Advise regarding Lembeh/Bunaken/Bangka trip

[Tauge31]

Hi divers, Im thinking of planning a trip to manado next year around May for two weeks. I know there are many threads pertaining to this and I have read almost all of them.
I need some help in making a few decisions.

Some facts about my group. We will be in a group of 4-6, half of us will be taking pictures.
We would love a place where the atmosphere is relax and welcoming. Service and the quality of DMs/Guides are the most important factors in deciding a dive op.

1. Dive Ops (lembeh):
I am currently torn between Black Sand Divers and Divers lodge lembeh. Can I have some reviews regarding the two? It would be great if anyone here had been to both and could tell me the difference between them.

2. Dive Ops (Bunaken):
Having based most of my research only on lembeh, the one that caught my eye was Thalassa dive center. Is there any any dive ops worth looking at?

3. We will be diving most days in Lembeh, and the rest of the days will be split between bangka and bunaken. I was wondering what will be the best ratio of time spent between these 3 places?

4. Besides diving, we would absolutely love to see the tarsiers and celebes crested macaque at tangkoko plus visit the wildlife sanctuary. Is there any recommendation for tours?

That's most of the questions I have for this trip. Thanks for helping!

 

[Wingy]

Hi sorry cant offer you any advice on the ops you have chosen as I have dived all three places with different ops. Bunaken Bangka split I would do 4 days each with your day travelling between them a non diving day obviously. You will find the drive takes a while due to the terrain not the distance. Please go and see the Rangers at Tangkoko those guys do an amazing job and are very passionate about conserving the tarsiers and yaki. I hired a driver and went around lunchtime before the organised bus tour gets there. I prefer my tarsiers unmolested by big groups lured out at night for photographing - I got some great shots of the Tarsiers just doing their thing inside there tree. Yaki are awesome to hang out with, and im not a monkey fan but really loved these guys. You can also do a tour to the flower city of Tomohon up in the highlands which is nice.
FWIW i dived Bunaken several times with Froggies who are also now at Lembeh
Living Colours/Critters/Two Fish and now Froggies are all at both and you cant go wrong
Bangka I dived with Murex and while i loved their little cottage their boat (and boatman) is very ..... rustic.
The wildlife sanctuary guy is sometimes open sometimes not. Really, if you do Tangkoko you will see what he has there however I would still say go because he is doing a lot of conservation work and is apparently a lovely man.
Hope this helps you will enjoy!

 

[Luko]

My advise is that you shouldn't overlook Bangka and give Bunaken only a day, once you've dived one of their walls, you've dived them all...
You'll be amazed that you can find nearby Bangka most of things you find in Lembeh, but of course Bangka offers great coral and fish dives on top of that, much livelier than Bunaken.
If i'd be you, i'd do my dives in Lembeh, say a week, Split for instance the 7 remaining days with 4 days in Bangka and 3 on Manado Mainland (Murex resrt for instance) where you'll be able to dive Bunaken while staying in very nice settings and getting the best food of your trip if you go dining at night in Manado downtown.

 

[Darnold9999]

Have been at both Divers Lodge Lembeh and Black Sands. Can't go wrong with either. I preferred Black Sands.

BS is right in the middle of the diving, you return to the resort between every dive, whereas DLL is quite a ways away and you remain on the boat all day. I preferred the food at BS, but that was a very marginal difference. The mossies drove me crazy at DLL and were just a minor annoyance at BS. I was bitten half a dozen times within 10 minutes of arriving at DLL - you had to spray with Deet to leave your room, a bottle is provided in every room. At BS not an issue. May have been time of year DLL was December, BS was February.

DLL has a great Mandrinfish dive, BS did not do one, may have been the group of divers that I was with as they were awful at keeping off the sand. Found the guides at both to be excellent. BS boats are newer, faster, smaller so allow you to get to the dive site and return to the resort faster. BS is on the mainland so if you want to go in to Monado or somewhere else it is easy. DLL is on the island so a boat ride to get to the mainland - but only a 5 minute boat ride so not a huge difference. BS accomodation is slightly better and newer.

PM me if you have specific questions.

