On the northernmost edge of Pulau Weh, a remote jungle island off Sumatra is surrounded by healthy and vibrant coral reefs, and its waters harbour a diverse mix of Indo-Pacific marine life. These waters attract ocean giants ie., sunfish, mantarays and the largest of all fish, the whale shark and even thresher sharks. Few megamouths also have been seen since - only 42 sightings have been recorded to date worldwide.

In Pulau Weh waters prehistoric-looking creature has been spotted twice by divers in the past four years. One washed ashore on the Gapang Beach house reef in 2004, another swam by a shipwreck at 50m the following year.

Diving , surfing holidays here offers something for all skill levels, with reef walls, deep and shallow shipwrecks, sloping house reefs, underwater hot springs and excellent drift dives. Divers have had thrilling encounters with turtles, curious reef sharks and huge Napoleon wrasse, and from the dive centre and the house reef; ghost pipefish, seahorses and psychedelic nudibranchs (sea slugs).

Most of the dive sites are in marine protected areas, where fishing is forbidden and illegal fishing operations prospect  heavy punishment handed out by the Sharia law.

Banda Aceh was also the closest major city to the epicentre of the earthquake which triggered the Boxing Day tsunami in 2004. But the main structure of the dive centre at Lumba Lumba  stood firm. Ton Egbers and Marjan van der Burg, the Dutch owners have set up the centre in 1998 and since then has seen dive tourism pull through difficult times.

Lumba Lumba is very much part of the Pulau Weh community where locals have been trained for free as divemasters and now work for the centre. Beach houses and classrooms were built using generations-old techniques with only natural materials found on the island.

Plus its wealth of underwater attractions, Pulah Weh is sure to attract eco-friendly as well as socially conscious travellers.

Both political and environmental turmoil had deterred the average diver tourist from making the journey from the city of Banda Aceh on the mainland. Tourists who can arrange in advance to collect a visa in Banda Aceh,  could fly there via Kuala Lumpur, instead of flying to Medan and take a ferry to Banda Aceh, as been done in the past.

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