Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

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Lembeh Resort: "Keep Lembeh Weird!", May, 2018, by Paul Selden, MI, US ( Contributor 16 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 10737.
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	N/A
Snorkeling
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	What's not to like about a cozy resort with a super-welcoming staff, that offers a huge bungalow, delicious meals, and arranged things so that my 1000th dive was celebrated by: 1) my guide holding up a laminated "Happy 1000th Dive, Paul" keepsake sign right next to a hairy frogfish so I could photograph both in the same frame; 2) a cake baked for me served at dinner that said the same thing; and, 3) towel art and flowers on my bed that said the same thing??? This dream-came-true all happened at the fabled Lembeh Resort, known as perhaps the nicest resorts on the Lembeh Straits, where I saw more weird undersea creatures in 17 dives than anywhere else I've been. This made for a huge bang for the buck, at the same level as any of the world's best dive resorts. A sample of the weird and unusual should give you a taste: Halimeda ghost pipefish, spiny devilfish, colorful dorid nudibranch such as the "miamira sinuata," thorny seahorse, banded tozeuma ("sawblade") shrimp, soft coral ghost goby, spiny waspfish, humpback scorpionfish, (my first) bobbit worm, dragon nudibranch, mimic octopus...the list goes on. The staff was super hospitable, and the view from our bungalow overlooked the straits and encompassed a volcano in the distance. If you are going either to or from their sister Siladen Resort and Spa, I recommend paying a little extra money to make the beautiful journey around the tip of Sulawesi to the "other side," taking in a couple of dives off Bangka Island along the way. There, I saw a blue-ringed octopus (which I understand are fairly common at a couple of the Bangka dive sites). This one sighting made my local dive travel and scuba shop owner jealous - in all her years of Pacific diving she has yet to see one. One consideration is that the resort sits on a steep hill - many of the rooms require considerable walks up and down a fair number of stairs. Book well in advance to get one of the few rooms closest to the restaurant/pool/dive center. Note - I left my impressions of all the other underwater life set at N/A only because I didn't pay attention to them at all - they may have been fantastic, but all I wanted - and got - was muck diving. This place is for the weird, weird and more weird, and I hope they can keep it that way!
Websites	Lembeh Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	Over 1000 dives
Where else diving	FL Keys, Bonaire, W Palm Beach, Vanc. I., Thetis I., CA, Saba, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Galapagos, Cozumel, Grand/Lil Cayman, Utila, Roatan, Andros, Turneffe Is., Palm I., Playa d Carmen, Ceyn-Akumal, Dominica, Holbox, Curacao, Union I., St. Eust., Providencia, Philippines, Borneo, Fiji, Indonesia
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	Friendly resort staff greeted us after we cleared customs (coming from Singapore) - their air conditioned van took us to a dock across the Straits from the resort, where their boat picked us up. Their staff handled all the luggage.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, rainy	Seas	calm
Water Temp	79-85°F / 26-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	5
Water Visibility	30-40 Ft/ 9-12 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	yes
Enforced diving restrictions	They wanted nominal buddies, but I could more or less dive in a loose group once they got to know me. Bottom times were in the 60-70 minute range.
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	N/A	Tropical Fish	N/A
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		Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	The staff and crew are used to taking care of underwater photographers very well, and their facilities were great. The rinse tank water was always fresh and I liked the high-pressure nozzle right next to the camera rinse tanks to blow things a bit drier. Contrary to expectations I'd been led to believe when I first heard about Lembeh from a respected source, we didn't get into any mask-ripping currents - far from it. Except for the viz (which didn't matter 12 inches or less from most UWP subjects), conditions were great during our stay. I dove with two strobes and a fairly bulky housing with no problem.

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Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Lembeh Resort: "Keep Lembeh Weird!", May, 2018,

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 Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi