My husband and I spent 3 weeks in North Sulawesi and stayed at three different resorts in the area (Siladen, Gangga Island, & Kungkungan Bay Resorts). We are avid scuba divers, and prefer to stay in small, but comfortable hotels that cater to divers.

This is the second resort at which we stayed during our trip, and we had a wonderful time. This is an extremely well run and well managed resort at every level from the grounds crew to the kitchen to the spa to the dive center. The resort is managed by Europeans with extensive hotel management experience, who know exactly what guests want on their vacations. They cater mainly to the Italian market, but are interested in expanding to the US market. The staff is well trained and professional yet very friendly. This resort has a more family-oriented and laidback atmosphere than Siladen Resort, but is still very nice for couples.

Our beachfront room was very comfortable and well appointed. It was very clean with good natural light, and had a large bathroom with great shower. Each room had its own covered bed for two on the beach where you could watch the sunset. Lunch and dinner were sit-down affairs with many choices and unlimited quantities. The food was tasty and well-prepared with both Indonesian and western options.

The dive operation at the resort was one of the best I have ever encountered: extremely professional and the staff take care of absolutely everything including cleaning all of your gear every night (yes, even wetsuits and booties). Gangga Island is centrally located -- half way between Bunaken National Park and Lembeh Straits. The local diving range is Bangka Island, which is less well known than Bunaken and Lembeh, but is a world class destination in its own right and presents a different diving environment (pinnacles). Unfortunately it is not a protected area, so there are fewer fish – but the macro diving and corals are first rate. Gangga Island is a great place to stay if you have limited time in the region – the diving operation will take you to Bunaken and Lembeh whenever you want to go so you can easily dive all three areas. The boats are fast, large and very comfortable. Each couple or small group traveling together has their own dive master – we had the same outstanding dive master for every dive during our stay, which was ideal. There was no minimum number of divers per trip, so even if you are the only one who wants to go, they will take you. We prepaid our dive package, but unlike Kungkungkan Bay Resort, day, evening mandarin and night dives were interchangeable.

The resort is committed to making as little impact on the environment as possible, and to improving the quality of life for the local people. There is an eco-friendly desalinization plant, solar powered water heaters, everything is reused or recycled, and the resort has been instrumental in supporting research on figuring out what materials are best for building artificial coral reefs. The resort hires its staff from the local villages and buys all of its fish from local fishermen. We went on our own walking tour of the villages on Gangga island (a must!!) and were met by the friendliest people we have ever encountered anywhere. It took us about an hour to walk down the main street – all of the kids and adults greeted us and were delighted to pose for pictures. The village seemed quite prosperous with tidy well-constructed houses and a paved road.