Asian Diver and Scuba Diver Issue No. 5/2014 Volume 134 | Page 4

HISTORY

DR HAN SIE
BATUNA:
A TRIBUTE
by the Batuna Family – Daughters Angelique and
Arlene and Son-in-Law Danny
Edited by Bob Ramsay

In May 2014,
representatives
from 29 countries
and 13 international
organisations made a
commitment to ensure
the sustainability of
marine resources in
Manado

THE RECIPE FOR creating
a good diving operation seems
simple but fails often. The best dive
site cannot exist for long without
being part of a support network of
transport, accommodation and dive
operators. Taking a dive destination
into the top tier is yet another trick.
The Murex Resort in the Indonesian
North Sulawesi region is one such
success story.
Some dive destinations never
become popular simply because
they are difficult to dive. Tourists
will not come until there are
hotels, which will not be built
until relevant flights exist. Manado
could possibly have been among
those great but hard-to-dive
destinations had it not been for a
talented son who had the vision
that divers would travel
to Manado.
That man was Dr Han Sie
Batuna, born April 22, 1938, in
Manado. Dr Batuna went on to
not only create a dive resort, but a
diving region. Extremely curious
by nature and rather adventurous
in spirit, he had a passion for
exploring the land and waters
around North Sulawesi from
an early age. He befriended the
local Bajo pearl divers, the “Sea
Gypsies”, and in the early 1970s
discovered the magical underwater
world in his backyard. Medicine
was his chosen career, training first