gangga island resort

For the next week we went to Gangga Island. On the tip of a small island near Manado in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, lies Gangga Island Resort & Spa. The resort’s fifteen wooden bungalows are discreetly set on the edge of a long, white sand beach in the shade of coconut trees.

We got picked up at the airport and on the way with the car we went to an indonesian fuel station as well. that was quite interesting, because they have the fuel in old 2liter glass coca cola bottels. i think u can imagine how long it takes to fill a tank ;) after this experience we had a 30minutes ride to an harbour where we went on a jetty which brought us to the island. on the jetty we didn’t get the cocktail which our agency had promised us, but we got a bottle of water – which we thankfully drank at once.

the resort is very nice. from the jetty you walk, passing the diving center on the right hand side, to the reception where u get your key, the papers for the dive center to sign and a cocktail. in front of the reception is the bar (with a very weird bartender) and right hand side is the restaurant, which offers european cuisine. i liked it a lot, but gerhard was unsatisfied. he wished for hot spicey indonesian food and got everyday extra chilli and sweet soy sauce. after a while even without asking for it.

the accomodation is very comfortable! with huge and cosy beds, air conditioning, and a patio with a sunbed, a table and a chair. furthermore, each room has its own space on the beach, where u can find two other sunbeds and a windless area.

Unfortunately, sarah and i were sick for almost the whole week so we can’t say that much about the dives, however, we really enjoyed our stay (especially the hbo channel ;)) the staff is really nice and very concerned about the guests. they even brought a doctor to us, gave us medicine and asked quite often we needed anything else.

a negative point was that we didn’t know before that we’d have to pay extra for the new year’s eve dinner, which was another 90 bucks each. so not that cheap! but therefore very delicious!

gangga island resort is certainly a cosy place to sty in north sulawesi. especially for those families or couples with non-divers! we met a lot of people there who didn’t dive but enjoyed their stay as much as we did.