Sachiko's

Sachiko’s is a dramatic wall dive on Bunaken Island’s north-east coast, renowned for its near-vertical drop, exceptional soft coral growth, and regular sightings of large pelagics in the blue water alongside the wall.

Overview

Named after a Japanese diver who championed the site in the early days of Bunaken diving, Sachiko’s sits on the island’s windward side where upwellings and stronger currents feed the wall’s extraordinary soft coral growth. This is considered one of Bunaken’s wilder wall dives — conditions are more variable than the south-coast sites, and the wall’s character is more rugged, with dramatic undercuts, deep crevices, and sections where the face is essentially vertical from the waterline to beyond recreational depth. The extra exposure is rewarded with consistently spectacular marine life in the water column.

What to Expect

The dive begins along a wall crest at 3–5 metres, then drops away sharply. Between 10 and 35 metres, the wall face is draped in soft corals in every shade of orange, yellow, and purple. Large sea fans with wingspans over a metre are embedded in the wall at multiple depths, hosting tiny pygmy seahorses that patient divers and sharp-eyed guides can locate. Barrel sponges of impressive size emerge from the wall at 20–30 metres.

Sachiko’s is particularly noted for its pelagic encounters. Open-water cruising by dogtooth tuna, rainbow runner, and big-eye trevally schools is common along the wall face, and Napoleon wrasse regularly appear from the blue. Whitetip reef sharks rest on ledges in the 30–40 metre range. The site’s strong point is the variety it packs into a single dive: coral-encrusted wall, overhangs with invertebrate life, schooling reef fish, and open-water pelagics — all accessible without exceeding 40 metres.

Conditions

• Depth range: 3–40+ m
• Visibility: 15–30 m
• Currents: Moderate to strong; site faces prevailing swells on the north-east coast
• Water temperature: 27–29°C
• Best season: April–October (calmer north-east coast conditions)

Tips

Sachiko’s rewards divers who can hold a mid-water position without touching the wall — the soft coral formations are spectacular but extremely fragile. Surface conditions can be choppy; a negative entry directly to depth is often recommended. Guides frequently take divers past 30 metres here given the shark activity, so plan gas consumption carefully. A torch is invaluable for illuminating the coral colours that disappear in ambient light below 15 metres.

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.