We didn't know much about the Santika before we went and booked it mainly because of its proximity to Bunaken Marine Reserve compared to the other resorts in the Manado area. When we arrived, we were very pleasantly surprised. The grounds are beautiful and well-kept, reception area was spacious and comfortable, the swimming pool was large and our room (one of the semi-detached cottages) was large and comfortable with a king-size bed, a separate sitting area, and a beautiful patio looking out toward Bunaken and Manado Tua. The food ranged from decent to good. We never went into town, but they will arrange transport if you want to go in for shopping or dinner. They also have various other tours available. The onsite dive operator - Thalassa Divers - is excellent. They are safety minded and flexible with great divemasters. They have several dive boats, a very low ratio of guests to DM, and since most dive sites are only 10-20 minutes away, they come back to the resort between dives so you don't have to go out for the whole day but rather can pick and choose which dives you want to go on and at what times. They also do all day trips to Bangka island, Lembeh straits, and Poopo with a minimum of 4 divers. The only drawback to the resort is that they are located in a mangrove area so they have no beach. As I mentioned above, though, they have a large, clean, nicely landscaped pool area and I would guess that you can probably arrange with the diveshop to take you over to one of the beaches on Bunaken island, since they go over there several times a day to dive. I highly recommend the Santika and am looking forward to going back.