{"id":2550,"date":"2020-07-16T20:00:19","date_gmt":"2020-07-16T20:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sulawesidivetrek.com\/?p=2550"},"modified":"2020-09-26T10:32:25","modified_gmt":"2020-09-26T10:32:25","slug":"5-reasons-to-cave-dive-in-indonesia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sulawesidivetrek.com\/index.php\/2020\/07\/16\/5-reasons-to-cave-dive-in-indonesia\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Reasons to Cave Dive in Indonesia"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u00a0 are so many\u00a0 reasons\u00a0 why you should\u00a0 come and cave dive in Indonesia. Let us tell you 5 of them!<\/p>\n

Being a cave diver often means\u00a0 having a sense\u00a0 of adventure\u00a0 and a taste for experiencing new things, so why not travel to Indonesia for your next cave diving holiday ?<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re thinking that now might not be the right time to travel, come on! You\u2019ve probably been diving in muddy tunnels, cold waters, sometimes with zero visibility, passing\u00a0 tiny restrictions\u00a0 that would freak any claustrophobic\u00a0 out … so don\u2019t tell\u00a0 us you\u2019re afraid to jump on a plane (or maybe 3!) to discover a new destination! (We\u2019ve put everything in place to respect international travel regulations and social distanciation of course).<\/p>\n

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1) Indonesia: a brand-new cave diving destination.<\/h1>\n

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\"Cave

Fun Dive pulau buton muna indonesia marine national park<\/p><\/div>\n

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Cave Diving in Indonesia is a fairly new activity. Even though the Scuba Diving Industry is\u00a0 booming and the country receives thousands of open water scuba divers every year to dive its most iconic spots (Komodo, Raja Ampat, Bali to name some\u2026), almost nobody knows that Indonesia is becoming a hot spot for cave diving in South East Asia. The first record of cave diving exploration\u00a0 was in 2007 when\u00a0 an international\u00a0 team of biologists\u00a0 and cave divers came to Sulawesi for a scientific mission\u00a0 and unraveled\u00a0 quite a few caves. Since then a few explorations have been conducted by different team before we landed in the Sulawesi Tenggara in 2016. From this year until now we’ve spent most of our free time exploring, diving and mapping underwater cave systems until October 2019 when we decided to start the Sulawesi Dive Trek and create the first Technical \/ Rebreather \/ Cave diving center in the area.<\/p>\n

Visit\u00a0 the Cave Diving<\/strong><\/a> section on our website for all information about Cave Diving Trip and Courses.<\/p>\n

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2) Indonesia: a new spot to add to your (too short) cave bucket list.<\/h1>\n

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\"Sidemount

Sidemount Diver Cave Crystal Clear Indonesia Sulawesi<\/p><\/div>\n

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As an avid cave diver, you\u2019ve probably been travelling\u00a0 a lot to fulfill\u00a0 your passion. Among the top world famous spots, many of us have been to Mexico, Florida,\u00a0 the Lot region in France, and probably other places\u00a0 like the\u00a0 Bahamas, Thailand, Hungary, Spain and the Philippines\u00a0 for the most adventurous! These spots are on every cave diver\u2019s bucket list and, like every cave diving addict, we’ve been on each of these destination a fair amount of time and are always craving for new destinations to experience.<\/p>\n

Well , good news ! You can now add Indonesia on top of it! With more than 20 systems\u00a0 opened\u00a0 to cave travelers ranging from cavern to caves requiring multi stage or even rebreather and a huge diversity of cave types\u00a0 you will\u00a0 hardly get bored by this amazing location. And did i forget to say that and a few hundred\u00a0 are still yet to be explored ?<\/p>\n

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3) Indonesia\u2019s cave exploration potential is limitless.<\/h1>\n

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\"Shot<\/a>

Entrance of a Cave in Buton, shoot by a Djl drone. Photo by Pete Mesley.<\/p><\/div>\n

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For the numbers, Indonesia\u00a0\u00a0 is 5500km long, has more than 17.000 islands, 700 dialects and around 400 different ethnic\u00a0 groups. Cave wise, Indonesia\u00a0 has\u00a0 an estimated 150.000 square\u00a0 kilometers Karst surface area, spread\u00a0 across\u00a0 the whole\u00a0 country.<\/p>\n

At Sulawesi Dive Trek, we\u2019ve been\u00a0 exploring the Sulawesi Tenggara province for the past 4 years, poked our heads in a couple\u00a0 hundreds of cavities, from the smallest dirty pound to the biggest gigantic sinkholes with hundred meter high walls. We\u2019ve had many disappointments (explorers will understand what I am talking about) but we\u2019ve been awarded a few times with incredible discoveries: fracture caves, sea springs, shallow intimistic maze-shaped caves, outrageously deep prehistoric sinkholes, incredibly decorated and crystal-clear dissolution\u00a0 caves! The diversity of caves in the area is just mind blowing and\u00a0 turns every exploration\u00a0 trip into a very exciting\u00a0 adventure!<\/p>\n

And guess\u00a0 what, you can be the next explorer as there\u2019s more than a hundred other unexplored places! And we\u2019re only talking about one province! We have yet to discover South Sumatra, East Java & West Papua. The potential\u00a0 is such that we surely won\u2019t have enough of a lifetime to totally explore them. So, if you are an avid adventurer and want to join one of our exploration trips or just make one of your own, now is the best time! Click Here<\/a><\/strong> for more information about our past or upcoming explorations.<\/p>\n

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4) Indonesia is the best place to combine cave and ocean diving!<\/h1>\n

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\"Reef<\/a>

Wide angle photo – Wakatobi National Park. Photo by Lo\u00efc Merret.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Not going to lie, many of us also enjoy\u00a0 chilled\u00a0 dives\u00a0 on beautiful\u00a0 coral reefs (and some of us just hate the idea of being compromised with dirty fishes)\u00a0 and\u00a0 Indonesia is known to be\u00a0 the best country when it comes to open water diving. Situated in the heart of the coral golden\u00a0 triangle, you\u2019ll\u00a0 find the biggest\u00a0 biodiversity in the world\u00a0 and\u00a0 pristine\u00a0 reefs.<\/p>\n

Wakatobi\u00a0 National\u00a0 Park (located in South-East Sulawesi, Indonesia\u00a0 between\u00a0 the seas\u00a0 of Banda and Flores) is the third largest marine park in Indonesia\u00a0 and was named \u00ab Underwater Nirvana \u00bb by\u00a0 Jacques Cousteau. The 900,000 hectares of coral reefs host the highest numbers of reef corals and fish species in the world, respectively\u00a0 750 coral reef species\u00a0 (out of 850 in the world) and\u00a0 942 fish species, among which you will\u00a0 also\u00a0 spot dolphins,\u00a0 turtles,\u00a0 whales,\u00a0 sharks and a wide\u00a0 variety of rays.<\/p>\n

And cherry on the cake, it is next door from our amazing caves, so you can definitely think about organizing a trip that would combine fantastic cave diving with top class\u00a0 reef diving. No other\u00a0 place in the world\u00a0 will\u00a0 give\u00a0 you this opportunity.<\/p>\n

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5) Indonesian culture is amazing.<\/h1>\n

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\"Village<\/a>

People gathering around the cave to follow and help exploration. Photo by Pete Mesley.<\/p><\/div>\n

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What makes Indonesia\u00a0 such a nice travel destination ? There\u2019s\u00a0 only one answer: diversity.<\/p>\n