Jonaths Cottage Bunaken

We had a wonderful stay here for 4 nights. We were very well looked after by Rita, Edi & Donni as we were the only guests there after covid. We had nice chit chat in bahasa malay and limited English. The place is very basic, no WiFi and under some renovations as it is quite old and in need of upgrading but a great place with much potential. We have full board and Rita cooks very well. My favourite stray dog comes visiting at meal times and waits so patiently for food. The small beach area is ringed with mangrove trees and small boat can come right in during high tide. Outside of the mangrove area is a great snorkeling area but beware of currents. We were told that at the correct season there maybe views of dolphins. Unfortunately due to the pandemic and lack of visitors, many of the unemployed locals had to resort to fishing so there is hardly any big fish around near the island, only a great number of tiny fishes. We saw turtles near the sea wall that is famous in Bunaken and the coral reef is very healthy with lots of soft corals. The best way to see Bunaken would be to rent a motorcycle which only cost about 50k Rupiah a day. January is low season and very quiet which we liked but it rained quite a bit.