Hi all,
Just thought I'd pop in to give a bit of a quick rundown on my latest trip to Indonesia.
We first hit Bunaken (off the coast of Manado) for 5 nights. We decided to dive with the Seabreeze Resort, on the island. Great guys run the place. Very accomodating, wonderful little bungalows, and excellent guides.
The diving is predominantly relaxed wall style stuff between 15 and 30m. Nothing really appreciable any deeper. Currents are very minimal and visibility was generally between 20 and 30m. Fairly epic. Amazing muck/critter diving, but, equally cool "big stuff" can be found on some further afield treks.
Given I'm not an amazingly experienced diver yet (only done about 45 dives), I think it was an ideal place to really get into it and gain some experience. Very enjoyable indeed.
The next place we trekked to was a long way off. Banda Aceh, to be exact. Off the coast of the Tsunami-trashed city (which, mind you, is growing back well, and looks like people are bouncing back well!), we found the island of Pulau Weh.
Awaiting us, at the dive centre of Lumba-Lumba, were about 20 different dive sites of varying conditions/colours.
Things we noted about Lumba-Lumba:
1. It's conditions are far more prone to change, but given the number of sites, it's easy to find something nice
2. The landscapes, particularly the site they call "Canyon" are absolutely breathtaking. These are probably some of the most spectacular underwater scapes I've ever seen. Enourmous rock shapes, cool swim-throughs and amazing tunnels to drift through, all in maybe 25 to 35m of water.
3. Vis is more variable than Bunaken, expectedly.
4. On the last day, we went a little bit "hardcore", and tried a blue-water drop in, to a site called "Shark Plataeu". I can safely say, it's the hardest dive I've ever attempted. It was essentially negative entry, as the current was SO strong. I was kicking, hard. Really hard, all the way down to 35m. Plunged, would be a better way to describe it. Once we got down, we worked so hard to move around, that air consumption was going to leave us with an effectively 35min dive. Still, in that 35mins:
- Eagle rays
- Enourmous reef sharks
- BIG octopus
- Baracuda
- Trevalley
- Lots of little things too
The site was not for the faint of heart (or maybe just crazy Australians). It is a VERY hard dive, worthy of reef-hook use, if you aren't very strong/have amazing grip.
5. The accomodation is second to none. Rooms are new, enourmous and comparatively luxurious, compared to everywhere else locally. The owners are awesome old folk, who will tell you tales of their survival in the Tsunami. Wireless in the rooms too!
6. Most of the divers who were with us were very experienced. Predominantly dive masters or instructors of the PADI clan. We were easily the least qualified there, being only Open Water PADI Advanced.
7. Many wrecks to check out, from what I am told - but, we aren't allowed there, as they were too deep/we don't have the training for them yet.
We had a blast, became a little more experienced and saw some truly amazing things.
z
Just thought I'd pop in to give a bit of a quick rundown on my latest trip to Indonesia.
We first hit Bunaken (off the coast of Manado) for 5 nights. We decided to dive with the Seabreeze Resort, on the island. Great guys run the place. Very accomodating, wonderful little bungalows, and excellent guides.
The diving is predominantly relaxed wall style stuff between 15 and 30m. Nothing really appreciable any deeper. Currents are very minimal and visibility was generally between 20 and 30m. Fairly epic. Amazing muck/critter diving, but, equally cool "big stuff" can be found on some further afield treks.
Given I'm not an amazingly experienced diver yet (only done about 45 dives), I think it was an ideal place to really get into it and gain some experience. Very enjoyable indeed.
The next place we trekked to was a long way off. Banda Aceh, to be exact. Off the coast of the Tsunami-trashed city (which, mind you, is growing back well, and looks like people are bouncing back well!), we found the island of Pulau Weh.
Awaiting us, at the dive centre of Lumba-Lumba, were about 20 different dive sites of varying conditions/colours.
Things we noted about Lumba-Lumba:
1. It's conditions are far more prone to change, but given the number of sites, it's easy to find something nice
2. The landscapes, particularly the site they call "Canyon" are absolutely breathtaking. These are probably some of the most spectacular underwater scapes I've ever seen. Enourmous rock shapes, cool swim-throughs and amazing tunnels to drift through, all in maybe 25 to 35m of water.
3. Vis is more variable than Bunaken, expectedly.
4. On the last day, we went a little bit "hardcore", and tried a blue-water drop in, to a site called "Shark Plataeu". I can safely say, it's the hardest dive I've ever attempted. It was essentially negative entry, as the current was SO strong. I was kicking, hard. Really hard, all the way down to 35m. Plunged, would be a better way to describe it. Once we got down, we worked so hard to move around, that air consumption was going to leave us with an effectively 35min dive. Still, in that 35mins:
- Eagle rays
- Enourmous reef sharks
- BIG octopus
- Baracuda
- Trevalley
- Lots of little things too
The site was not for the faint of heart (or maybe just crazy Australians). It is a VERY hard dive, worthy of reef-hook use, if you aren't very strong/have amazing grip.
5. The accomodation is second to none. Rooms are new, enourmous and comparatively luxurious, compared to everywhere else locally. The owners are awesome old folk, who will tell you tales of their survival in the Tsunami. Wireless in the rooms too!
6. Most of the divers who were with us were very experienced. Predominantly dive masters or instructors of the PADI clan. We were easily the least qualified there, being only Open Water PADI Advanced.
7. Many wrecks to check out, from what I am told - but, we aren't allowed there, as they were too deep/we don't have the training for them yet.
We had a blast, became a little more experienced and saw some truly amazing things.
z
