Is Wakatobi good for beginner divers?

Yes, partly: 17 of the 45 dive sites we document are suited to Open Water divers, including The Zoo, Barracuda and Batfish Wall. The others need more experience or a higher certification.

What is the water temperature in Wakatobi?

The water is usually between 25 °C and 30 °C over the year.

What marine life can you see in Wakatobi?

Divers regularly see reef sharks, turtles, eagle rays, tuna, barracuda and trevally.

Wakatobi

Diving in Indonesia

45 documented dive sites, 17 of them for Open Water divers. Known for reef sharks, turtles and eagle rays.

Best months: Mar–Dec
Water: 25–30 °C
Levels: Open Water, Advanced, Experienced

Photo: Jenny from Taipei, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

When to go

Pick a month: the diving season, from published sources, and the typical weather.

Pick a month

Best
Good
Possible
Closed
Not documented yet

Wakatobi in October

Best season

Sea: 29 °C; at the surface
Air: 29 °C; 27 °C at night
Rain: 50 mm; one of the driest months
Wind: 14 km/h; on average

Typical weather, not a forecast: averages for 2021–2025 (air, rain, wind) and 2023–2025 (sea), data from Open-Meteo (ERA5 / Copernicus, Météo-France). Covers an area of roughly 10 to 25 km around the destination.

Resort dives year-round (no unsuitable season). Liveaboard.com calls March–December the best period because the wet season is January–February, so Jan–Feb are shown as good, not off-season. Water cooler June–October (25–27 °C, 5 mm suggested by the resort).

Source: wakatobi.com

Dive sites in Wakatobi

From the easiest to the most demanding. Levels with a dashed outline are estimates we are still verifying.

Open Water friendly

usual dive down to 18 m17 sites

Macro

down to 30 m

The Zoo

A patch reef near the resort named for its plethora of critters, one of the true macro dives of Wakatobi.

Open Water

Reef

down to 30 m

Barracuda

The far extension of the house reef: a casual dive with critters on the sandy patches between corals.

Open Water
Turtles

Wall

down to 40 m

Batfish Wall

Shallow colourful wall with deep crevasses, schools of barracudas, and snappers, groupers and nudibranchs on the table-coral reef top.

Open Water
Barracuda

Wall

down to 80 m

Black Forest

Shallow wall, slope and overhangs for an easy critter hunt, above a deep sheer wall with a forest of huge black corals for technical divers.

Open Water

Macro

down to 45 m

Brian's Choice

A sloping reef where critters hide amidst a wide range of coral species.

Open Water

Macro

down to 25 m

Dunia Baru

Easy site near the resort with usually little current, perfect for night dives; home to snake eels, mantis shrimps, crocodilefish and Spanish dancers.

Open Water

Wall

down to 60 m

Fan Garden

Long, healthy wall and steep slope covered in thousands of sea fans, with plenty of fish in the shallows.

Open Water

Wall

down to 60 m

Galaxy

Continuation of Starship: a casual dive along a diverse steep slope and a deep drop-off with large soft corals.

Open Water

Wall

down to 40 m

Inka's Palette

Gentle slope plunging into overhangs with very large tube sponges, huge leather corals and a colourful palette of hard and soft corals.

Open Water

Macro

down to 40 m

Spiral Corner

Slope and sandy bay with pygmy seahorses, Zanzibar shrimps and stonefish, the only place the resort knows for schooling pufferfish.

Open Water
Nudibranchs

Wreck

down to 25 m

Kulati Wreck

Tomia's only wreck: a coral-covered 30 m Japanese freighter with glassfish in the engine room and a school of batfish around it.

Open Water
Frogfish

Wall

down to 60 m

Pinki's Wall

Canyons lead to a sheer wall of overhangs hung with barrel sponges, gorgonians and colonial tunicates.

Open Water
Turtles

Pinnacle

down to 25 m

Roma

A coral-garden seamount where schools of fusiliers, snappers and redtooth triggerfish swirl around a compact central pinnacle.

