This week in Bunaken… Five different species of sea turtle are among the marine life Bunaken Marine Park is famous for and recently we’ve seen particularly big ones, true ‘battleship turtles in Bunaken’. They’re one of our guests’ favourite photography subjects. These past few days, they were in for a treat.

Jimmy from Sweden, who kindly donated this picture, was one of a number of keen photographers visiting Two Fish Bunaken. Equally equipped with serious setups of underwater cameras and strobes were repeat guests from Australia: Chris and his daughter Kaitlinn returned from Lembeh for a few more days here with family friend Ernie who certainly contributed most jokes to the conversation around the dinner table! Singaporean Sandy on the other hand was happily snapping away with her compact.

But back to turtles – why is the area such a haven for them? There are a number of reasons: the pristine waters around the island offer both shelter in the crevasses of our stunning walls and seagrass grazing, a favourite with green sea turtles, the vegetarians among the five species. Add to that plenty of food for the omnivorous hawksbill turtles which like feeding on sea sponges, among other things, and ideal breeding grounds on clean, untouched beaches – and it’s easy to see why Bunaken turtles grow into ‘battleships’!