Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat/Same in
Indonesia/Lembeh Stdrait

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Black Sand Dive Retreat/Same: "The best muck diving on earth", Feb, 2020, by David Hill, MA, US ( Sr. Reviewer 9 reports with 5 Helpful votes). Report 11430.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Black Sand Dive Retreat is a small dive resort on the famous Lembeh Strait in Indonesia, considered one of the best muck diving sites in the world. The resort, about an hour and a half east of Manado, is owned by Canadian Bruce Moore and his Indonesian wife. Bruce has been in the dive business around North Sulawesi for decades and is extremely knowledgeable about dive sites and sea life. Black Sand is small, featuring just seven bungalows overlooking Lembeh Strait. Bruce designed this resort from scratch based on his years of experience, and it is among the best designed, best laid out and best organized dive resorts we’ve ever seen. Dive sites are all so close that the boats return to the resort between every dive, including the two morning dives. Boats carry no more than four divers. Dive guides are excellent – capable, competent, knowledgeable and helpful. This is muck diving at its best, and you need good guides to search out the array of bizarre and wonderful fish and critters that live in this environment. Not everyone will enjoy muck diving. This is not reefs except for a few spots. Eight meters of visibility is a good day. It is sand, silt and coral rubble, and you are searching out many species of octopus, frogfish, cuttlefish and dozens of nudibranchs. It was an unusual dive when we did not see several species of nudibranch we had never seen before. Bring your macro lens. Some nudibranchs are a quarter the size of your fingernail. The food at Black Sand is excellent – varied and tasty. Lunch and dinner are three courses. Final hint: don’t pass up the opportunity for a night dive. We saw at least 10 octopus out hunting in one dive.
Websites	Black Sand Dive Retreat
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Hawaii, Australia, Indonesia, New Guinea, Trobriand Islands, Santa Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa, Kiribati, Tahiti, Florida, Caymans, St. Martin, Bonaire, Bahamas, Virgin Islands, Seychelles, Red Sea, Tanzania, etc.
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	Fly to Manado from either Singapore or Jakarta
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	choppy
Water Temp	84-86°F / 29-30°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	25-35 Ft/ 8-11 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	60 min. maximum
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	None	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	[None]

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Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat/Same in Indonesia/Lembeh Stdrait

Black Sand Dive Retreat/Same: "The best muck diving on earth", Feb, 2020,

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat/Same in
Indonesia/Lembeh Stdrait