Buyat is about five hours from Manado located south of Lembeh. It used to be a gold mining operation that shut down recently. Buyat is relatively unknown destination for scuba diving. But the area is actually having a great diving potential. There are around 25 dive sites around in the area.
Being the neighbor of Lembeh, Buyat doesn’t share the same seascape scenery with Lembeh. Buyat’s waters offer divers a view of hard boulder coral in shallow water, various type of sea floor, reef floor decorated with crinoid and sponges, foliose garden with fishes swimming around, and steep slope covered with abundance healthy coral.
Buyat Bay is one site that is pleasant for divers beginners. The sandy seabed is decorated with hard corals where colorful fishes damsel, anthias, butterfly fish and others live. Currents are sometimes appear but not very strong. Here you may luckily spot the Bargibanti Pigmy Seahorse, Denise Pigmy Seahorse, and various types of nudibranch.
A plenty number of sea fan can be seen in a dive site called 30 Goat Slope. Here you can also try your luck in finding the pigmy sea horse and spot some eagle rays. If you want to see sharks and napoleon wrasse, you may find them at the site named Napo Gorango. For those who are longing for muck dive, don’t miss the site called 50-50. Here you may encounter mimic octopus, Ambon Scorpion Fish, Ghost pipefish, Seahorses, and Frogfish.
To reach Buyat takes 3 hours drive from Manado or 4 hours by speedboat from Lembeh. Buyat is for those who liked diving in remote area, away from the busy town life and various challenges to be in the area. Until the time of writing there is only one dive operator who traveled to Buyat, but this operator is a highly experienced dive operators in North Sulawesi.
