Thalassa Dive & Wellbeing Resort Manado — Hotel in Manado

We spent three days here after a week long dive liveaboard that was magnificent. Manado was recommended for the diving and Tankoko national park, so I spent quite a bit of time checking TripAdvisor reviews. I’m glad I found this lovely hotel. ||Firstly, our inbound flight was quite delayed. It was a lovely thing to see the Thalassa driver still at the airport to greet us. It was quite late and dark as we drove to the resort with winding roads and we got there at 830pm. The buffet dinner was still open, the staff had told the kitchen there would be some late guests. It was really nice to be able to be shown our gorgeous villa so quickly and not be bogged down by check in paperwork. That was a very thoughtful courtesy.||The next day in the light, we saw how lush the gardens are. It’s truly beautiful and amazing to see the variety of flora. ||We actually didn’t spend much day time at the resort as we already had activities planned before we arrived. We saw they have a wide range of facilities ranging from diving and a well equipped dive center, a massage room, yoga, swimming pool and off resort guided tours.||The first day we were there, as we embarked on a visit Tangkoko with a local friend, I realised I had forgotten the day was a special anniversary for the family. I sent a WhatsApp message asking if there was an option for a special meal. As I didn’t have signal after, we went on with our day. When we returned, we went to dinner and to our delight and amazement, after dinner, the lovely ladies at the restaurant brought out a cake for the anniversary. It was so thoughtful. They did this with no complaints even though I gave them so little notice. This level of attention and care is what makes the team at Thalassa special.||We appreciated the briefing from Arjun the first morning. It helped us understand how the hotel is laid out and what to expect. They are very accommodating and told us that if we needed anything to let them know. We have a member with a shellfish allergy that is quite severe and cross contamination is an issue. The kitchen staff and the restaurant staff were excellent at answering questions I had when in doubt. ||The villa is gorgeous. We find it challenging as a family of five to fit us into one space. The resort accommodates us beautifully with an extra bed in one room. We liked the high ceilings in the villa. It feels very spacious and there is a lot of room to spread out. The stone walk way into the villa is a nice touch as are the gorgeous koi in the water. ||Reviews are really important to me as I rely on them to make decisions on hotels. I can’t recommend this lovely place with the incredible people enough. The location is peaceful, the grounds are beautiful, the people are special. We enjoyed returning from a long and busy day exploring Tangkoko and the highlands to a tranquil villa, with delicious food at the restaurant and warm...

Second visit to this area. This is the new resort with a very different feel to the previous resort.||Excellent dive staff and the diving was brilliant. Great skipper and dive guides. The food at lunch on the boat was delicious. The coral reefs very healthy. So much sea life and so many relaxed chill turtles. The water was a beautiful|28C with mostly excellent visibility. ||The resort isn’t near the water so it’s a quick five to ten minute trip to the boat each day which isn’t a huge problem. Gives you a chance to view the local area which is fascinating. ||A few things could have improved my stay - the single rooms were up very steep stairs and they were really quite small and pokey. I didn’t enjoy staying in the single room at all compared to my mates that were couples staying in the lovely villas. I would pay more next time to have a villa! The single rooms were also next to the dive shop so there were shenanigans, tanks banging and the compressor running until late and starting early. I wore my headphones to bed. If you book a single room take ear plugs. ||The food was quite repetitive - I don’t eat seafood but I’m quite happy to eat vegetarian and the vegetarian food turned out to be acceptable most of the time. The fresh fruit for desert was great but otherwise the deserts were an adventure. I would have liked to have more of the local dishes which they cooked at the Lembeh resort. The restaurant was just so hot in the evening - more fans would improve the eating experience vastly - or vents in the roof to let the hot air out. ||The massage was excellent but if they did them down in the pool pavilion away from the traffic noise it would be so much more relaxing. ||Overall a good value holiday with everything you need. A couple of tweaks and upgrading to a villa would make all the difference. ||I will definitely visit again - the diving is really...

Comfortable, well-equipped boats. Systematic operations. A nice, airy restaurant to relax in after your dives. Excellent chef and delicious Indonesian food.

Thalassa checks all the boxes for an excellent dive operator.

But that’s not what makes it stand out.

It is special in how it has become an integral part of the local community. The person at the heart of it all is the formidable-looking but gentle-hearted owner, Simone.

Simone has a remarkable life story of how she uprooted herself from the Netherlands to create a second life in Indonesia. I barely got an iceberg-tip’s worth of anecdotes in my few days of chatting with her and it is another tale to tell.

Fast forward to the resort today, it is the little things that clue you in on what a unique community Simone has helped build. We drove through the village with her daily and she could get no more than a couple hundred of metres before someone waves to her from their house or friendly-honks her from a motorbike or truck. At the resort, the staff are friendly, jovial and dedicated.

She’s not just another expat running a business that employs a few locals. She helped to set up and still teaches in the village school. She finds platforms for their award-winning musical group to perform. She deals with youth problems. She trains them up in different roles to work in the dive and hospitality sector. Many of her students and staff have gone on to other parts of Indonesia as dive masters/buddies/operators.

And she has yet bigger plans for her social enterprise.

Go there. To be inspired by the world class diving, the human spirit, and the sense of community.

I visited...