Help with North Sulawesi Itinerary for Newer Diver

[Indah]

Thank you.

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.

www.google.com

Mandao - Bangka - Lembeh
Really need time to travel around.

I always try to avoid staying in places where eating out is NOT an option but sometimes there was no alternative whatsoever. I eat to live so no big deal as long as the food is cooked through and not stale.

Many, if not all resorts at Bangka, Bunaken and Lembeh offer full board, because there is no other place within walking distance to eat.

 

[Indah]

The communication between all operators and resorts in Manado, at Bunaken, at Lembeh and Bangka is always flawless. Very easy to have them organize the transfers. The new toll road makes the trip from the airport or Manado city to Bitung much faster.

 

[boletus1973]

Age is not a reason why anyone cannot use public transport anywhere in the world.

my neck and my collapsed vertebrae disagree...

Public transportation is part of the fun for me to travel. I could have close interaction with the local by watching them and vice versa. Private transfer will whisk you from A to B in no time at all. But the local transport will make numerous stops along the route to pick up passengers, meal/toilet break etc etc. And in few cases I even have a quick glimpse of the locals in colourful tribal costumes in countries like Northern Laos and Northern Thailand in SE Asia eg. A Kayen tribe woman(long neck) sitting across me in a songthaew(two benches pick up) in northern Thailand(on the way to Mae Sai by Burmese border). Couple of tourists were busy taking picture of the "poor" woman with no consideration. Long last memory. Priceless.

We all have different requirement in life. NO right or wrong!

I didn’t judge your idea of travel.. I do it many times in the past and like it, maybe I can do it again in the future, but for me the triangle between bunaken bangka lembeh is so small.. I simply think that there’s not a convenience in doing this shorts ride with pubblic bus.. never with our heavy baggage .. the idea of travel to bangka by public boat is ok if you rent a local room in lihuno, otherwise its a complication because not every resort is easy reachable by walk…
Last time I use public transport was in 2018 from unauna to Ampana… 3 hours small boat and 6 hours on the ferry… it was an adventurous experience but also a nightmare.. after that we take 9 hours private car from Ampana to the resort… we arrived totally destroyed … I can’t imagine doing with public bus..

 

[jjmochi]

Well I just came back from 2 weeks in North Sulawesi - 5 nights / 18 dives at Lembeh, 5 nights / 17 dives at Bangka, and 2 nights / 2 dives at Bunekan. If I were to do it again I would just go Lembeh and Bangka.

Lembeh is quite specialised if you've never tried muck diving before or if you don't enjoy macro you should either skip it or spend just a few days there to try it out. There is a lot of trash in the water and the dive guides don't even try to clean it up - they say the critters enjoy living in it. The macro is great! Better than Anilao or anywhere else I've experienced. Every dive is like 80-90min, in shallow-ish (10-20m) water, no-very little current, treasure hunt looking for critters. No corals or big fish life.

Bangka is great all-around - decent macro, they said everything you can find in Lembeh you can also find in Bangka, but keep in mind the density of critters / speed of finding stuff is about half at best. In Lembeh the dive guides found one thing after another and there was no downtime / waiting around for them to find something. In Bangka on the macro dives there's definitely a fair bit of waiting around. I also didn't find the yellow/orange pygmies they only had the normal pink ones and the black ones.

The corals at Bangka are the best I've seen anywhere- Sahaung which I've dived 5x (1x each day) even surpassed Sipadan which was my prior gold standard. And it's really really colourful soft corals - orange, red, green, yellows. The pinnacles at Bangka are filled with them - then add on top super dense / big fish schools and it's magical. Lots of giant frogfishes also. The water is much cleaner and clearer, from the dock to Bastianos you can see all the corals and fishes from the surface.

Luko is right, Bunaken is boring. The walls are ok - but not as good as Tubbataha imo. Corals seem healthy but it's all an ugly brown, very little color. Turtles are everywhere tho, can probably see 20 on each and every dive. I don't regret going because otherwise I will always wonder "what if", but I don't plan to go back. Next trip will be half Bangka and half Lembeh. Bunakan also had TONS more people and most of them very inexperienced, flailing around in the water types.

