Join This Amazing 20 Day Safari Snorkeling Three Outstanding Places in the Renowned Coral Triangle
April 14 – May 3, 2026
September 22 – October 11, 2026
This Bunaken Bangka and Raja Ampat snorkeling trip is an excellent opportunity to snorkel some of the best places in the world. Three fantastic resorts will serve as your home while you explore the reefs in North Sulawesi and Raja Ampat, in Indonesia. Your group of 16 snorkelers will be delighted to see abundant hard and soft coral reefs full of colorful reef fish, sea turtles, manta rays, octopus, cuttlefish and so much more.
Your first stop is Bunaken National Marine Park in North Sulawesi, and you will be staying right in the park at the remarkable Siladen Resort. You can expect to snorkel shallow reefs and walls fringing the islands and the Sulawesi “mainland” inside the park. Reefs have a great mix of soft and hard corals and have many fish in good variety. Bunaken is known for its many turtles, which you will see on nearly every snorkel. It is also an area known for tiny gorgeous creatures like nudibranchs and has innumerable anemones with resident colorful anemonefish.
Your second stop on this tour is the small island of Bangka off the northeast coast of Sulawesi. This area’s gorgeous reefs are dominated by hard coral and slope away from the islands. You will be delighted by the diverse population of fish and sea creatures that greets you here, with possibilities of spotting Leaf Scorpionfish, frogfish, White and Black Tip Reef Sharks, nudibranchs, and dugongs. You will be staying at the newly renovated Coral Eye Resort, which has a wonderful house reef. In fact there is the possibility of coming across the resident dugong on the house reef.
Your third and final destination will be Raja Ampat where you will stay at the wonderful Papua Explorers Resort. This area is known to have the highest biodiversity in the world. Located near the Dampier Strait, you will see lush colorful soft corals, sea fan forests, and hard coral plateaus. You will have many chances to see manta rays, wobbegong (carpet) sharks and epaulette (walking) sharks, as well as several types of turtles, and a variety of colorful reef fish.
This trip is being run by our partner and friend Ben and his team. Based in the U.K., they are experts in the Coral Triangle, run amazing excursions, and have a great appreciation for the underwater world.
This small group trip is exclusively for snorkelers. It is a unique opportunity to experience a 20 day guided remote adventure filled with fantastic reefs, and beautiful landscapes. Each of the resorts you will be staying at are exceptional and unique, with fantastic food and service.
Watch This Video for a Quick Peek at What You Can Expect
The Bunaken Bangka and Raja Ampat Snorkeling Trip Itinerary and Map
Within the famous Coral Triangle, the islands of Siladen (in Bunaken National Park) and Bangka (off North Sulawesi), and the region known as Raja Ampat are in Indonesia.
After your international flight into Jakarta International Airport (CGK), you will check into a comfortable hotel to relax and recover from your long journey. There will be a group dinner to welcome and introduce everyone.
The next morning you will meet your group for breakfast, then check out and take your group flight to Manado in North Sulawesi. You will be met there by staff from the Siladen Resort, and transferred by car and boat to the resort.
After your five night stay at Siladen, you will be transferred by boat to Coral Eye Resort on Bangka Island, as will your luggage. During the journey, you will snorkel two spots. Upon arrival at Coral Eye Resort, you will check into your new villas for another five night stay.
After checking out of Coral Eye, you will be transferred to mainland Sulawesi for a tour through the Tangkoko National Park. After that tour you will be transferred back to Manado for a one night stay in a comfortable hotel close to the airport.
The next morning your group will catch an early flight to Sorong, where you will be met by staff from the Papua Explorers Resort and transferred there by boat.
After your seven night stay at Papua Explorers Resort, you will be transferred back to the Sorong Airport. You will then fly with your group to Jakarta where the tour ends.
