10 days diving in N. Sulawesi in Oct.

[Luko]

Aha Luko, I must admit that the Bangka stuff was implanted by you! and pretty much thankful for the idea on tipping. OK does this mean you'd recommend NAD to me at Lembeh? And then where to stay at Bangka? Is Aswar your favorite dive guide (if I remember the name correctly) and where is he?

I usually dive Murex bangka and that is right I always ask Aswar for private guiding in Bangka. I would state he's the most experienced guide in Bangka, being here from the start when Murex was the only operation on premise.
For more detailed information I prefer to switch to PM, if you have questions pls shoot a message on my scubaboard PM.

 

[superdiver18]

I haven't been to bangka or bunaken but i can tell that Lembeh is amazing, more then amazing, it was a dive dream to be there. Everything I wanted to see was there, for the weird stuff i mean.In 4 days, I've seen a plenty of frogfishes including the hairy and the clown frogfish, flomboyant cuttle fish, coconut and mimic octopus and about 4-5 scorpionfishes every dives. oh, and also a plenty of pipefishes, ghost, green hornet, etc. This place is crazy! I've dived with Two Fish Diver, I think they where really good, count 25 to 35€/dive, the pice depend on how many dives you make every day. 25€ for the economy room with 3 meals, coffee, thea and water included.

---------- Post added August 18th, 2015 at 04:52 AM ----------

The vis is poor and water is cold in Lembeh, but still it worth the trip.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Temperature depends on the time of year. Its 28-29 C in Lembeh from around Oct - May, colder from June to Sept (25 -26 C sort of thing)

 

[Scuba_Si]

I just did a night dive and it was between 23 and 26 according to the computers on the dive... Bbbbbrrrr. I'm hoping it will improve to Mike's suggestions.. But the wind is still howling right now.

With regards to photo pros: Eco divers, Froggies, Lembeh Resort and NAD all have people on hand to answer your queries with intelligent relevant responses. I've been here since 2008 and have been published in magazines since before then, but I don't think that makes my "get closer and stop kicking up sand" advise more relevant than those who pay for advertisements These days I pay a manager (Serge) to teach the photo classes and generally look busy between dives and much like Christian (Froggies) and Tarkan (Eco) these are managers who only do the job so they can go diving with a camera. None of do this for our love of pee-stained wetsuits, I promise.

Wherever you go you'll have fun.. (If you go to Bunaken, I recommend Living Colours because Jaako is crazy cool and wears awesome hats for his facebook photos). In the end a holiday is meant to be fun and safe and I am absolutely sure every place mentioned in the posts here and above will be safe; the fun part depends on you and what kind of resort best fits your requirements. Once you look at all the options you have they are all about the same, everyone has bits they focus on as a speciality. LR has their photo pro, Eco has the day liveaboard, Froggies has the small/new resort appeal and NAD (me/we) has 2:1 diveguide ratio. We all offer photo classes. However you may struggle to find somewhere with availability at such short notice, especially for 10N+. You need to contact wherever you choose as soon as possible.

 

[jjwebster]

I've just returned from a two week N Sulawesi trip with one week first at Two Fish Lembeh and 5 days or so at Nomad Bangka.

I must admit I wish I had gone to Bangka first as I found the diving a little underwhelming after a week at Lembeh seeing all the cool critters. But then my preference was for macro and Lembeh was certainly the element of the trip I was looking forward to the most....

Two Fish were great and I would thoroughly recommend/go back.