I stayed at Bastianos for all 3, transport in between took a good half day, they can only boat during daylight hours in Bangka and Bunaken, so you usually do 2 morning dives then do the transfer around 2pm after lunch, and arrive around 6pm in time for dinner. They seem to have suspended the direct boat transfers where you dive along the way. At Bangka and Lembeh there were days where I was the only guest, but Bunaken was super full (I don't know why).

I don't know if this issue is specific to Bastianos, but at all 3 resorts I found the food quantity to be lacking - and I am a 105lb girl. Taste was great at Lembeh and ok at the other 2 but not stellar. I usually have to ask for extra food and they will make you something - but most of the time they say they're out of whatever they served and you have to wait 10-20min for them to make something else from scratch (and I also felt kind of bad because it seemed like they're running low on food, I don't know if it means the staff eats less cuz I asked for more...) There is no a la carte menu to order from, or any choice. Wifi is also non-existent in the rooms for all 3 but decent in the restaurants. Hot water was great in Lembeh, ok in Bangka (have to wait ~5min but otherwise good pressure and heat), and horrible in Bunaken (very very little pressure, no heat - I had to shower in another room that's directly under the solar water heater for somewhat warm water and somewhat decent pressure). Also no bar, no spa in any of the 3 despite what was advertised. Bangka is the newest and nicest by far. Lembeh is the old Froggies and in need of renovation. Bunaken I think I just got unlucky with a room with no working shower - they did agree to waive the single supplement ($18 vs $110 room rate) to compensate which I don't think is enough but better than nothing.

If others have recommendations for other Lembeh and Bangka resorts with 1) good wifi in the rooms, 2) hot showers with good pressure, 3) a la carte menus / better food options, please let me know! I just signed up for Alex Mustard's macro workshop next year at Lembeh Resort so I'm hoping it would be better. Am thinking of adding on a few days at Bangka to dive Sahaung again but not sure if I want to stay Bastianos again.

 

[Searcaigh]

If others have recommendations for other Lembeh and Bangka resorts with 1) good wifi in the rooms, 2) hot showers with good pressure, 3) a la carte menus / better food options, please let me know!

WiFi in rooms is still something that is missing in most places, I found that at Murex Bangka and NAD in Lembeh. Thinking back to Lembeh Resort when I was there in 2015 I don't recall WiFi in the rooms either. However I wasn't there to go online, I was there to dive!

Both Murex Bangka and NAD had great showers, and I recall Lembeh Resort also had good showers too

Food options at Murex Bangka were limited, but there was a choice. At NAD no choice. I dived Lembeh Resort 2013,2014 and 2015 and the food was fantastic.
However you have to take into account that these dive ops are just coming out of the Covid Pandemic. When I was there in April 2022 we were some of the first customers in two years, and I expect the standards will increase as more people return.

 

[boletus1973]

If others have recommendations for other Lembeh and Bangka resorts with 1) good wifi in the rooms, 2) hot showers with good pressure, 3) a la carte menus / better food options, please let me know! I just signed up for Alex Mustard's macro workshop next year at Lembeh Resort so I'm hoping it would be better. Am thinking of adding on a few days at Bangka to dive Sahaung again but not sure if I want to stay Bastianos again.

Thanks for the report.. good Wi-Fi? I always have the indo sim card and for me the Telkomsel lte was always better than resort Wi-Fi.. in coraleye there is Wi-Fi since 2015 but its a radio bridge between islands and the mainland… if the weather is bad sometimes struggles.. the showers were decent before pandemic but not so strong in pressure.. they are reopening at the end of the month after a big refitting with biggers rooms.. I let you know about the showers..
for the food, before covid was family style with a fixed menù different In every meal that restart after ten days… if someone have different needs(vegan, forbidden food) they do something different only for you… I hope didn’t change.. I’ll let you know…
Now my questions… did you dive the paradise on the mainland Side? In the last years before pandemic was forbidden because they build a ******* acqua park over the dive site…
Sahaung is the best dive site in the area… did you see bigger fishes than the usual ton of reef fish?
Can’t wait to be there…

 

[Luko]

Better than Anilao or anywhere else I've experienced.

