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Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Lembeh Resort, Apr, 2013,

by Lisa D Vitale, TX, US (Contributor Contributor 15 reports with 9 Helpful votes). Report 7006.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity 5 stars
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving N/A
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ 4 stars
Beginners 2 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments This was my second time staying and diving with Lembeh Resort. Both are top notch!

Resort: The resort is very well managed. The staff is extremely helpful and friendly...amazing how they all know your name and greet you every morning. They make you feel right at home. The food is exception and there is quite a variety. I absolutely love Indonesian coffee!! The spa is so relaxing and the girls do a very good job, prices are very reasonable. The rooms are huge! This time we stayed in the rooms on the south side that are not as high up the hillside. I think these rooms are older and not quite as nice as the ones on the north side, but it's a lot less of a hike up the hill! I just love the outdoor bathroom! There is a nice porch as well. The grounds are beautiful and well kept. The pool is very refreshing and relaxing. They were building a patio off the pool, closest to the water, when we were there... it is finished now and it looks great from the pictures. They added a poolside bar!

Dive operation: Critters@lembeh is one of the best dive operations I have ever experienced. Danny, the owner, really does a fantastic job...and all the staff is so helpful and friendly. Lauren and Sasha (I met them when I was in Misool) now run the dive operation and do a great job. Everyone has a locker you share with your dive buddy, there is a board with the dive schedule for the day in that area as well. The dive boats are very spacious. You give the crew your gear when you get there and you don't have to worry about it at all the entire trip. They are continually giving you water (which is very important when diving!), helping you with your dive gear, and helping you get into/out of the water. You do a back roll into the water and to get back on the boat you take off your gear in the water and they bring it onboard. They have enough divemasters to divide up into small groups of 3 or 4. The divemasters are excellent at finding the critters. One day we wanted to do a special trip around the island to the open ocean side, which they arranged for us with no problem, at a small additional cost. Dives occurred at 8AM, 10:30AM, and 2:30PM, then a night dive.

Lembeh Strait Diving: Diving in Lembeh Strait is quite different from anywhere else and so cool!! There are truly some amazing creatures found there. A lot of the dives are sandy bottom (muck) with coral reef at the shallows. The wall dives we did on the other side of the island were awesome and the corals were extremely healthy! While the diving is not difficult, I do think muck diving is not for beginners. If you do not have your buoyancy under complete control you will do nothing but stir up the bottom, blow away creatures, and reduce the visibility to nothing for the rest of the divers.

We actually started our trip at Buyat Bay (further south of Lembeh) diving with Critters@buyat (a sister company of Critters@lember) owned by Danny as well, in fact we dove with Danny our first 3 days of the trip. Little diving takes place in this area as there are no resorts or dive operations. We stayed in an old gold mining lodge for 2 nights, nothing fancy at all, but the diving in the Buyat Bay area was absolutely incredible. It was healthy coral as far as the eye could see. We got to the lodge via the dive boat, diving our way there, dove for one full day in the Buyat Bay area, then dove our way to Lembeh Resort. It really was quite an experience! I highly recommend the Buyat Bay addition if you are going to Lembeh Resort.

Lembeh Resort and Critters@lembeh (and Critters@buyat) will not disappoint! I highly recommend this area and resort/dive operation... it is well worth the long trip there!
Websites Lembeh Resort   

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Indonesia, Maldives, Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Galapagos, Belize, Honduras, Cayman, Bahamas, Turks & Caicos, Mexico
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, rainy, cloudy Seas calm, no currents
Water Temp 82-86°F / 28-30°C Wetsuit Thickness 5
Water Visibility 10-40 Ft/ 3-12 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions 1 hour time limits on dives, but often went over
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? yes

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 4 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 5 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Lembeh has a large camera room, freshwater rinse tank, and photo pro.
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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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