef fillet, smoked marlin, pastries, fresh salad almost to the very end. No one went hungry; an amazing feat of logistical support. We had 2 birthday cake parties. Beautiful. The breads are amazing. The entire staff really works and it shows. They really care. I like Wakatobi and I will get busy putting together a group for a repeat visit."
Edward Fedoruk - GourmetDivers.com (2005, 2007)

The Story of Wakatobi

The story of Wakatobi Dive Resort starts back in the sixties when Resort founder Lorenz Mäder's father brought him from the mountains of Switzerland to the Mediterranean and taught him to snorkel. That was the start of a life-long passion for Lorenz. Two decades later after years of working in the Red Sea and Maldives as a dive instructor and Dive Liveaboard Cruise Director Lorenz set out to create his dream. A Dive Resort far away from the tourism hot spots, where he could establish a new way of running an ecotourism operation. A Resort combining diving with care for the environment. A place where a quality experience goes over the number of people served in a day. A community based business concept to manage the natural resources.
Lorenz was in Singapore establishing a base for his exploration of Eastern Indonesia. (Having studied Navy Charts and dived the Wallacea area, which marks the region with the highest marine biodiversity, he knew that the envisioned dream location must be there). Months of trekking through the islands and exploring the reefs on local fishermen's boats finally brought him to the blissful corner of an island the locals called Onemobaa (Local language for 'Long white sandy Beach'. Knowing that this was indeed the place to build his resort, Lorenz approached the locals to find out who owned the land. He then met Mr.. Baharruddin, the son of the last Sultan of the area and made friends with him. Till this day the two are, as they say, inseparable. In his role as keeper of traditions, serving the community by thinking long-term, Haji Baharuddin is one of the very few Indonesians truly understanding the necessity of conservation.

Reinforced by Lorenz's personal objective to make a contribution to marine conservation, the challenging project was started in a region where locals have not seen a white man since the Dutch left the country and electricity and running water are still a rarity.
The first building, the LonghouseSearching for the right location to setup his dream resort, Lorenz spent many days being "Manta-towed" behind local boats researching the reef conditions in the area. Lorenz' objective - to find a place with a combination of a World-class reef in front, a beautiful topside (read: beach), ground water availability and a friendly local community.
1995The arduous task of building the resort could then begin. The first building was erected (the Longhouse), which laid the grounds for what years later would be called the premier coral reef diving destination.
1996Start of Diving and Hotel Operations. In the beginning the resort had a capacity of only 12 guests, all housed in the Resort's Longhouse. An ingenious building that was a bit like a live-aboard on the beach. This largest traditionally built house on these islands contained guest rooms, kitchen, dining area, staff quarters, dive center, bathrooms and storage. The concept was developed so that if the resort wasn't a success the building could be folded up and be moved elsewhere!Back in those days it was very hard to get to the Resort. The journey involved international flights, two or more domestic flights, an overnight in a transit town, several boat and van transfers. This brought the total traveling time from gateway towns like Singapore to somewhere around 30 hours! Yet somehow determination managed to attract a hard-core bunch of diving enthusiasts, and the resort was on its way.
Our first boat, the Wakatobi Satu1997An 'Undercurrent' article published in the USA opened the Wakatobi Destination to avid American Divers.Locally hired boats were used for dive operations.
1998In September 1998 the first custom built transfer boat 'WAKATOBI SATU' brought the guests directly from the nearest airport (Kendari, capitol of Southeast Sulawesi) to the Wakatobi Resort, 250 km away. WAKATOBI DUA speed boat enters service
1999The decision was made to build an own runway out on the islands to enable direct flights from Bali to the Resort. This way the transfer time would be brought down to a mere fraction of what it used to be! (2.5 hrs vs. 30 hrs). WAKATOBI TIGA provides a convenient dive platform with an always cheerful crew.
2000A larger vessel, the CISKA got chartered to transfer the maximum 18 guests until the airstrip opened.Works started at the airfield, Wakatobi Resort managing a team of up to 1000 people during the runway construction.
2001Wakatobi Resort inaugurates the 1506 m long Wakatobi Maranggo Runway, probably the largest hotel owned airstrip in Asia. Planes with 18 - 44 seats bring visitors in style from all over the world to the extremely remote Wakatobi Resort.
2002The company gets restructured, moves office to the current location in Kuta Bali.
2003
Community launch of the locally built Wakatobi VWAKATOBI EMPAT, custom built locally, proves to be extremely convenient for diving and is the first of 4 new dive vessels to enter service over the next 3 years.Divers are a hungry bunch and the newly introduced Kitchen Team from a Bali 5* Hotel creates a new level of F & B services.
2004Over the years capacity has gradually been brought up from the initial 12 to 34 guests. WAKATOBI LIMA is added to the dive fleet
2005The resort housed 44 guests in all Bungalow-style accommodations and one Cliff Villa, with the original Longhouse having been converted entirely to house the dive center and other common guests facilities such as library and bar, souvenir shop and Multimedia room.
A Jetty Bar is added, offering drinks and snacks with spectacular sunset views.
With WAKATOBI ENAM the resort has 4 large, convenient, safe dive platforms to reach as well farther away dive spots such as Ndaa island and Binongko.
2006Due to the increased capacity of 48 guests in 22 Bungalows and 2 Cliff Villas, the new restaurant in the beach corner takes over from the longhouse.
Our first wooden dive vessel WAKATOBI TIGA is replaced by a new vessel with the same name.
Overcoming the infrastructure and logistic challenges in this remote area with his pioneer spirit and multiple skills he developed a resort that is now by many ranked the No. 1 Land-Based Coral Reef Diving Resort in the world.