JenM
Contributor
Frogfish and Mike thanks for the info....Blue Bay has not responded to to my emails or my Travel agents but I did run across a report that they do not have A/C or Hot Water, and their bathrooms are the Indonesian mandi style. Their rooms seem nicer than Murex. Danny (Lembeh Divers) replied to my email yesterday and he said the Murex resort has A/C, Hot Water and ensuite bathrooms....looks like Murex.
I think you are getting confused with the main Murex resort near Manado and the Murex Bangka cottages. We stayed in Bangka in 2003 and I can assure you, there is no possible way that they have AC, although they did have hot water and western style bathrooms attached to each cottage (the bathrooms are open air, in fact, a rat actually fell into our toilet at 4AM - but that's another story). At least when we were there, they didn't even have ceiling fans, just portable floor fans that you could put in the window. To describe the operation politely, I'd say it is "rustic". Electricity is supplied by a generator that is on from 5PM until 8AM.
On the other hand, Bangka is gorgeous with beautiful sandy beaches and great diving (definitely superior to Bunaken), but unless you want to pay the high price at Gangga, you do have to be prepared to rough it a bit. Don't know anything about Blue Bay, but at least from their website, their operation looks to be more comfortable than what we experienced at Murex Bangka.