Bunaken National Park

Bunaken National Park protects five islands and their fringing reefs off Manado in North Sulawesi, plus a stretch of mainland coast. It was one of Indonesia's first marine parks, established in 1991, and became a model for community co-management and diver entrance fees. The signature diving is vertical: coral walls around Bunaken and Manado Tua plunge hundreds of meters into the Sulawesi Sea, cut with crevices full of turtles — the park is thick with green turtles — and washed by currents that bring snappers, pyramid butterflyfish, and passing pelagics. Sea grass flats and mangroves inside the park support dugongs and a large share of the Indo-Pacific's coral and reef-fish species.

The rules that bind divers

Divers and snorkelers pay a park entrance fee, historically sold as a daily ticket or an annual waterproof tag, with revenue shared between patrols and island villages. The park is zoned: core no-take areas, tourism zones where diving happens, and traditional-use zones for local fishers. Anchoring on reef is banned — boats use moorings or drop divers on drifts — and touching, feeding, or collecting marine life is prohibited. Village-based patrols enforce the rules alongside park staff.

Fees & permits: Entrance fee per visitor (daily or annual tag), typically collected by dive operators; rates change periodically.