Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

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Black Sand Dive Retreat: "Black Sand Dive Retreat", Oct, 2014, by C Kapfer, VA, US ( Reviewer 3 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 8456.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	The Good Black Sand Dive Retreat is a beautiful, spacious resort right in the middle of the prime diving area on the mainland side of North Sulawesi on the Lembeh Strait. There are six private bungalows each with an outdoor bathroom and shower and a nice view of the strait off the deck. There's a new good sized pool, although it was very windy for the week we were there so did not use it. Diving is amazing in Lembeh and is done off of several small boats with max capacity of 4 divers plus divemaster. Guides were all excellent, we had a private guide for several dives. After each dive you return to the resort for the surface interval and staff rinses your gear. Some of the famous sites in Lembeh are right off the resort (TK 1,2&3 are effectively shore dives, Hairball 1&2 are 2 minutes by boat) Everything seems possible at Lembeh in terms of macro life: frogfish (painted, giant, hairy), seahorses (pygmy and standard), wonderpus, flamboyant cuttlefish, ambon scorpion fish, blue ring octopus, ghost pipefish, bizarre and unusual nudibranchs, slugs and flatworms, shrimp--everything is in play here on the macro front. We saw an octopus eat another octopus on a night dive! Not much in the way of corals although Angel's Window was a nice coral site. Dining at the resort is mostly Indonesian with some other cuisine as well, with some nice touches ... they had imported wine for example. The dining room offered beautiful views of the Lembeh strait from above. The Bad Essentially nothing worth mentioning. Just book it--Bruce and Fung are lovely hosts and the dive guides are top notch. Internet access was not great, but that is typical for this part of Indonesia. There is an adjacent residence that had some sort of party while we were there and their PA was making some noise from time to time--hardly worth mentioning. The Ugly The occasional critter? ;) Traveling to Lembeh from most places in the world is more difficult than, say, Bali ... but not nearly as difficult as Komodo or Raja Ampat (Lembeh actually can be used a stepping stone to get to Raja). Definitely worth the trip if you like macro. If you don't like black sand diving or aren't interested in muck diving this is probably not the place for you. However, just do an image search in google on Lembeh diving and you will see this is an amazing place to see strange critters and a photographer's dream. Topside it is a gorgeous private resort and could hardly be better. If you have a group that is more wide angle inclined you can include Bunaken or Bangka to please everyone. Summary Highly recommended, will visit Black Sand next time in North Sulawesi for sure!
Websites	Black Sand Dive Retreat
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	501-1000 dives
Where else diving	Red Sea, Bali, Komodo, Oman, Hawaii
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	Singapore->Manado via Silk Air. Taxi from Manado arranged by the resort.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy	Seas
Water Temp	27-28°C / 81-82°F	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	5-15 M / 16-49 Ft
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	Dive your own profile. Dives were guided in small groups of 2-4 with one divemaster per group.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
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	N/A
Large Pelagics	N/A
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	There is a camera room close to the dive setup area, plenty of stations available for all resort guests. There are large rinse tanks outside; the tanks are not shielded from wind (it can be very windy in Lembeh). Debris was often blown into the tanks and staff were not particularly diligent at refilling with fresh water, so we were doing this on our own every day. Minor niggle but would be of great help if the resort were to construct a wind block or better enclose the camera rinse area.

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Dive Review of Black Sand Dive Retreat in Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Black Sand Dive Retreat: "Black Sand Dive Retreat", Oct, 2014,

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/North Sulawesi