Bunaken National Park

The Bunaken National Park is a marine park in the north of Sulawesi island, Indonesia. The park is located near the centre of the Coral Triangle, providing habitat to 390 species of coral as well as many fish, mollusc, reptile and marine mammal species. The Park is representative of Indonesian tropical water ecosystems, consisting of seagrass plain, coral reef, and coastal ecosystems.
It was established as a national park in 1991 and is among the first of Indonesia's growing system of marine parks. It covers a total area of 890.65 km², 97% of which is marine habitat. The remaining 3% of the park is terrestrial, including the five islands of Bunaken, Manado Tua, Mantehage, Nain and Siladen. The southern part of the Park covers part of the Tanjung Kelapa coast.

Geology

North Sulawesi is considered to be a 'young' formation, of 5-24 million years of age. The region has undergone explosive volcanism 1.5-5 million years ago, which resulted in the volcanic tuff that characterizes the existing topography. Manado Tua is an inactive volcano formed in a classical cone shape and rising over 600 m above sea level, the highest elevation in the park. Bunaken Island also has volcanic origins with a significant amount of uplifted fossil coral. Nain Island is also a dome-shaped island, 139m in height. Mantehage Island is relatively flat and seems to be sinking into the sea. The island has extensive mangrove forest flats, partially separated by saltwater channels. Siladen is a low-lying coral sand island with no significant topography. Arakan-Wawontulap and Molas-Wori on the mainland of North Sulawesi are relatively flat areas at the base of volcanic hills. The absence of a continental shelf allows the coastal area of the park to drop directly down the continental slope. The sea depth between the islands of the park is 200 to 1,840 metres.
 

Bunaken - Scuba Diving

This Park sea marine biodiversity has one of the highest in the world. Scuba diving attracts many visitors to the island. Overall Bunaken marine park covers 75,265 hectares wide area with the five islands in it, namely, the island of Manado Tua, Bunaken Island, Island Siladen, following several Mantehage Island, the island’s children, and Naen Island. Although the area covering 75,265 hectares, location, diving (diving), only limited in each of the five coastal circumnavigate the island.

Bunaken Diving

Bunaken marine park has 20 point dive (Dive spots) vary with depth of up to 1,344 meters. From 20 point dive it, the 12 point dive in them located around Bunaken Island. Twelve point dive this is the most frequently visited by divers and lovers scenic beauty under the sea.

Most of the 12 point dive in Bunaken Island line from the southeast to the northwest of the island. In this region there are great underwater Walls, which is also called Good Night Walls, or the walls of the giant coral standing vertical and vaulted to the top. This wall of coral also become a source of food for fish in the waters around Bunaken Island.

Bunaken National Park-Taman Nasional Bunaken

 

 

 

 Sources :

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunaken

2. http://javatour-visitindonesian.blogspot.com/2010/09/bunaken-island-scuba-diving