 

[Warmwater Wank]

I would easily second Darnold on Black Sand. Very well run with excellent dive opportunities (heck, one of the Hairball sites is on their doorstep!). No real mossie problems on a mid-November trip last year. We had an excellent guide, probably the main requirement for any enjoyable Lembeh stay. The grounds, views and bungalows are exceptional and the food was a real treat. Very relaxed, lush atmosphere. (Your group alone would make for about half occupancy, so it's not like we are talking about a big bustling place.) Bruce and Fung have a quality setup, you would enjoy it. // ww

 

[Snootleather]

I am going to have to agree with Luko... One day at Bunaken... one wall and you have dove them all.
We did Lembeh/Bunaken in 2012 & 2013, the difference being that in 2013 we did a day trip to Bangka and wished we had spent the second half of our trip there rather than at Siladen Resort diving Bunaken. Words cannot describe the difference between Bunaken and Bangka! You might check out http://www.ganggaisland.com for Bangka diving. A group we dove with this year at lembeh did the second half of their trip at Gangga Island Resort and raved about it. The resort even sent a boat to Lembeh to pick them up, thus saving them the bumpy car ride to Manado.
Cant speak to any of your choices for lodging/diving, but you will love Lembeh and Bangka... And Bunaken for a day

 

[Tauge31]

Hi sorry cant offer you any advice on the ops you have chosen as I have dived all three places with different ops. Bunaken Bangka split I would do 4 days each with your day travelling between them a non diving day obviously. You will find the drive takes a while due to the terrain not the distance. Please go and see the Rangers at Tangkoko those guys do an amazing job and are very passionate about conserving the tarsiers and yaki. I hired a driver and went around lunchtime before the organised bus tour gets there. I prefer my tarsiers unmolested by big groups lured out at night for photographing - I got some great shots of the Tarsiers just doing their thing inside there tree. Yaki are awesome to hang out with, and im not a monkey fan but really loved these guys. You can also do a tour to the flower city of Tomohon up in the highlands which is nice.
FWIW i dived Bunaken several times with Froggies who are also now at Lembeh
Living Colours/Critters/Two Fish and now Froggies are all at both and you cant go wrong
Bangka I dived with Murex and while i loved their little cottage their boat (and boatman) is very ..... rustic.
The wildlife sanctuary guy is sometimes open sometimes not. Really, if you do Tangkoko you will see what he has there however I would still say go because he is doing a lot of conservation work and is apparently a lovely man.
Hope this helps you will enjoy!

I was wondering if i should book a overnight stay at tangkoko with some website or if its possible for me to just get in the park and hire a ranger on the spot?

---------- Post added December 27th, 2013 at 10:59 AM ----------

I am going to have to agree with Luko... One day at Bunaken... one wall and you have dove them all.
We did Lembeh/Bunaken in 2012 & 2013, the difference being that in 2013 we did a day trip to Bangka and wished we had spent the second half of our trip there rather than at Siladen Resort diving Bunaken. Words cannot describe the difference between Bunaken and Bangka! You might check out http://www.ganggaisland.com for Bangka diving. A group we dove with this year at lembeh did the second half of their trip at Gangga Island Resort and raved about it. The resort even sent a boat to Lembeh to pick them up, thus saving them the bumpy car ride to Manado.
Cant speak to any of your choices for lodging/diving, but you will love Lembeh and Bangka... And Bunaken for a day

Thanks Luko, darnold999, warmwater wank and snootleather for your advise!
My group have decided to go with Black sand divers.

Having been to Raja ampat misool area just last month, we are quite bored of corals and wall dives already.
Does bangka or bunaken provide better opportunity to see turtles, dugongs and sharks?

 

[Zippsy]

Having been to Raja ampat misool area just last month, we are quite bored of corals and wall dives already.

Wow.. (the extra period is because I had to get 5 characters before the forum would let me post.)

 

[pughio83]

Bunaken has the small chance of an odd shark like black tip or white tip, and every now and then they get a whale shark, dugong, eagle ray or mola mola. The walls are very samey and I agree once u have done one u have done the majority. You will probably see a turtle but they aren't aplenty. I saw nothing bigger than a parrotfish Ina whole week and only one turtle. Lembeh will offer nothing big but the macro is outstanding and am thinking of my third visit currently. But this time I will definitely split with Bangka. Bangka I do believe occasionally has dugong, even on certain resorts house reefs if lucky but don't bank on it.

 

[AlMitch]

Having been to Raja ampat misool area just last month, we are quite bored of corals and wall dives already.
Does bangka or bunaken provide better opportunity to see turtles, dugongs and sharks?

Bored of corals???? WOW indeed! Not sure you could ever get bored at Misool!! Oh well.

Agree with what the others said above. Bangka definitely better and more diverse than Bunaken. BUT the only negative about it is the lack of bigger fish, which I mentioned in one of my trip reports. We only spotted two small whit tip reef sharks the entire time we were last there. SO it is all about the small macrocritters, which is amazing.
As for ops on Bangka check out Blue Bay Divers, or Murex, or Mimpi Indah. OR if cash is no problem then, as mentioned above, check out Gangg Island, it looks amazing.