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Dive Review of Bastianos in
Indonesia/Lembeh Straits

Bastianos: "Outstanding service at Lembeh", Oct, 2017,

by John E. Keith, UT, US (Top Contributor Top Contributor 31 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 9922.

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 4 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 5 stars
Beginners 3 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments We arrived in Manado late in the evening and stayed overnight at the Novotel. We were picked up by a Bastianos driver at 8am and driven the hour or so drive to Bitung, where a boat took us to Lembeh Island. Our room was a comfortable bedroom (w/AC) and bathroom, with plenty of room for 4 large suitcases. We stayed there 4 nights and made 7 dives (an afternoon dive on the first day). Our dive master, Recky, was excellent at finding all the little critters and strange beasties in the muck. We seldom dove with more than 8 divers on the boat. We saw many, many varied nudibranchs on these dives, as well as large mantis shrimp (both in their holes and out), scorpion fish (leaf and otherwise), ornate and Halimeda ghost pipefish, many varied shrimps, wonderpuss, and wasp fish, among others. There were a couple of coral gardens that seemed to be in good shape. Our dives were generally more than an hour long and we only wished we could stay down longer. Visibility was, as expected, not great - mostly in the 20 to 30 foot range. Lembeh met my expectations for muck diving for sure. There was a large tank for cameras on the boat. In addition, there is a camera room for working on your camera and phots, charging, etc. (since my wife and I have smaller cameras, we didn't take advantage, but others reported that the room was well equipped). The staff at Bastianos was great - very helpful and friendly. They took good care of our gear, including rinsing and drying it for our departure. The food was buffet-style and was quite tasty (as buffets go). Lots of Indonesian dishes, but also plenty of European as well. One of the enjoyable aspects of staying there was getting to meet other divers from all over the world (Russia, Australia, England, Germany, etc.). All were very good divers, and we did not have problems with folk kicking up the muck.
Websites Bastianos   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Egypt, Florida, California, Caribbean, Mexico, Hawaii, Australia, Maldives
Closest Airport Manando Getting There direct from Jakarta

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas
Water Temp 81-84°F / 27-29°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 20-30 Ft/ 6-9 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Notify divemaster at 1000 lb and do a manditory safety stop.
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 4 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 4 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Lembeh is a photographer's place, and Bastianos is prepared to serve them.
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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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