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Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia/Lembeh Strait

Lembeh Resort: "Lembeh Resort Muck Diving", Dec, 2014,

by Michael Wood, WA, US (Sr. Contributor Sr. Contributor 21 reports with 14 Helpful votes). Report 8097 has 1 Helpful vote.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This was my second trip to Lembeh Strait. It is 90% muck diving, which is great for macro photographers like me, a little boring for non-photographers crawling around the muck to see tiny bizarre creatures.

First, Lembeh Resort. A well run, up-scale (for Lembeh Strait)resort and dive operation. Real pros run the hotel and dive operations. They are very responsive and accommodating. The grounds are lovely, hillside accommodations with air conditioning and plenty of hot water, fridge, bottled water, comfortable beds. Food is varied and good (not great) quality--pork seemed to be the fallback protein pretty much, with fish, chicken and vegetarian options; good fruit selection--try the snakefruit if you haven't. Nice pool, roomy dive lockers, dive shop, camera facility is excellent.

The dive boats are traditional, sturdy and roomy Indonesia crafts that only need to go 5-10 minutes to dive sites on the Strait. Good ratios of divers to dive guides (1 guide per 2-3 divers; sometimes you get lucky and have one-on-one; you can hire a private guide for a small premium). They are masterful at finding all the common and uncommon critters--you may know the list--Octopuses: Mimics, Wonderpus, Blue Rings, Mototi; Devilfish, Scorpionfish, anenomes with clownfish/crabs/Cardinalfish/Damsels;urchins, gobis, frogfish, Rhinopeas, squids, cuttlefish (pygmy & regular), etc. Photographers' delight.

My first trip to Lembeh Strait a few years ago was with Two Fish Divers, and I understand they have upgraded their little resort near Lembeh Resort; it's much less expensive and may be a better value for the budget-minded. They can also transfer you to their Bunaken resort at no charge.

For a world-class muck diving experience, this should be at the top of your list, and Lembeh Resort is a great place to do it. Know that getting to Manado is not easy--you can't get there from Hong Kong, Seoul or Tokyo, only from Singapore, Jakarta and Denpasar (with an overnight there and/or Makassar). It's an hour drive from the Manado airport to Bitung Harbor, where you catch their boat for the 5 minute crossing to Lembeh Island and their resort.

We did this as a 4 day prelude (3-4 days of diving is just about right here) to the Dewi Nusantara liveaboard out of Sorong for 11 days around North and South Raja Ampat(there are nonstops from Manado to Sorong, daily). See my separate rave review of the Dewi.
Websites Lembeh Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience Over 1000 dives
Where else diving Caribbean, Indonesia, Philippines, Maldives, Society Islands, Papua New
Guinea, Great Barrier Reef, Hawai'i, Belize, Honduras
Closest Airport Manado Getting There Through Jakarta or Singapore (non-stop); Denpasar (one stop with overnight in Makassar)

Dive Conditions

Weather rainy Seas calm
Water Temp 75-84°F / 24-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 30-50 Ft/ 9-15 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Dive as long as you want--it's shallow diving, 30-50 ft. Dives can be over 60 minutes. Dive your computer.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 1 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish N/A
Large Pelagics N/A

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

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's N/A Shore Facilities 4 stars
UW Photo Comments Best muck diving in the world. Don't miss it if you are a macro photographer. Requires patience and good buoyancy/finning to not stir up muck or disturb creatures.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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