Lembeh Trip Report Dec 2012

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Kevster

Contributor
Messages
437
Reaction score
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Location
Perth, Australia
# of dives
500 - 999
Lembeh Trip Report
Dec 21st-30th 2012
NAD

Lots of info on these forums about Lembeh, so I will keep this short.
This was my 4th trip to Lembeh.

Flights
Bali-Makassar-Manado on Garuda cost approx $170. Had a 4hr stopover in Makassar but the airport is ok. I killed some time at Starbucks and in a lounge.
Manado-Jakarta on Lion air cost $130.
Both flights were ok, on time and I had no problems with check-in or carry on baggage (23 Kgs check-in, approx 11 Kgs carry on).
I had a 8hr layover in Jakarta and went to the nearby hotel. $40 for a day room, 6 hrs. The hotel has a nice spa, sauna, steam room, hot & cold baths. The best $40 I have spent in Indonesia!

Weather
It was rainy season but we only had a couple of days where it rained during the daytime. More sunny days than cloudy/rainy ones. Not much wind, water was calm. I was never cold during the morning surface intervals.

Resort
My 4th time staying at NAD. Its been a few years since my last stay here and there have been several nice additions to the resort (new bungalows, camera room and a really nice lounge area). I stayed in one of the new bungalows.
NAD really does provide excellent value for money. A very comfortable stay with tasty food (The battered spinach leaf was delicious!).

Diving
Water temp was generally 28 C, viss varied but was generally good, 10+m.
3 dives a day, 2 in the morning, 1 in the afternoon.
The diving was excellent.
I was lucky to see some amazing stuff. I would rate this as one of my most memorable trips to Lembeh. Dec is definitely the season for Blue ring octopus!!
Some of the highlights;
Hairy shrimp, wonderpuss being attacked by a scorpion fish, several blue ring octopus, stargazer, lots of harlequin shrimp, heaps of frogfish, flamboyant cuttlefish and a large mobula ray!!!

The hot dive sites seemed to be further south compared to my previous visits. Tangu rusa and Sarena had heaps of critters.
The stand out dive was Nudi falls. I really love this site. The viss was really nice here and there were thousands of bait fish around.
I also dived the Mawali wreck for the 1st time. This was a great dive, a large WWII wreck in the middle of the straight. I saw a large mobula ray here. After several days looking for small stuff the wreck dive was really nice.

https://vimeo.com/56900627

[video=vimeo;56900627]https://vimeo.com/56900627[/video]

Conclusion
Once again Lembeh delivered the goods. Fantastic diving, heaps of amazing critters. NAD is a fantastic place to stay and in all of my diving around Asia I know of no other resort that is better value for money for amazing diving.

My 9 days at Lembeh cost a fraction of my previous 5 dive trips!!!

Tip
Take a fisheye lens!!! Some great wide-angle opportunities, especially Nudi falls and the wreck dive!!!

I spent most of my time shooting video. This is just a few of the highlights of a great trip! Unfortunately this video does not do justice to the amazing dive at Nudi falls, where the viss and light-rays in the shallow water were amazing.
 
Last edited:
EXCELLENT VIDEO!!!!

Can you tell I like it? Really ... thanks for posting it!
 
Great video Kevster! Vicious attack by scorpion fish
 
Wow!!!! FANTASTIC video! Unreal segment of the wonderpuss and the scorpion fish! I was struck by how clearly you could see the shrimps eyes, etc. Great detail! Loved the music too!!! Enter this in a contest!!!!
 
Wow . . . Just wow.
 
Amazing video! Such clarity and detail and everything done so perfectly. I also really love how you captured the silversides under the boat--swishing in and out--it's something that is so often ignored by divers concentrating on all rare and wonderful critters, but it's a lovely moment at the end of the dive.

Btw, I have to ask--any chance the wonderpus survived?
 

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