About Snorkeling Bunaken and Siladen Resort
The snorkeling in Bunaken National Marine Park is full of colorful vibrant reefs with high biodiversity. The 343 square miles of marine park boast an astounding variety of hard and soft corals, many sea turtles, giant clams, butterflyfish, triggerfish, and a variety of other fish species. Bubble and carpet anemones with red, orange, and yellow clownfish are everywhere. And watch for the tiny bright spots that are nudibranchs on the reefs.
There are some currents in the area, but your guides will make sure that you are snorkeling with them and will not need to swim against them.
The island reefs start very shallow near shore, then drop off into steep walls that plunge down into great ocean depths. These depths create ocean currents that bring cooler waters and nutrients, which is one reason why the reefs are so full of life and healthy.
There will be four full days of snorkeling, at different unique reef areas. You can also snorkel from the nearby house reef anytime you choose.
The Siladen Resort snorkel boats are large wooden boats with shade covered areas for getting on your gear, and also a sun deck. You will also find a toilet and fresh water soak and rinse tanks on board. Exiting the water is via a ladder on the side of the boat.
When it comes to an exclusive island experience Siladen Resort is hard to beat. Siladen Resort and Spa is set around a large pool, with villas dotted around the manicured garden and beachfront, each with ensuite facilities, air conditioning and private patio. The resort faces west towards the mountain island of Manado Tua and the gorgeous sunsets.
The private, well-appointed Beach View and Garden View Villas are either on or meters from a white sand beach with beautiful views.
The villas have en-suite open-air bathrooms, air-conditioning, a desk, TV, and private patios.
The restaurant is usually set up under the trees on the beach for lunch and dinner and in an open air dining room for breakfast. It serves an excellent and delicious mix of international and local dishes, usually buffet style. They are able to accommodate guests with special dietary requirements with prior notice.
There is a bar next to the pool with access to the beach where you can have a drink after your long day of snorkeling.
The resort has a full service spa where you can choose to pamper yourself with a massage or scrub.
About Snorkeling Bangka and Coral Eye Resort
For the next section of your trip you will be staying at the Coral Eye Resort on Bangka Island. You will have a chance to explore the reefs around the island of Bangka and other islands in the small archipelago. You will find several different habitats from beautiful pristine coral reef slopes, to sandy slopes, mangroves, and walls. These areas support a diverse population of fish and creatures. You will have three days of two snorkel boat sessions per day, plus a full day trip to Lembeh Strait with three snorkel sessions.
Expect to see coral covered rocks over black volcanic sand, inhabited by many fascinating invertebrates and fish. Hard and soft coral reefs that fringe these islands provide a home for a high diversity of fish and creatures including sea fans, beautiful sponges, cuttlefish, octopus, razorfish, and schooling juvenile barracuda. You may explore the roots of the mangroves that are home to sponges, flatworms, snails and small fish. And offshore the mangroves are seagrass beds that attract feeding dugongs.
Coral Eye Resort has a wonderful house reef that is lit perfectly by the late afternoon sun. It can be accessed at any tide either from the beach or the end of the jetty. You can snorkel the house reef to your heart’s content. While it is rare to be able to snorkel with dugongs, there is a resident one that inhabits the shallow waters surrounding the resort, so chances are a bit higher here for checking this sighting off your bucket list.
One day you will depart a little earlier than normal and make your way to the critter capital of the world, Lembeh Strait. This will be a full-day snorkeling excursion, including two morning snorkels, looking for all the weird and wonderful creatures Lembeh has become famous for. Then you will have a nice lunch at the Solitude Resort, followed by an afternoon snorkel, before making your way back to Bangka.
Your daily snorkel boat from Coral Eye Resort will be a large wooden boat built in the local style with plenty of space to gear up and to store items that need to stay dry. Each boat has a wooden top for sun protection. The boats are equipped with a marine toilet as well as a ladder to exit the water.
The Coral Eye Resort started life as a marine outpost. It has been retrofitted to be a unique boutique resort. The main building houses some guest rooms along with the lounge and dining area, a bar, a small library, a souvenir shop, and other functional rooms. There is a large terrace on the second level that overlooks the ocean, which is a nice place to relax after a long day of snorkeling.
