Fukui Point

Fukui Point is one of Bunaken’s most beloved reef dives — a gently sloping garden of hard corals and staghorn formations that gives way to a point where pelagic life regularly makes an appearance.

Overview

Located on the western side of Bunaken Island, Fukui Point is a well-rounded site that blends shallow reef garden diving with the thrill of open-water encounters. Unlike the dramatic vertical walls that define many of Bunaken’s most famous sites, Fukui slopes more gradually, making it an excellent choice for beginners, snorkellers, and divers who prefer reef-top exploration to wall-hugging depth. It sits at the corner of the island, where two currents converge and attract pelagic species into surprisingly accessible water.

Named after a Japanese diver who fell in love with the site in the 1980s and helped establish the early dive tourism infrastructure around Bunaken, Fukui Point carries a certain nostalgic prestige among long-time visitors to the park.

What to Expect

The reef crest runs at 3–8 metres and is carpeted with healthy staghorn and branching acropora corals. This is prime territory for green and hawksbill turtles, which are almost always present — often two or three individuals can be spotted in a single dive. Bumphead parrotfish frequently graze the shallower reef, their distinctive humped foreheads and loud crunching audible from several metres away.

At the point itself, where the two wall sections meet, current upwellings bring nutrient-rich water that attracts schooling fish in abundance: bigeye trevally, dogtooth tuna, and occasionally the park’s resident Napoleon wrasse cruise the open water. Blacktip and whitetip reef sharks are reliably present around the point on ebbing tides. The 20–30 metre range at the base of the slope hosts large gorgonian fans and scattered coral bommies that serve as cleaning stations.

Conditions

• Depth range: 3–30 m
• Visibility: 15–25 m
• Currents: Light to moderate on the reef flat; stronger at the point during tidal changes
• Water temperature: 27–30°C
• Best season: May–October; the sheltered western aspect makes this diveable year-round

Tips

Fukui Point is an ideal first dive for visitors arriving in Bunaken — it quickly demonstrates the park’s biodiversity without overwhelming. Morning dives catch the bumphead parrotfish at their most active. Turtle interactions are best kept passive; the turtles here are well-habituated to divers but will ascend for air regardless, so be ready to move out of their ascent path.

Sources: Murex Resorts - Diving Bunaken Guide, Two Fish Divers - Bunaken Dive Sites, Bluewater Dive Travel - Manado Bunaken, Dive The World - Bunaken Manado, ZuBlu - Beautiful Bunaken Guide, Murex Resorts - Diving Bunaken, Tasik Ria Dive Sites Bunaken, ZuBlu - Best Dive Sites in Bunaken, Dive The World - Bunaken National Park, Underwater Asia - Bunaken Diving Guide. Last updated 2026-04-04.