Buton Island is becoming an increasingly popular scuba diving spot in its own right, and this is not surprising since it is so close to the world famous diving region of Wakatobi. Due to the fact that Wakatobi is famous for its impressive diving and its location in the heart of the Coral Triangle, it makes sense that its close neighbors will be involved in this huge amount of biodiversity and will do well to bet on the discovery of big diving. What surprises me is that Bud has not yet been discovered as the top spot for diving.
So why is Bud becoming an increasingly popular diving destination?
Probably because in the last couple of years, some witty divers living on Buton Island are tired of going to Wakatobi to dive every weekend and decide to start exploring coral reefs a little closer to home. They were delighted with what they found, and then began to invite other diver friends to visit and explore the various dive sites that Bouton has to offer. Some of them have since been launched as small dive operators and have also begun to promote this area.
Another reason for the popularity of the Bud in the Indonesian dive community, at least, is its availability. Divers from the biggest cities of Indonesia, such as Jakarta, Surabaya and Bandung, often do not have enough free time to visit Wakatobi, access to which is a bit more difficult, so they often prefer long weekend dives to Bouton where they get great diving and can return home on time for work on monday morning.
The international diving community is also starting to pay attention to diving, which Bouton has to offer. Divers visiting Wakatobi are often forced to drive to Baw Baw, and it becomes popular when they jump and spend several days diving around Bouton. What for? Because it's amazing that the dive experience you get is very different from the wakatobi diving experience. Many species of coral, fish, and invertebrates, which are usually seen when diving around Bud, are in fact very different from those that are observed when diving around Wakatobi and vice versa.
So what is the difference? In a nutshell, Wakatobi is mostly dancing on the wall, while Bud has a lot of sandy slopes, because the species in these two areas are completely different. There are diving sites around Bouton, where you can see a lot of reef sharks and pelagic fish, and although you can also see them in Wakatobi, they are often hard to find. There are also dive sites that offer great dives and are always popular with photographers. Favorite things that divers come specifically to dive around Bud; elusive mandarin fish, frogfish, scorpion fish, trumpet fish, nudibranchitis, turtles, white-tipped reef sharks and black reefs and eagle rays.
So I take it on why Bud is a popular diving destination. If you dive in Wakatobi and have time, try to include Bouton on your trip, as this will really offer you a more complete immersion in southeast Sulawesi. Alternatively, if you do not have enough time to visit Wakatobi, Bouton offers an excellent alternative for top class diving.
