Gangga Island Resort; is a five star resort which lives up to its status.

Gangga is a part of the Sangihe Islands that are situated one and a half hours car and boat ride east of Manado (nearest airport) Indonesia. The islands, some of which have not yet be explored or inhabited, are distributed between the Celebes and the Philippines. They are of volcanic origin, covered with a rainforest type of vegetation, surrounded by coral reef and beautiful white sandy beaches. Gangga is home to two small villages called Gangga Satu and Gangga Dua and the inhabitants are Bajau fishermen, they live in the simplicity of their culture and traditions and are of a very friendly nature.

We planned our visit to this area to film the very rich and diverse macro subjects and world famous reefs in pristine condition, to do this from a five star resort was a bonus. The accommodation were spacious semi-detached wooden huts with a thatched roof, typical of the area. We had a good sized bedroom with separate shower and toilet facilities, a fridge for the gin and tonics and a kettle for tea making, mosquito nets over the two beds and a small table and two chairs. A nice touch was the large basket of fruit in the room, to greet us on our arrival. The decking out side was big enough for a drying easel and two loungers, plus a table and two chairs.

The view from the decking was stunning, sand and sea as far as you could see with the main island and the volcano in the distance. The food was five star, four courses at every sitting and a wide choice on the menu to suit all tastes. A large central bar and lots of seating enabled guests to meet in a traditional island setting. The walls were covered with framed pictures by previous guests taken in the surrounding seas. A great inspiration to the underwater photographic guests and a reminder of the incredible diversity of creatures in this area. If you needed extra relaxation after a hard days diving, then you could take advantage of the massage center, less than a stones throw from the beautiful swimming pool adjacent to the beach and sea.

The dive boats were of wooden construction and large enough for 12 divers and two dive guides. they were easy to get in and out of fully kited. The bow section was for the sun worshipers, the mid section was covered in and had tea and water, then fruit and sometimes cookies after the first dive. There were three fresh water tanks for the cameras and 'dry' lockers for your clothes The rear section was for kiting-up with tanks and large bins for your small items. The sun dried the suits between dives. The dive plan was two in the morning and one in the afternoon and if you could manage it, a night dive. Most divers averaged three a day.

The dive guides were fantastic in finding minute creatures and were very patient as we took our time to line up a good camera angle, while avoiding delicate areas of the reef. We were often the last in to lunch as our dive times became longer by the day. Yet we didn't receive a single justified complaint, even after a 97 minute dive.
A final nice touch was the dive log given to us at the end of our stay providing, day, time, depth and dive site log.

If you want to visit Gangga from the UK then give Diving World a call. We did one week at KBR based in the Lembeh Straight, just a boat ride away, and the second week at Gangga, I would recommend that split:
www.diving-world.com and check the resort at www.ganggaisland.com

See some of the images taken on this combined trip with Lembeh.

Nudibranchs Click>>>

Other creatures Click >>>