Oh yeah. I have seen reefs I coinsidered pristine before, but that was
either Raja Ampat today or other areas 15-20 years ago. Today throughout
Indonesia you can find pristine reef, but it is usually patches......around
WR the reefs are uniformly pristine....and not yet the target of the
aquarium hunters found in other parts of the Wakatobi Marine Park.

The one thing I am certain of is that this area will eventually be ruined by
divers, aquarium hunters and fishermen. Everything is. If Grand Cayman was
the same diving as it was 28 years ago, I wouldn't be spending the money to
go half way around the world. But everything gets ruined, and like Grand
Cayman, even a remote locale like Wakatobi will eventually as well.

I stayed in a beachfront bungalow, and it was ideal. Quiet, roomy enough,
comfortable bed, daily maid service, clean....very clean, I was very happy
with the accommodations. The last time I visited I stayed in the main house,
and would not do that again. I don't recall the price difference, but even
if it was a  xtra100 bucks a day I'd still opt for a bungalow...either beach
or garden.

Food was good and plentiful.

I'm from Greenwood Village, Colorado, so it cost me far more to get there
than to stay there so my opinion on cost is almost worthless. I felt it
indeed a solid value for the expense.

***BUT***...if you are looking for Mr. Big, or great wide angle vistas,
Wakatobi Resort will not satisfy totally. This is reef diving with a heavy
heavy dose of interesting critters, but it is the best I have ever
seen...short of Raja Ampat.

I stayed at Wakatobi Resort, which is on Onemobaa, which is a minor island
to Tomia (the "to" in Waka"to"bi). In 1999 I dived WMP from the Evening Star
II and while it was very good, it did not visit these same reefs and those
it did visit....of the coast of Wangi-Wangi and Kaledupa...were not as good
as those near Tomia and Binongko. The liveaboard option is growing stronger
and more numerous all the time and they may now be going further south, but
for my money and time I'd return to the land based resort. And I almost
always chose boats over land for diving.

Ya know, I don't. The resort is quite nice, in fact superb as far as dive
resorts go. The dive op is easy and efficient. If you have special dietary
needs e-mial crispin to let him know, because if you wait until on-island
they may not have the supplies/foods required. One could dive the hosue reef
for a week and never want to board a boat, though I would suggest taking the
boats most of the time and filling in the rest with the shore-diving.

The only negatives I can think of is:
1) time and cost to get there
2) if you are used to polished resorts with big city services, this will
diasppoint,
3) it can't last, if you don't see it in the next 10 years, it won't be
there in similar beauty (not because of the divers, but because as the
aquarium fish hunters kill the reefs North and move South they will
eventually kill off the area the resort is located. I don't think it can be
stopped).

It gets my haearty recommendation, without reservation. Bit remember it is a
dive destination, and for some people the ultimate in relaxation, but offers
almost nothing else in terms of vacation fun and activities. And they are
unabashedly proud of that fact :^)