The Minahasa (alternative spelling: Minahassa or Mina hasa) are an ethnic group located in the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia (in past called by Portuguese as North Selebes). The Minahasa speak Manado Malay (also known as Minahasa Malay), a language closely related to the Malay language.

Minahasa Raya is the area covering Bitung City, Manado City and Minahasa Regency, which are three of the seven regional administrations in the province of North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

Originally inhabited by Malay-speaking peoples, the region was colonized in the 16th century by the Portuguese, then the Dutch. The Minahasa identify strongly with the Dutch language and the Protestant faith — so strongly, in fact, that when Indonesia became independent in 1945 factions of political elites of the region pleaded with the Dutch to let it become a province of the Netherlands. [1] There is a considerable number of people from the Minahasa living in the Netherlands, as part of the Indo community.[2]

Diving Minahasa
The marine park of Bunaken and Manado has more than 3000 varieties of fish and about 300 species of corals.

With clear waters all year round, the dive sites around Manado have it all.
Walls and drift dives with many big sponges give a good opportunity to take beautiful pictures with the wide-angle.

Reef sharks, Napoleon and turtles appear often at the dive site.

For small critters, numerous madreporic formations set down on a sandy seabed at low depth make it a fantastic place for diver's keen of macro photography.

While diving in Minahsa, you might enjoy numerous subjects, special to mention are the ribbon eels, ghost pipe fishes, leaf scorpion fishes and frogfishes.