Bali vs. Lembeh vs. Mabul, sipadan etc. for muck diving
- Thread starter LekicINC
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A major problem with muck diving and beginners is bouyancy control.If you kick up the substrate, it makes it very hard to see/photograph the critters. Most of the sites are easy enough current wise if the tides are right. Check out the places section on the website in my signature. It has detailed accounts of all the sites disscused.
All three sites (Mabul, lembeh and Northern Bali) have only weak currents.
Lembeh has, IMHO, the best critters but a muddy bottom that is easy to stir up - you may not make many friends with photographers in your group if your buoyancy and fining isn't good. could potentially go down to 25 metres + but plenty of stuff in the shallows as well. Most people who dive here are photographers, but the diving is easy (if a little colder than the other two).
Mabul - sandy coral bottom with relatively shallow dives to see frogfish, ghost pipe fish etc. Most operations dive Sipadan (deep walls with lots of turtles and moderate currents) in the morning and Mabul in the afternoon. Fine for beginners.
Seyraya/tumbalien Bali - sloping black sand bottom with isolated rocks hosting coral and a variety of unusual critters. Can go as deep as you want, but plenty to see above 20 metres. Also fine for beginners.
Cheers,
Rohan.
Lembeh has, IMHO, the best critters but a muddy bottom that is easy to stir up - you may not make many friends with photographers in your group if your buoyancy and fining isn't good. could potentially go down to 25 metres + but plenty of stuff in the shallows as well. Most people who dive here are photographers, but the diving is easy (if a little colder than the other two).
Mabul - sandy coral bottom with relatively shallow dives to see frogfish, ghost pipe fish etc. Most operations dive Sipadan (deep walls with lots of turtles and moderate currents) in the morning and Mabul in the afternoon. Fine for beginners.
Seyraya/tumbalien Bali - sloping black sand bottom with isolated rocks hosting coral and a variety of unusual critters. Can go as deep as you want, but plenty to see above 20 metres. Also fine for beginners.
Cheers,
Rohan.
Things are pretty much up in the air right now. We arrive in Denpasar on July 31 and depart on August 11th. We're beginner divers-- most of our diving has been in Monterey and a liveaboard trip on the Great Barrier Reef. We'd really like to see nice soft corals at shallower depths. However, muck diving sounds pretty cool and I'd like to think my buoyancy control is good enough not to start a riot. 
I'd like to minimize the amount of schlepping between dive sites/land activities but want to do some exploring--maybe volcano hiking, not sure. We're generally thinking about splitting time between Bali and Sulawesi but haven't decided on where to stay yet. The prices for budget resorts are more up our alley than some of the higher end resorts but it's our honeymoon so I'd like to stay somewhere with moderate accommodations.
Any suggestions would be helpful!
-Rachel
I'd like to minimize the amount of schlepping between dive sites/land activities but want to do some exploring--maybe volcano hiking, not sure. We're generally thinking about splitting time between Bali and Sulawesi but haven't decided on where to stay yet. The prices for budget resorts are more up our alley than some of the higher end resorts but it's our honeymoon so I'd like to stay somewhere with moderate accommodations.
Any suggestions would be helpful!
-Rachel
Rachel,
What does moderate accommodations mean? A/C, dvd player, sat tv? Would seclusion be more important than nice "stuff." Have you looked into Bunaken, which is much more mixed diving and offer nice soft coral. Lembeh has other stuff other than muck, but people that arent totally into muck diving may prefer bunaken. Both are world class sites. Bali, as mentioned, has much more to do topside. You could do a couple days in ubud and other places in a nice hotel overlooking the rice paddies etc doing cultural activities. Then move on to tulamben or menjangan. I am doing a dive safari doing three dives in secret bay, 3 at puri jati and 3 at sereya (tulamben). You could do the same thing to any of the sites in Bali. Maybe to much traveling for you, but you get transfered by dive shop in AC car, probably your own DM (important to get a good one for muck diving), and they will drop you off and pick you up at your hotels.
Also, the Nomad Adventure Divers page have a good list of all there is to do in Lembeh. http://www.nad-lembeh.com/en/adventures.htm These are usually a day instead of diving.
What does moderate accommodations mean? A/C, dvd player, sat tv? Would seclusion be more important than nice "stuff." Have you looked into Bunaken, which is much more mixed diving and offer nice soft coral. Lembeh has other stuff other than muck, but people that arent totally into muck diving may prefer bunaken. Both are world class sites. Bali, as mentioned, has much more to do topside. You could do a couple days in ubud and other places in a nice hotel overlooking the rice paddies etc doing cultural activities. Then move on to tulamben or menjangan. I am doing a dive safari doing three dives in secret bay, 3 at puri jati and 3 at sereya (tulamben). You could do the same thing to any of the sites in Bali. Maybe to much traveling for you, but you get transfered by dive shop in AC car, probably your own DM (important to get a good one for muck diving), and they will drop you off and pick you up at your hotels.
Also, the Nomad Adventure Divers page have a good list of all there is to do in Lembeh. http://www.nad-lembeh.com/en/adventures.htm These are usually a day instead of diving.
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