Indonesia Trip Round 2! This Time North Sulawesi - Opinions Please

[krukster86]

Maybe check out Gangga island as well. People say it's an excellent resort and again located very centrally. Not cheap though!

 

[gekodivebali]

I was personally particularly unimpressed with Bunaken. Reminded me of the least fishy dives off Nusa Penida, walls with nice corals but where are all the fish?
Is it possible that your guide/friend working in Lembongan was originally from Bunaken. There are few locals working in diving in Lembongan. Most labour is imported from other parts of Indonesia, including Sulawesi.
As Matt suggested, if coming from so far, I would first look at Komodo (May-December) or Raja Ampat (January-may), depending on what time of year you will be here.
If you have your mind bent on Sulawesi and are not crazy about macro, I've heard good things about Bangka diving and great reports about staying at 2fish (Bunaken or Lembeh)

 

[krukster86]

I was personally particularly unimpressed with Bunaken. Reminded me of the least fishy dives off Nusa Penida, walls with nice corals but where are all the fish?
Is it possible that your guide/friend working in Lembongan was originally from Bunaken. There are few locals working in diving in Lembongan. Most labour is imported from other parts of Indonesia, including Sulawesi.
As Matt suggested, if coming from so far, I would first look at Komodo (May-December) or Raja Ampat (January-may), depending on what time of year you will be here.
If you have your mind bent on Sulawesi and are not crazy about macro, I've heard good things about Bangka diving and great reports about staying at 2fish (Bunaken or Lembeh)

Bleh! Thank you for the warning. I am not bent on going to Manado or Bunaken. I wanted to post on this forum to get honest opinion before I delved deeper in my research.

My buddy in Indo is just a newbie diver who lives in Jakarta. He doesn't dive much so he might have been easily impressed! Komodo is a bit too much for our group.

As I said in a earlier post in this thread, I am interested in Bangka, and now I am interested in Lembeh Strait as well. I know Lembeh is world renowned for muck diving, which I do want to try, but are there vibrant reef dives in the area to mix things up?

---------- Post added March 13th, 2014 at 07:03 PM ----------

I have spent 3 weeks diving lembeh in total and have seen so much. Plus there are coral sites there so not just black sand.

If you don't mind, can you tell me more? I thought lembeh WAS all black sand and muck diving for macro creatures. We do like vibrant reefs and spotting larger fish, can that be had in lembeh?

 

[Wingy]

You will find those vibrant reefs at Bangka - its very easy to do Lembeh and Bangka in the same trip.

 

[pughio83]

Bangka if u want the reefs and a large portion of the macro u can find in the lembeh strait. From hearsay only mind you. Plus occasional dugong I also hear. Lembeh does have some great coral dives littered with small things, from 4-5 types of Pygmy seahorse to various octopus to nudis etc. you can dive truly black sand to garbage sites through to coral reef mini walls and path reefs. If you stay at Bangka you could easily so 1-2 days in lembeh if you have a group to cover numbers. Otherwise just stay in the straight. I did 2 weeks there straight and didn't get bored on 3-4 dives a day!

 

[AlMitch]

For Bankga I have stayed at both Mimpi Indah and at Blue Bay Divers. I have trip reports on both.
You will have a great time at both. Both had good (big and comfortable) dive boats and the guides were brilliant. Both have similar types of food. Lots of local Indo style fair.
Blue bay has the better location. Their beach and where the cabins are, is just amazingly beautiful. The only problem with blue bay is that they cut the power from midnight to 6am. Now supposedly there is usually a nice cool breeze blowing off the water but when we were there is was very still at night and the bungalow got toasty warm. BUT if you ask very nicely they may keep the power going the whole night.
Mimpi has the better bungalows, but not the better view.

If I go back I would go to Blue Bay, but ask them to keep the power going. The beach is just postcard perfect.

AND YES the diving is great and varied.

 

[krukster86]

This is why I love this forum!

 

[matts1w]

Fair warning, unless you are really into taking photos, muck is not for most people. Of course there are non-photographers who love muck diving, but winding back and forth through sandy slopes, debris, and garbage in search of a 3/4 inch nudibranch is not what most people are seeking on a scuba trip. I absolutely love Lembeh/muck dives, but most of my friends do not. They want blue water, gardens of coral, shoals of fish, and the occasional pelagic to get their heart racing. Heck, I was that way until someone put a camera in my hand.

Bangka will absolutley give you a nice mix of everything.

 

[krukster86]

For Bankga I have stayed at both Mimpi Indah and at Blue Bay Divers. I have trip reports on both.

I added those operations to my list of choices. Thank you.

---------- Post added March 13th, 2014 at 07:20 PM ----------

Fair warning, unless you are really into taking photos, muck is not for most people. Of course there are non-photographers who love muck diving, but winding back and forth through sandy slopes, debris, and garbage in search of a 3/4 inch nudibranch is not what most people are seeking on a scuba trip. I absolutely love Lembeh/muck dives, but most of my friends do not. They want blue water, gardens of coral, shoals of fish, and the occasional pelagic to get their heart raising. Heck, I was that way until someone put a camera in my hand.

Bangka will absolutley give you a nice mix of everything.

I completely understand. Lembeh does not sound like it will be fun for the ladies in the group. I will still try to get a dive out there.

 

[AlMitch]

OH and LEMBEH is such a great place too.
My wife and I have really fallen in love with muck diving. It is an amazing treasure hunt.

Give it a chance and I'm sure you will be bitten by the muck bug (hopefully not literally ha ha ha).

Spend 5-6 days in both Bangka & Lembeh if you can.

We are off to Lembeh for the 3rd time in 9 days and 2 hours.... but who is counting!