Dive Review of Pristine Paradise in
Indonesia/UnaUna

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Pristine Paradise: "Truly Pristine diving", Feb, 2020, by Patricia MacSween, AB, CA ( Reviewer 5 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 11437.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	This truly was pristine diving. The reefs were healthy and had huge sponges and acres of healthy coral. The coral at the Black Forest dive was so different from any other corals I’ve ever seen. Viz was often 100+ feet. The larger fish are still on the reefs. Saw so many large schools of large fish - Barracuda, sweet lips, snapper, giant trevally, blue fin trevally, etc. One dive site had huge school of very large barracuda circling close above, and this site is regularly known for that. Many times saw huge bump head parrotfish and Napoleon wrasse, as well as literally swarms of smaller varieties of fish. Only the occasional turtle. Although the current is generally mild, there were a couple of times it was stronger so that a reef hook would have been handy to be able to just relax and enjoy the show. Occasionally just in view of the dock a pod of several hundred dolphins would go by. Once from a return from a dive, jumped in the water near them. Although saw them underwater, they were too shy to let us get close. Hard to concentrate on the small stuff when so many schools of fish around! Diving set up required you to be agile and healthy. No nitro available. Divers entered from shore into the small boat, which generally took 4-5 divers, the guide and the boat driver. You could either walk on with your gear or they were very accommodating about carrying your gear on to the boat where you could put it on then. All exits were back roll, and to come back on boat all gear was removed first before climbing up the ladder. The boat captains were incredibly strong, and made our gear lift look like it weighed nothing at all! Never saw any other divers besides our group in the water, and only even saw one other dive boat with divers in it once Shore diving was only arranged for in the late afternoon or evening dive. House reef had lots to see. The accommodation is quaint and cozy as advertised. Such pristine diving means that there is not much development here. Separate little huts with not much water pressure and water only sun warmed. Internet and power is only for certain hours of the day. Communal eating table. Emiel (the owner) tried as hard as he could to be accommodating and all staff are very pleasant Very good value for the money paid. Overall though, very worth the effort and time to get to UnaUna for the diving
Websites	Pristine Paradise Pristine Paradise
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	St. Vincent, Bay Islands, Aruba, Cuba, Cayman, Bonaire, Belize, Cook Islands, Grenada, Hawaii, Yap, Palau, Truck, N. Sulawesi, Thailand, Indo....
Closest Airport	Gorontalo, North Sulawesi	Getting There	From Gorontalo, we arranged a road transfer to Marisa, and then a speed boat charter to UnaUna. Possible to take ferry, but very slow
Dive Conditions
Weather	dry	Seas	calm
Water Temp	83-86°F / 28-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	70-120 Ft/ 21-37 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Usual own dive profile and suggested one hour limit - encouraged to stay with dive guide
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	no
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	Schools	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	> 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There was no camera bucket on the boats, but as almost all dive sites were just minutes away, that was not a big issue. We had camera gear with us which the boat captain passed to us after water entry Not too many nudi’s here, although lots of tiny shrimp and crabs in the coral. The water was incredibly clear, and easy to take wide angle shots of the walls and corals. Virtually no plastic or garbage l Although their facilities are just getting underway and not really set up for photographers, the reefs and fish are SO great that photography here was amazing. I am now using GoPro (used to have Olympus 4/3. And my husband is using a big macro setup - both of very happy with results

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Dive Review of Pristine Paradise in Indonesia/UnaUna

Pristine Paradise: "Truly Pristine diving", Feb, 2020,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Pristine Paradise in
Indonesia/UnaUna