Open Water
Snappers

Pinnacle

down to 30 m

Table Coral City

A seamount carpeted in table corals where chevron barracudas circle, giant trevallies hunt and anthias swirl over the top.

Open Water
Turtles

Reef

down to 40 m

Teluk Waitii

A sheltered-bay ridge often visited by passing tuna, giant trevallies and Napoleon wrasse, with ribbon eels deeper down.

Open Water
Tuna

Wall

down to 60 m

Valentine's Point

A shallow steep wall with overhangs, its face covered in soft and hard corals.

Open Water
Turtles

Wall

down to 55 m

Vivien's Reef

Wall and slope rich in soft corals where schooling batfish, snappers, jacks and groupers hunt.

Open Water
Trevally

For Advanced divers

usual dive down to 30 m24 sites

Reef

down to 50 m

Conchita

Three coral ridges with turtles on top, eagle rays circling the sandy bays and reef sharks cruising the deep bottom.

Advanced
Reef sharks

Wall

down to 85 m

Liabale East

Steep wall at the start of the Lintea-Tomia channel, with good current for pelagics, giant and bluefin trevally, Napoleon wrasse and turtles.

Advanced
Turtles

Cavern

down to 85 m

Liabale West

Start in a ravine of stacked caverns and overhangs, then drift along a fringing reef of wire corals, whip corals and colourful tube sponges.

Advanced
Turtles

Wall

down to 55 m

Malabea East

A steep wall of overhangs, canyons and crevasses covered in soft corals, sea fans and sponges, rated by the resort as perfect for macro photography.

Advanced

Wall

down to 50 m

Malabea West

Gentle wall of gorgonian fans and massive barrel sponges where schools of batfish and mackerel feed on plankton.

Advanced
Batfish

Wall

down to 60 m

Starship

A deep dive that parachutes down a ravine along a steep wall and overhang.

Advanced
Turtles

Reef

down to 60 m

Teluk Maya

On the north side of Lintea Island, shallow coral formations down to 12 m border a sandy bay on a gentle slope.

Advanced
Turtles

Wall

down to 40 m

Turkey Beach

Shallow wall at the resort's southern end, its cracks and crevasses giving way to a slope into the deep at around 15 m.

Advanced
Turtles

Wall

down to 40 m

Usuku Selatan

A gently sloping wall with ridges, sea fans and sponges, and possible sightings of turtles and eagle rays.

Advanced
Turtles

Wall

down to 40 m

Usuku Top

A big plateau carpeted in soft and hard corals, where juvenile fishes shelter in the shallows.

Advanced
Turtles

Wall

down to 40 m

Wakatobi House Reef

Shore-accessible reef with frogfish, blue ring octopus and ghost pipefish, and a sheer wall of hard and soft corals, sea fans and sponges.

Advanced
Stingrays

Pinnacle

down to 55 m

Blade

A chain of small seamounts in clear open water shaped like a serrated knife blade, covered in giant sponges, sea fans and crinoids.

Advanced

Pinnacle

down to 55 m

Ali Reef

Exposed seamount with table corals, tubastrea and gorgonians, colourful overhangs deeper down, and turtles and reef sharks.

Advanced
Reef sharks

Wall

down to 55 m

Cornucopia

Steep ridged slope turning into a sheer wall with overhangs full of huge fans, sponges, soft corals and dense black corals.

Advanced

Wall

down to 60 m

Fan 38 East

Wild topography of slopes, walls, overhangs, canyons and small caverns, with macro or larger animals depending on the current.

Advanced

Wall

down to 60 m

Fan 38 West

Exposed reef across the channel from the resort with dramatic topography and coral growth as far down as one can see.

Advanced

Pinnacle

down to 50 m

Gunung Waha

Current-exposed pinnacle topping out at 6 m where large tuna pass among schools of fish when the current runs.

