Manado & Lembeh Straight, SULEWESI

I will be staying in Sulewesi through December 2005, i would like to dive
and stay in the Lembeh Straight area, can anyone recomend a dive operator
who can offer a complete package of accomodation and diving on one resort
that is close to the Straights so as not to have too much travelling by
boat to get to the diving, in other words is there a resort at the best
dive sites for macro photography ?

Greg Mossman...

Haven't been there myself yet, but a couple friends of mine swear by
Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR).

morgand...

Thanks, yes i have their literature and prices, i just wanted some first
hand knowledge as to where the resorts are in relation to the diving, i
was looking for a resort that was actually on the "dive site", dont want
long boat rides out to dive sites if i can help it.

Paul Bridges...

I was at KBR in April 2004, and at Lembeh Lodge in Nov 2004.

Both are very close to dive sights, KBR is 100 metres from Nudi Falls
(one of the best dives for Nudi's). Lembeh Lodge is 50 Metres from its
house reef ( a wonderful night dive).

morgand...

Does Lembeh Lodge have a web site ??????

KBR has fast boats to get to the more remote sites (max 20 mins to
a mandarin dive, and you return after each dive. Lembeh Lodge boats are
slower, but you stay on them between dives.

KBR is upscale and expensive, but very good, and often has large groups.
Lembeh Lodge is small and fairly basic, and caters to the European
market.
Both offer excellent diving.

morgand...

Paul, thank you very much for the info, i have been a little confused by
some of the names used by these dive centers and their web address's.....

There is.....Lembeh Lodge......

Lembeh Lodge is i think a little more upmarket from Divers Lodge, but
priced accordingly.

Its good to hear your remarks about Divers Lodge Lembeh as that is where i
have decided upon for our "straights" diving, for diving the Bunaken side
i am still undecided as to whether to go with Thalassa Diving and the
Santika Hotel or the Tasik Ria and Eco Divers........i like the facilities
of Tasik Ria but think it may be a little crowded or busy for what i like,
6 - 8 other guests would be as much as i could handle, after that it gets
noisy for me.

morgand...

You say the lodge is "BASIC"..... is it clean.....good food etc
Dont I dont want to travel to these "remote" places and find loads of
people, it would suit me if me and my wife were the only ones there....so
quiet is what i'm after......just need good bed, good food and of course
good diving for my camera......

Paul Bridges...

It is clean, very well run, lovely site. On a hillside with lots of
steps.

As regards food: I have not had excellent food in the places I have been
to in Indonesia. Meat and fish seem to be always overcooked, and
everything is served only warm. The fruit is plentiful and delicious
though.

Pelagian was mediocre
KBR was half good, and half mediocre
Lembeh Lodge was fairly good
Froggies was mediocre

Paul Bridges...

After talking to my wife, I am changing the Lembeh Lodge food to mediocre

morgand...

They appeared to rated best on your scale, does that mean that they were
worse than others or nowhere came up to "good"......

Thanks again.....

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK

Froggies on Bunaken Isle has a basic liveaboard that goes to Lembeh
Straits for a 3 day trip.

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

Also want to know the same thing for the other side of Sulewesi,
Manado/Bunaken.

Vic...

I am not sure whether it is too far away from where you are staying,
but I spent 10 days in Walea, Togian islands, central Sulawesi (BTW,
is southern Sulawesi still off-limits because of some sort of
guerrilla rebels?).

It was in August, had been raining (unusually, according to the
residents) for days and viz was quite low, although things changed
after our arrival. Not much of the big stuff, yet I guess that greatly
depended on the low visibility. Great, great macro and corals. Food
was excellent, beautiful island (a large one, with a couple of
fishermen's villages).

The other side of the coin: a bit of a trouble to get there (the only
foreigners we met on our way being mining and oil engineers); very
basic resort (no warm water, though they were planning to introduce
it); quite expensive.

According to those who had stayed in Manado, Walea was way much better
in terms of macro, pristine environment and being just a very small
resort (12 rooms, I guess) out of the world; not pricewise. Let's say
I would go back there, but it is not at the top of my priority list in
that region (I would first return to Layang, Sipadan, Mabul); at the
end of the day, however, I am sure diving would not disappoint you.

Thanks in anticipation.........

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK