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HOTEL | Cocotinos Resort
The resort has been built at the centre of a gentle arc of beach and surrounded by the buildings of Wori village, which enclose it and create an almost secret haven. Walking inside the understated entry gate, a fantastic vista of glistening pool, blue sea and distant Manado Tua is revealed.
The majority of rooms are clustered around the pool so enjoy the same view, but there are a few rooms that are right on the sea front plus some suites that are above these but on the first floor. We stayed in a suite, which had a large living room, private balcony and an extra bath tub on a screened section of the balcony – very romantic and great fun. Furniture and decoration is modern Asian with some unusual artwork throwing splashes of colour about. We particularly liked the bathroom floors, which were made of tiny rounded pebbles.
Facilities included a fridge, tea and coffee, a big desk for the photo-kit plus TV and DVD players. There were no glitches with the air-con or hot water, and the only downside was that the call to prayer from the small mosque nearby did wake us up occasionally. However, reception supplies all guests with free ear plugs just in case. Internally, all rooms in the resort are much the same, it's just the size and view that varies.
There is a free wi-fi connection but that only works in the restaurant and bar area. The open-air deck is a lovely spot with wonderful sunset views, perfect for the end of day beer and chats, plus you can watch some of the activity as the locals come back home on other parts of the beach.
Meals are included in dive packages. The style is mostly Asian, with simple dishes served buffet style. Drinks were reasonably priced. We found the entire staff were friendly and very helpful especially when we asked for a day trip on our last day. Again this was well priced. One of the front office staff joined our little group, making sure we had a truly great day out.
DIVE CENTRE | Odyssea Divers
Although the dive entre is branded seperately from the resort, the two operations are jointly managed and under the guidance of Singaporean, Andrew Lok. Odyssea Divers is typically Indonesian and a perfect example of why we never fail to be impressed and delighted by diving in this country.
When you arrive at reception, you are asked to put your dive kit in the box already waiting outside your room. From that moment on, you never see it – or have to touch it – except when you wriggle into the stuff to go diving. OK, some people like to fiddle with their dive kit, but the crew are incredibly well trained, they take your equipment, label it, set it up and check you are happy before dive 1. They then watch how you like things done and you never have to do another thing unless you really want to. Stunning.
The divemasters were thoughtful and helpful, keen to learn what interested us and then deliver it to the waiting cameras. Day trips are scheduled to leave after breakfast and mostly do three dives before returning to base in the late afternoon. Cooked, Indonesian style lunches are taken on board and were always delicious. There is plenty of drinking water, tea, coffee and snacks on the boats and they have a real toilet.
For photographers, there is also a camera room near to the dive centre. This has computer facilities as well, so you can even back-up your images onto disc.
October 2010 Update | Cocotinos has informed us that they have recently upgraded the boardwalk and jetty and have recently been certified as a “Clean Air Station” by U.S industry standards with testing done regularly on the higher grade air purifier used on site.
Pool image courtesy of CocoTinos
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