Your group will be occupying the separate Beach View and Garden View Villas. The interior of these villas are the same. All villas have an open-air en-suite bathroom with a hot shower, air-conditioning, ceiling fan, high-quality mattresses and cotton linen, and mosquito nets on the windows. The villas have a water dispenser and coffee and tea facilities as well as a mini bar. There is 24-hour electricity and free internet connection.
The Garden View Villas sit behind the Beach View Villas, but have all the same amenities, except the view of the beach.
Coral Eye’s restaurant offers a selection of seasonal dishes combining cuisines of Indonesia and the Mediterranean. Meals are eaten communally at the central table in the main building, encouraging socializing with your fellow guests. They can cater to most dietary limitations with prior notice.
Jungle Tour in Tangkoko National Park
After leaving Coral Eye, you will have a half day tour of Tangkoko National Park. On this trek through the jungle, you can hope to encounter Celebes crested macaques, various species of hornbill, tarsiers, and the very rare Sulawesi bear cuscus.
About Snorkeling Raja Ampat and Papua Explorers Resort
You will be staying at the Papua Explorers Resort for seven nights. The resort is located in Raja Ampat, Indonesia, in the Coral Triangle, which is the most bio-diverse marine environment in the world.
You may have heard of the incredible underwater biodiversity of the Coral Triangle area of Indonesia. Well, Raja Ampat is known to have the most species of marine life in all of the Coral Triangle. There are nearly 1,500 species of reef fish, 600 species of hard corals, seven giant clams species, seven species of sea turtles, and 57 species of mantis shrimp. And pelagic life is abundant in the area.
You will have unlimited access to the house reef and six days of three boat snorkel sessions per day. On both the house reef, and the many other reefs close by that you will visit by boat, you can expect to see healthy coral gardens dense with hard and soft corals in perfect snorkeling depths. You will find large volumes and varieties of fish schools, and will have good chances seeing bigger fish such as manta rays, reef sharks, and schools of barracuda and jacks.
Why is there so much life around the Papua Explorers Resort? The resort is located on the edge of the Dampier Strait, in the central region of a marine protected area. The strait pumps nutrient rich waters through the area which supports an abundance of marine life, large and small.
You will experience a great variety of underwater ecosystems, all close to the resort, from shallow fringing reefs to sea mounts, walls, mangroves fringed by reef, and manta cleaning stations.
Beneath the surface swarms of small fish such as damsels, fusiliers, and anthias mill about on the reef flats, while not too far away large schools of tuna, trevally, and mackerel congregate. Spadefish, surgeonfish, and barracuda gather under docks and around reef points, while angelfish and butterflyfish decorate both the reef flats and jagged coral towers. Expect fields of soft corals like you’ve never seen them before, and hard coral reefs are healthy and abundant as well.
Papua Explorers has a large fiberglass speedboat with a full canopy that is used for the daily snorkel excursions. It has plenty of room to store items that need to stay dry, like cameras. The boat has a large wooden ladder, but no toilet on board.
At Papua Explorers Resort your overwater bungalow is built in traditional Papuan style with local materials, but with modern comforts. All bungalows are equipped with a bathroom, including a shower with hot water, a ceiling fan, a mosquito net, a working desk, and a comfortable seating area.
The rooms do not have air-conditioning, but with the rooms being over the water and with the ceiling fans, they are cool. Enjoy sunsets and sunrises on your spacious veranda, with a hammock and comfortable lounge chairs. You also have your own stairs down into the sea. There is satellite based WiFi internet available in the common areas.
The resort restaurant also sits over the water, and is an excellent place to view the stunning surroundings. You will be served traditional Indonesian cuisine as well as international comfort foods and snacks between snorkels. The resort can accommodate most special diets such as vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and so on. But, it is a remote destination and specific food items may not be available.
