Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat in
Indonesia/Lembeh

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Black Sand Dive Retreat: "Virtually Custom Experience at a Lovely Little Resort", Sep, 2022, by Laura Todd, CA, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 4 Helpful votes). Report 12109.
Photos Submitted with this Report Click on an image to see an enlarged version and captions
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	Black Sand is a small operation set on the mainland of Sulawesi in the middle of the strait in its own little bay. With only 7 rooms it feels custom and private. Arguably the best views are from cabins 1 and 2, which are located across a cute little bridge on the other side of the restaurant/office building. The rooms are huge and very well designed, with outdoor bathrooms, enormous porches with a view of the bay and strait. One big upside is the large walk in closet, with enough shelves that 2 [people don't have to look at their luggage for the entire stay. Each has a large supply of bottled water, coffee and tea and a small fridge. The housekeeping is on point. The rooms have a bit of a cabin feel with dark paneling and some might want to bring a headlamp for extra reading light. The pool is the greatest thing ever - shaped like a foot with soaking seats in the toes. The food was very nice, with breakfast cooked to order and lunch and dinner ordered ahead at the previous meal from a rotating menu with a really good variety of western and Indonesian choices. The chef really got into decorating the plates with beautiful little edible garnishes and carvings, like tomato swans. The restaurant staff went out of their way to make us feel special, offering to bring hot chocolate to my room and delivering snacks to the pool. The dive center is smoothly run in the capable hands of Lembeh diving legend Abner Mangole. The prep and wash areas are spacious with an open locker for each person. Unlike most other resorts in the strait, Black Sand uses small speed boats for diving. The usual number of divers per boat is only 4. When I was there, they sent 2 guides for four customers and we got very spoiled very fast. One of the best things about BSDR is that they will go out with just one diver, whether at night or for a regularly scheduled dive (3 daily). The boats return to the resort after every dive and customers are treated to a different home made snack between the morning dives every day. The crew are fun and extremely helpful, doing every possible thing for you without being asked. The guides are knowledgeable and did their best to show us the classic as well as some new sites. Having been to Lembeh a few times in the past I thought I knew what to expect but I was pleasantly surprised. As usual I wanted to concentrate on nudibranchs, and our guide totally brought it. In addition to the usual cast of sluggy characters I saw about 20 species that were new to me including Dendrodoris guttata, several species of Doto and Eubranchus, Goniodoridella savigny, Okenia liklik and Bornella anguilla. In the non-nudi department we saw a juvenile zebra angel fish, a huge grouper (our guide said this was the only similar sighting in his 5 years experience), donald duck and coleman shrimp, a pale halimeda ghost pipefish, 2 very young and exquisitely beautiful flamboyant cuttlefish only about 1 inch long. Two incredible highlights for me were a very young bamboo shark (the black and white banded one, not the more common spotted one), only about a foot long (our guide had only seen one other) and watching common cuttlefish hatch right out of their eggs. All this for very reasonable prices, even for single occupancy. A couple things to be aware of: BSDR does not offer black water dives at this time. Although the resort itself is more or less flat, those with mobility issues will want to consider the 70 or so steps down to the dive center and the water. Also, the only alcohol is beer and wine. The smart guest will snag their favorite in duty free. I on the other hand was dreaming of a nice mojito/daiquiri a few days in. Only one thing marred an otherwise wonderful stay and that is loud club style music played at top volume 20 hours a day in the adjoining villages and even by the squid boats that visit the strait at night. Apparently its a thing in Indonesia these days to have thumping music on public transport and every other possible place. Bring really good earplugs.
Websites	Black Sand Dive Retreat
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	Philippines, Indonesia, Tahiti, Malaysia, Bahamas, Galapagos
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	The Scoot flights were ridiculous. I plan on flying to Jakarta or Bali on future trips to avoid them.
Dive Conditions
Weather	windy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	80-82°F / 27-28°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	20-50 Ft/ 6-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	[Unspecified]
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	1 or 2	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	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	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	Not a real photographer so did not use the camera room, but others with sophisticated rigs were happy.

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Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat in Indonesia/Lembeh

Black Sand Dive Retreat: "Virtually Custom Experience at a Lovely Little Resort", Sep, 2022,

Photos Submitted with this Report

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 in
Indonesia/Lembeh