Our ‘signature dish’: the House Reef
Our guests don’t have to go far to enjoy one of the finest dive sites in Indonesia. Wakatobi Resort’s House Reef has been named the world’s best shore dive. This site is a favorite with our guests, who will discover a diverse wealth of marine life and underwater landscapes just a few fin strokes from the beach. In fact, the House Reef top is so prolific that many photographers run out of dive time before they run out of subject matter. The House Reef’s drop-off is just 80 meters in front of the resort, making it easy for divers to make a wall dive followed by a shallow safety stop day or night.
The House Reef can be explored at any tide. There are periods of slack water at both high and low tide, while mild to medium currents can run along the outer reef slope during tide changes. This allows divers the opportunity to drift along the reef face at various speeds while exploring its beauty. At high tide you can enter or exit the water at numerous points along the beach, while at low tide the most convenient entry and exit points are the jetty ladder or the canyon (known as “second gully”) in front of the resort restaurant. When currents on the House Reef are flowing on the stronger side, our dive center team will make recommendations for alternatives that might be more suitable to each individual guest.
A lush sea grass environment followed by vibrant corals
At several shallow areas to either side of the resort’s jetty, divers and snorkelers will first gently drift over an area completely covered in lush sea grass. This is a superb macro site to find a myriad variety of wondrous critters. Then, some 40 to 50 meters offshore, coral heads begin to appear, and the outer part of the House Reef is completely covered with carpets of both hard and soft corals. At it’s outer edge, the reef drops abruptly from depths of less than two meters to more than 40, providing divers with a chance to perform multi-level dives and extend bottom times accordingly.
Access more of the House Reef with a taxi boat dive
Our House Reef continues to both sides of the resort to encompass an area more than three miles in length that includes shallow grass beds, coral heads and slopes, wall sections, overhangs and ridges. We offer a taxi boat service that allows guests to explore the House Reef up to 500 meters north of the jetty, a section, which is beyond normal swimming range of the resort. Sites on the outer edges of the House Reef are accessed by our regular dive boats. Simply let one of our dive center team know that you and a buddy (or a group of up to six divers) wish to go out with a taxi boat. From here our team will handle all logistics, assisting with every need. Once at the drop point a simple back roll over the side will begin your dive while the taxi boat returns to the beach. The dive location will be chosen so that the current will bring you back to the resort. You can then exit the water at the end of our jetty (or on any part of the beach) where our staff will be standing by to assist with cameras and dive gear.
All dives made on the House Reef are monitored by our shore-based staff via both a log-in procedure and visual monitoring. The team stands ready to come to the aid of any diver who is unable to return to the exit point, or signals that they wish to end their dive and receive a pick up. Private guides may be available to accompany divers on beach dives and taxi boat dives. Taxi boat service is available from 6:00 am until 5:30 pm, and night dives are also monitored by our shore-based staff until 10:00 pm.
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“The staff went above and beyond to ensure our twin daughters were cared for, especially with their food allergies. The dive guides ensured great dives, pointing out sea life (pygmy seahorses) and exceeded our expectations! The dive sites are some of the best in the world. The resort ambience is world-class. Amazing food, comfortable villas, and the care that went into cleanliness was much appreciated! We will be back, see… “The Dive Sites are Some of the Best in the World”