Trip Details and How to Sign Up
This is a small group trip and we expect it to fill quickly. Your spot is reserved with your deposit. Contact Ben below for deposit instructions.
Trip Dates:
April 14 – May 3, 2026 – Available.
September 22 – October 11, 2026 – Available.
Trip Price:
$9950 US per person (Twin/Double Share) Garden View Villas at Siladen and Coral Eye, Deluxe Overwater Bungalow at Papua Explorers
$10450 US per person (Twin/Double Share) Beach View Villas at Siladen and Coral Eye, Deluxe Overwater Bungalow at Papua Explorers
Single Person Supplement: $2750 US
The initial deposit for this trip is $800 US per person. At twelve months before departure there is a $1000 US per person interim deposit. At six months before departure there is a $1000 US per person interim deposit. The final balance will be due three months before departure. A few payment options are available including debit and credit cards.
Individual travelers – Ben will happily find someone of the same sex for you to share a room with to avoid the single person supplement. If he cannot find you someone, no single supplement surcharge will apply.
Inclusions:
- 1 night at a Jakarta hotel with dinner and breakfast
- All flights, transfers and connections, includes 44lbs (20kg) luggage allowance on flights – Jakarta – Manado – Bangka – Manado – Sorong – Papua Explorers – Sorong – Jakarta
- 5 nights Siladen Resort in a Garden View or Beach View Villa, Double Occupancy with full board
- 9 boat snorkel sessions over 4 days in Bunaken
- Boat transfer from Siladen to Coral Eye, including 2 snorkel sessions
- 5 nights Coral Eye Resort in a Garden View or Beach View Villa, Double Occupancy with full board
- 9 boat snorkel sessions over 4 days in Bangka
- Half day Tangkoko National Park tour
- 1 night at a Manado Hotel with dinner and breakfast
- 7 nights Papua Explorers Resort in a Deluxe Overwater Bungalow, Double Occupancy with full board
- 18 boat snorkel sessions over 6 days in Raja Ampat
- Unlimited house reef snorkeling at all resorts
- Local snorkel guides
- Services of guide from Ben’s team and local snorkel guides throughout
- Bunaken and Raja Ampat marine park fees
Exclusions:
- International flights and visas
- Snorkeling equipment rental
- Gratuities
- Travel insurance (recommended)
- Health insurance (compulsory)
- Soft drink and alcoholic beverages, laundry and general sundries
- Spa services
Trip Organizers
Ben and his U.K. based team are the organizers and leaders of this trip (more about them below). Galen and Nicole from TropicalSnorkeling.com are promoting this trip, but all signups, trip organization and payments are made to and managed by Ben’s team. TropicalSnorkeling.com does receive a referral fee in exchange for promoting the trip, at no extra cost to attendees.
How to Sign Up or Learn More?
Use the contact form below to contact Ben and his team to request more information about them and express your interest in signing up. They will get back to you shortly with full details.
More About Ben and Our Partnership
Ben (pictured with Nicole) is our friend and snorkeling trips partner. He and his team are based in the U.K. and have over 20 years of experience guiding in Asia and beyond. He has been running his own business since 2010 and is primarily offering guided snorkeling trips, but he started with diving. He began offering snorkeling specific trips because he was aware that snorkelers often get the short end of the stick when thrown in with divers. He and his team love the freedom and low stress of snorkeling, and are very aware of the different needs of snorkelers versus divers, in terms of the reef depth, and calm surface conditions needed.
From our experience going on some of his snorkeling trips we found them very well organized, the guides were fantastic and very helpful, and the underwater experiences were exceptional. Snorkeling groups really get the benefit of all of Ben and his guides’ years of experience in the water, and with different resorts and liveaboards.
All of his trips are small groups of 12-18 guests, or with a similar ratio of snorkelers to guides. These are premium trips including nearly everything you will need, accommodation, meals, transportation, and more.
His company is licensed and insured. Barring extreme circumstances they do not cancel trips.
Learn More About the Resorts
Papua Explorers Resort Website