Advanced
Tuna

Wall

down to 50 m

Lorenzo's Delight

Steep wall with forests of yellow wire corals, huge encrusting sponges and an overhang of big sea fans and soft corals near 18 m.

Advanced

Wall

down to 80 m

Magnifica

A steep reef slope with schooling snappers, big barracudas and mating cuttlefish, with anthias swirling over the top.

Advanced
Barracuda

Wall

down to 20 m

Pockets

A shallow fringing reef of crevassed walls and coral slopes, with more blue-spotted stingrays on its ledges than anywhere else.

Advanced
Stingrays

Reef

down to 40 m

Tanjung Lintea

Barrel-sponge slope, a deep sandy bay of garden eels and a coral garden of an unmatched number of hard coral species.

Advanced
Stingrays

Drift

down to 55 m

Tanjung Patok

The 'Wakatobi Express' drift along the house reef's soft-coral slopes, home to over 400 fish species.

Advanced
Turtles

Wall

down to 50 m

Trailblazer

A coral-crammed ridge known for large frogfish, then a fringing reef with pygmy seahorses and nudibranchs.

Advanced
Frogfish

Pinnacle

down to 30 m

Waitii Ridge

A coral ridge with turtles, then a seamount of anthias, banded sea snakes and rarities like mantis shrimp and stonefish.

Advanced
Turtles

For experienced divers

usual dive down to 40 m4 sites

Pinnacle

down to 45 m

Eel Valley

Small seamount whose sandy base at 40 m holds thousands of garden eels; dived only in calm conditions.

Experienced
Garden eels

Reef

down to 45 m

Channel Wakatobi

Current-swept channel for expert divers, with eagle rays, schooling barracudas and sharks patrolling the deeper parts.

Experienced
Sharks

Reef

down to 45 m

Mari Mabuk

A long ridge of sea fans and soft corals swept by frequent swift current, with ribbon eels and leaf fish on the saddle.

Experienced
Nudibranchs

Wall

down to 40 m

Waha Top

A reef jutting 100 m into open sea with a sheer drop-off and deep overhangs, often with sleeping whitetip reef sharks.

Experienced
Whitetip reef sharks

Marine life

When the big encounters happen, month by month.

Species	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Whale sharksSource: liveaboard.com
Manta raysSource: liveaboard.com
Pilot whaleSource: liveaboard.com

Peak season
Seen

Also reported here, season not documented yet:

Reef sharks
Turtles
Eagle rays
Tuna
Barracuda
Trevally
Cuttlefish
Frogfish
Ghost pipefish
Mandarinfish
Nudibranchs
Octopus
Pygmy seahorses
Batfish
Garden eels
Napoleon wrasse
Sea snakes
Dolphins

Where is Wakatobi?

View on OpenStreetMapLocation: Wakatobi Regency (Wikipedia)Map: Natural Earth

Wakatobi: frequently asked questions

When is the best time to dive Wakatobi?: The best months to dive Wakatobi are Mar–Dec. Resort dives year-round (no unsuitable season). Liveaboard.com calls March–December the best period because the wet season is January–February, so Jan–Feb are shown as good, not off-season. Water cooler June–October (25–27 °C, 5 mm suggested by the resort).
Is Wakatobi good for beginner divers?: Yes, partly: 17 of the 45 dive sites we document are suited to Open Water divers, including The Zoo, Barracuda and Batfish Wall. The others need more experience or a higher certification.
What is the water temperature in Wakatobi?: The water is usually between 25 °C and 30 °C over the year.
What marine life can you see in Wakatobi?: Divers regularly see reef sharks, turtles, eagle rays, tuna, barracuda and trevally.

About this page

Seasons and marine life come from the sources below. Site levels and depths marked as estimated come from our original catalogue and are being checked one by one. Conditions change: always confirm with a local dive centre.

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Photo: Sarah Lee on Unsplash

Photo credits

Beach in Wakatobi National Park, Jenny from Taipei, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Sunlight and bubbles in deep blue water, Sarah Lee, Unsplash License, on Unsplash