I've always thought macro for nudibranches was good in Anilao but in general (apart from some sites like Anilao Pier or Secret bay) lacked the density of Lembeh or even Tulamben.

I also didn't find the yellow/orange pygmies they only had the normal pink ones and the black ones.

A pity, there used to be plenty of 'em on a regular basis on a bommie 10m deep located in between Bastianos and Murex (Demak site). I used to do my 3rd dive there just for shooting Pontohi pygmies. (I'm speaking of 2011 to 2015).

And it's really really colourful soft corals - orange, red, green, yellows.

It is!

I don't know if this issue is specific to Bastianos, but at all 3 resorts I found the food quantity to be lacking

I stayed once in Bastiano's Bunaken in 2002 it was already the case, the guests were fighting around a single medium sized fish at dinner.

I dived Lembeh Resort 2013,2014 and 2015 and the food was fantastic.

Stayed 3 times at Lembeh Resort in the same years 2012 to 2015, I found the food very greasy and cooked for shy western (to not say american) tastes. Overrated to me (as almost everything in Lembeh Resort!): very pompously served but little if no taste in the plate.

 

[Indah]

Never travelled with camera or over 20kg of dive gear(full tec gear included).
I also have done it a few times for not bring any diving gear except computer, mask and thermal. 7kg was all I have.
My concession to age is hand trolley for the check bag and porter.


Age is not a reason why anyone cannot use public transport anywhere in the world.
Public transportation is part of the fun for me to travel. I could have close interaction with the local by watching them and vice versa. Private transfer will whisk you from A to B in no time at all. But the local transport will make numerous stops along the route to pick up passengers, meal/toilet break etc etc. And in few cases I even have a quick glimpse of the locals in colourful tribal costumes in countries like Northern Laos and Northern Thailand in SE Asia eg. A Kayen tribe woman(long neck) sitting across me in a songthaew(two benches pick up) in northern Thailand(on the way to Mae Sai by Burmese border). Couple of tourists were busy taking picture of the "poor" woman with no consideration. Long last memory. Priceless.

We all have different requirement in life. NO right or wrong!

Still attracted to public transport in public in these days of Covid ?

 

[Indah]

Some personal remarks from me after following this conversation about hot showers, WiFi and meals. Just to explain a bit more about the situation in the resorts in general now.

All resorts here have struggled very hard to survive 2 years without any income, but may continuing expenses. No support from the government at all and the tax offices and banks doing their utmost to squeeze any penny out which still might have been there. Fortunately many made it until now. But not all.

Below a certain number of guests the operational costs are higher than what comes in. That has of course always been like that. But if a resort just opens again it is impossible to offer a real a la card choice. Keep all in the freezer? Shop for ten people while feeding two ? The costs for doing the shopping alone can exceed what the guest is willing to pay for the meals.
Hot shower which are environmental friendly have solar heaters. But...two days hardly any sun means hardly any hot water. Heating this same system up with electricity takes much power. Power which is often generated by diesel generators, and the fuel went up 100% in price (!).
A decent (not fast) internet connection is expensive. The rate we normally pay is 150 Euro per month. But these connections often fail, sometimes for days in a row.

We all do our bests. We renovate and repair what we can. We invest as soon that is possible again, and wait..
We all want to be proud again about the service we offer, we want to take good care of our employees who had 2.5 very difficult years and we all wish to welcome you here again.

 

[Centrals]

Still attracted to public transport in public in these days of Covid ?

Such a silly question! You cannot be serious!
Of course! How do we commute to work in HK or most countries in SE Asia including Indonesia?
Public transport does not exist in Indonesia at all? How do they commute in Jakarta?
I will keep the answer within SE Asia but wondering how do others travel to work in cities like London, Paris and New York etc etc.