Saronde Island, Indonesia

Saronde Island is an island in the Celebes Sea, within the Ponelo Islands District (Ponelo Kepulauan) of North Gorontalo Regency, in Gorontalo Province, Indonesia.

Saronde Island lies on North Gorontalo Regency - Northern part of Gorontalo Province - Indonesia, or 400 km west side Manado City - Indonesia. This island can be reach in 40 minutes from Gorontalo Airport, or 120 minutes from Gorontalo City. Saronde Island is known for its large white sandy beach, and its calm water.


The island has an area of 8 hectares, 20% of which consists of flat sandy land, the rest consists of hill and forest. Thousands of birds use Saronde's forest as their home. Hundreds of pied imperial pigeon (Ducula bicolor) nest in Saronde's top hill forest. At the northern part of Saronde, we can find a vast array of ancient basalt stone... probably constructed when there were a giant earthquake thousands years ago that formed this island.

The underwater life in Saronde is quite rich. All the corals and marine life have a similarity with Bunaken National Park in Manado. There are whale shark (Rhincodon typus) appearances once in a while. Other interesting animals like sperm whale (Physeter macrocephalus), dugong (Dugong dugon), and large stingray (Dasyatis pastinaca) were reported hanging around Saronde island by local fisherman. Cassis cornuta also appears frequently in large amounts along Bogisa beach, 300 m on northern Saronde Island.