Gangga Island Resort & Spa

Gangga Island Resort & Spa occupies the tip of tiny Gangga Island off the northern end of Sulawesi. It sits right on the white sand, backed by a tropical garden and a jungle-covered hill. Thirty wooden Minahasan bungalows are spread among the palms, each with a generous veranda facing the beach.

It belongs to Lotus Hotels & Resorts and feels closer to a quiet island holiday than to a dive camp: a saltwater infinity pool on the very edge of the ocean, the open-air Tuturuga restaurant under the coconut trees, the Coconut bar, the Pasung Spa, a boutique of Indonesian jewellery and textiles, and complimentary babysitting. Once a week there is a fish barbecue on the beach with musicians from the island.

Diving is run in-house by Gangga Divers, a PADI 5-Star centre with international instructors. There are more than thirty sites around Gangga and the Bangka archipelago — soft corals, walls and pelagics. Bunaken National Marine Park is 75 minutes from the jetty, and Lembeh Strait, with its black volcanic sand and famous critters, is the same distance the other way, so all three of North Sulawesi’s very different dive worlds are reachable from one base.

The centre is properly equipped: an automatic Coltri blender with free 32 % nitrox, three compressors, 12 and 15 litre tanks with INT and DIN valves, Aqualung rental, a regulator service room, a camera room with work tables, lockers and ²²⁰⁄₁₁₀ V outlets, and a dedicated equipment rack for every room. Three boats carry 4, 6 and 14 divers; the two larger ones have sundecks and toilets, and every boat carries DAN oxygen, towels, fruit and fresh water for cameras.

The resort is a member of the North Sulawesi Watersports Association and takes part in reef protection and village development projects.