Nearly 4 weeks away diving Anilao and Lembeh...I think I'm all macro'd out for a while.
Usually when I go to Lembeh I stay at KBR, but this time I changed it up and went to Lembeh Resort to check it out. I flew in from Manila via Singapore, and the transfers to the resort went smoothly, which was a good start. The resort itself is nice enough. Food was good: buffet breakfast and lunch, and a limited a la carte menu for dinner. There's always a couple of veg*n options. Rooms were decent size, sufficient hot water, comfortable beds, working aircon…And good wifi! Rare to find a dive resort with good wifi throughout the entire place and not just in the restaurant or something!
The diving was good. Not the best trip I’ve had to Lembeh in terms of critters, but still decent. A few comments on the dive operations at Critters@Lembeh though…The guides were fairly adamant about sticking to “60 minute dives”, a few minutes over wasn’t a hassle, but no 80+ minute dives like I was used to at KBR. Which was a bit of a sore point for me, because I am pretty good on my air, and I was regularly coming up from dives with close to half a tank left. I am unclear what their reasoning for this is, presumably to keep the dive schedule on track for the day when there were multiple groups on the boat, but it was frustrating at times when on a particular dive there was some critter I would have liked to spend more time with when I still had plenty of air. Other dives where there wasn’t as much to see, it obviously didn’t bother me. Anyway, that aside, guides were good. I use the plural, because my initial guide got sick after my first day, and there was a bit of a merry-go-round of replacements until he was better. While all the guides I had were good, it would have been better if I had just been assigned one replacement. It is what it is though. Nitrox fills were consistently 32-33%. Water temps varied a lot - from 29C to 25C. People were diving 5mm and hooded vests. Viz also highly variable, anywhere from 3 to 20m...
A few of us organised to go up to Bangka one day as well. Was fun just to break it up a bit and see some pretty reefs. Flat calm trip out, but choppy at the end of the third dive and on the way back. Not too bad though. Viz easily better than 20m.
Overall, a fun trip...and time to get planning the next one!
Pics from Lembeh here...
Pics from Bangka here...
Usually when I go to Lembeh I stay at KBR, but this time I changed it up and went to Lembeh Resort to check it out. I flew in from Manila via Singapore, and the transfers to the resort went smoothly, which was a good start. The resort itself is nice enough. Food was good: buffet breakfast and lunch, and a limited a la carte menu for dinner. There's always a couple of veg*n options. Rooms were decent size, sufficient hot water, comfortable beds, working aircon…And good wifi! Rare to find a dive resort with good wifi throughout the entire place and not just in the restaurant or something!
The diving was good. Not the best trip I’ve had to Lembeh in terms of critters, but still decent. A few comments on the dive operations at Critters@Lembeh though…The guides were fairly adamant about sticking to “60 minute dives”, a few minutes over wasn’t a hassle, but no 80+ minute dives like I was used to at KBR. Which was a bit of a sore point for me, because I am pretty good on my air, and I was regularly coming up from dives with close to half a tank left. I am unclear what their reasoning for this is, presumably to keep the dive schedule on track for the day when there were multiple groups on the boat, but it was frustrating at times when on a particular dive there was some critter I would have liked to spend more time with when I still had plenty of air. Other dives where there wasn’t as much to see, it obviously didn’t bother me. Anyway, that aside, guides were good. I use the plural, because my initial guide got sick after my first day, and there was a bit of a merry-go-round of replacements until he was better. While all the guides I had were good, it would have been better if I had just been assigned one replacement. It is what it is though. Nitrox fills were consistently 32-33%. Water temps varied a lot - from 29C to 25C. People were diving 5mm and hooded vests. Viz also highly variable, anywhere from 3 to 20m...
A few of us organised to go up to Bangka one day as well. Was fun just to break it up a bit and see some pretty reefs. Flat calm trip out, but choppy at the end of the third dive and on the way back. Not too bad though. Viz easily better than 20m.
Overall, a fun trip...and time to get planning the next one!
Pics from Lembeh here...
Pics from Bangka here...
Thanks for sharing!
