Dive Review of Kungkungan Bay Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

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Kungkungan Bay Resort, Jun, 2007, by Gary Krippendorf, CA, USA ( Contributor 14 reports). Report 3418.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity	N/A
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$	N/A
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I planned a trip for 8 of us to go diving in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We split our stay between 2 resorts. Having been to the same two resorts in 2004 and 2006, I knew what to expect. This trip report is for the first of the 2 places we visited, which is located on Lembeh Strait. I planned the Lembeh Strait portion of our trip via telephone and e-mail with Linda at the Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR) office. Linda was very good at answering our questions, and we booked a 5-night inclusive package. She also arranged for our transfer to the Santika Hotel from KBR rather than the normal transfer to the airport. The KBR resort was generally in good shape. Our group occupied 5 of the cottage suite rooms, which are a good size and have an enclosed porch. Unfortunately all 5 of the rooms had very active termites, which were flying around in our rooms at night. In the morning the floor and sheets had areas where the results of their nocturnal activities were quite visible. The weekly fumigations we were told about didn’t seem to be effective. Perhaps the nature of the building materials used and the methods of construction have lead to a problem that can’t be overcome without a major renovation of the buildings. I agree with the March 2007 issue of Undercurrent regarding the need for the housekeeping staff to aggressively clean the bathroom areas with black mold. While everyone in the group had a very good time, several mentioned that the breakfast and lunch offerings were high on carbohydrates and low on protein. We all noticed the amount of meat was reduced in comparison to the same meals 11 months ago. The dinners were on a par to our 2004 and 2006 experiences. Lembeh Strait is known for its muck diving and strange critters. The water was smooth and most boat rides were 10-15 minutes to the dive sites. Our maximum depth was 90 feet, though we spent most of our time between 30 and 60 feet. There were 8 of us in the boat along with the boat captain and 2 or 3 dive guides. On prior trips, we had had a maximum of 6 divers per boat, so the boat was a bit crowded this trip. Before each dive we’d get a briefing for the site, which included a list of the critters usually seen in that location. Our dive guides usually were able to find everything on the list and many more exotic fish as well. They were very patient and made sure we had seen each critter before moving on to the next area at the dive site. Ade was the dive guide assigned to myself and three others and he was wonderful. There were so many different things on each dive that we couldn’t begin to log them. Some of us were taking digital photographs, which was a big help, because it provided a record of what we saw with a date and timestamp so we could match the photos to the dive sites. In summary, the diving was excellent. The staff members were all very friendly and all worked very hard at their jobs. They were very willing to help us whenever we asked for anything. However the overall experience was not quite as good as we had on our recent prior visits. Some of the group wondered if the changes we noticed were due to a cost cutting effort underway by the management. We plan to return to dive Lembeh in 2009 and KBR will remain a strong option for us.
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, Dominica, Cozumel, Roatan, Sea of Cortez, Hawaii, Australia (GBR), Coral Sea, and PNG
Closest Airport		Getting There
Dive Conditions
Weather	cloudy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-83°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	No gloves, 3 to 5 minute safety stop, responsible to monitor own air remaining
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	N/A
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	Small boats did not have any facilities for cameras. Cameras were safely handled and stored in a plastic basket. Shore facilities are excellent.

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Dive Review of Kungkungan Bay Resort in Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Kungkungan Bay Resort, Jun, 2007,

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 Kungkungan Bay Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi