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.