Ambon vs Lembeh

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Mantra

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Location
Brisbane Australia
# of dives
I just don't log dives
Hi all.

We are two macro photographers. We have four weeks in Indo (all of January). We have done 3x month long dive trips to Bali before (mostly Pemuteran / Tulamben / Amed / Padangbai). Love the east cost muck particularly but are thinking this time we might do either Ambon or Lembeh too.

For comparison, Anilao and Dauin are some of our other fave macro trip sites.

Ambon with Dive Into Ambon is way more expensive than we are used to paying. We normally try to get the best photo guide we can, pay him well, and stay cheap and with a local dive op.

I’m wondering if anyone can help us pick between Ambon and Lembeh please? Any hints on good photography guides in either of those places (either freelance or attached to a shop is fine).

Thanks!
 
Both Lembeh and Ambon have epic macro, so you can't go wrong with either.

DIA is pricey but now one of three choices, for the others there's Blue Motion a budget op where you stay in a very basic hotel or Blue Rose another budget op with 2 on site rooms and again lodging in a basic hotel. And by basic I mean basic. Food options are from again, basic stalls to basic stalls.
I've used Blue Motion and wasn't totally happy. Management wasn't as engaged as I wanted. Guides were fine.
Ambon can have currents affect diving as was my case and others here so plan according to moon phase. With DIA you have way more comfort and diving the wide angle sites is much more an option I believe.

There much more resort choice in Lembeh and the critters are off the hook. I've been 3x always been pleased with Two Fish but if I go back I'll probably spend a few more $ and go to NAD.

As I said at the start both have epic macro on the scale of Anilao and Dauin. I won't start the Anilao vs Lembeh vs Dauin vs Ambon debate.
 
I dove with DIA this year and they were good , but doing nightdives with them is not so straightforward because of the gear being transferred to and from the boats. I did some dives with Blue Rose ( for the second time in a year ) and i'm happy with the service and you can do nightdives every night. I found the Guides at DIA a little bit better , but the ratio was 1:4 , I got my own guide at Blue Rose with-out asking so that was nice.
As Dirtfarmer says the rooms at Blue-rose (4) are very basic and for sure its not resort style. I stayed with Grecia Guesthouse which is a step up but still very very basic.
I will be doing both area's in the future but for a month I would do Lembeh , more dive sites , also with Blue Rose you have to have to pay a little extra to go across the bay when there are only a few guest , Blue Motion doesn't have the boats to go outside the bay.
Anyway you can't go wrong with either designation .
Frank
 
Hi , We were in Ambon a few weeks ago. It was our second time. We are also avid macro photographers.
We stayed in a decent hotel called Crescia with hot water and air con. we dove with Blue motion which is now called critter junkies.
The diving is very very good, we got to see everything that was in our bucket list including 4 different colours of rhinopias, blue ring octopus and of course the famous psychedelic frogfish.
The guides are very good, but that is it , it is no frill but cheap
There used to be a resort called Maluku divers but they closed
you can PM me for details if you need
Patrick
 
Thanks so much for the feedback everyone. Does anyone else have comments about the currents in Ambon vs Lembeh? We both prefer minimal currents when shooting and also prefer more shallow sites.
 
If shallow dives with minimal current is your thing then I would say Lembeh.
I have not dived Ambon but as mentioned above and as I have seen on many reviews the current can hit you in Ambon bay. Whereas in Lembeh (I've been 3 times) you can always find a quiet and calm and shallow bay to dive in. Places like Hairball you can sit at 5m of water and just float from one critter to the next for hours!!

There are also lots of good budget options in Lembeh, NAD, Divers Lodge Lembeh, Froggies to name a few.

If you have a month of diving (frik am I jealous) and are in the Lembeh area I would always higghly recommend staying 4-5 days on Bangka Island! Great macro and stunning WA.
 
Thanks AlMitch (and thanks again everyone else). I think that's strongly influencing us toward Lembeh then. I have to say some of my favorite muck dives have been 2hr+ night dives in less than 10m.

I guess my next question is - does anyone have any recs for good photography guides in Lembeh? We would tend to pick a guide over a shop, all else being roughly equal. One thing we don't cut costs on is tipping our guide - we like to keep them VERY happy, especially when they find a bucket-list critter for us. That list of more budget shops is much appreciated, AlMitch! Will definitely look into all of them more.
 
I am a HUGE Ambon fan...and Dive Into Ambon is a solid operation. They use a big comfortable boat in the bay, and I enjoy being out on the water all day. It has a head, and between dives nothing is better than laying in the sun and taking it all in. I usually bring a couple of beers or cocktails for the ride in after the third dive. As far as critters, Ambon delivers over and over again as the sites are far less pressured as compared to Lembeh. In Ambon you will see pretty much everything there is to find in Lembeh, plus a bunch more.

That being said, Lembeh is a special place and I enjoy the heck out of it too. As several others have mentioned, NAD is the place to go.

I dont know how often you get to Indo, but if it is rarely I take the extra step and get a little further out on the edge of the Earth. Everyone goes to Lembeh, but Ambon is still a little off the radar. When I want an easy three days of simple diving, I go to Lembeh. When I want a week or more of hardcore and a chance to see something very special I head to Ambon.

Unless that night diving thing has to be part of the equation...
 
If shallow dives with minimal current is your thing then I would say Lembeh.
I have not dived Ambon but as mentioned above and as I have seen on many reviews the current can hit you in Ambon bay.
As for everywhere, it will depend who you are diving with.
On 4 different occasions in Ambon, I have only but dived once into a strong current inside Ambon bay, that was a dive led by a gringa guide of Blue Motion (You can witness how my rant against gringo/gringa guiding is regularly fueled) : she aborted the dive after 10 minutes. I told her diving on the other side of the bay would provide some shelter, she didn't know that and was surprized it was true when we hit the southern side.

The lesson is that if you dive with the wrong operation, you may be hit bad currents, meanwhile diving 3 times with Blue Rose and my favorite guide in Ambon Robet Leka (who's now guiding for DIA), I never experienced such bad current that it would compromise photographying.

On the other hand I remember some afternoon dives organized by Lembeh resort while they didn't want to go too far but where the site they chose was not that comfortable for photographying, that is especially difficult when as often in Lembeh the bottom is uniform black sand or rubble slope.
Ambon is a bit different than Lembeh TK2 or such dives, the bottom reminds me more of Anilao's secret garden where there are some small coral outcrops that tend to protect a bit more from the current.
 
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