Just thought I should give everyone an update on my experience at Lembeh Hills- yes I did end up staying there in May 2010.
At least in May, the resort was still very much a work in progress. I think it has the potential to be a very good dive resort but there were still quite a few kinks to be worked out.
Architecturally, the resort is beautiful! The rooms are extremely spacious with high ceilings. Gorgeous furniture, flat screen TV, comfortable beds. Huge modern bathroom. However, at least when we were there, there was an ant infestation in the bathroom with a constant stream of ants marching across the floor and shower. The were house lizards living in the room that would cackle and keep me up at night. Also, oddly, there was a design flaw in the sliding glass doors leading out to the glorious balcony with the great view- there was a huge 5 inch gap. This allowed all the nice cool air-conditioned interior air to flow out and all the jungle insects to come in in the night. One morning there was no running water. Once we reported it, everyone starting mobilizing to fix problem- it took several hours before water was restored.
The dive service was excellent (full service- you don't need to touch your gear if you don't want to) with knowledgeable & experienced dive guides who were great at finding all the Lembeh critters. We dove with Robbie most of the time and absolutely loved him. The entire time we were there (4 days of diving), it was just 2 of us with our own dive guide, sometimes even 2 dive guides! The only down side I could find in their dive operation was their "slow" boats. It wasn't really an issue because there were plenty of great dive sites nearby (within 1-15 minutes boat ride). The dive guides were generally very agreeable to dive site request, with the exception of the further dive sites as our boat was so slow compared to the dive boats that we see zipping past us from the other resorts. For instance I requested to dive at California Dreaming but was told it would take too long to get there.
The food served at Lembeh Hills was not to my liking. Just to give some perspective, on the same trip to Sulawesi, I had also stayed at Kima Bajo Resort on the Bunaken side and also spent 1 night at the Lembeh Cottages diving with Eco Divers. Both had excellent food- lots of fresh fish , including fresh sashimi(!) at Lembeh Cottages. In comparison, the food at Lembeh Hills was terrible. There was a lot of deep fried food which is not something I really enjoy. When meals were serve buffet style- which was the case when the resort was busy, most of the food was overcooked and very greasy. It also felt like their meats and fish were not fresh but rather had been sitting in the freezer for quite a while before it was cooked. (At Lembeh Cottages, the chef takes you order for day and then heads out to the market to buy fresh produce for your evening meal!) The best thing served at Lembeh Hills were the banana pancakes at breakfast- these were delicious. However they were not always available and were never served when the breakfast was served buffet style.
The staff at Lembeh Hills was very friendly and really did try very hard to help you out when you needed or wanted something. Sometimes there was a bit of a problem due to the language barrier. Once we asked for bath towels and were given tiny little face towels. The towel situation was a little odd- we never had enough towels. Considering we were diving 4 dives a day and would come back to our room to shower off, one bath towel per person was never enough. But that is all house keeping would leave us everyday. We were always asking for more towels.
When we were there, the spa was still under construction, as was the deck around the pool. The pool is a gorgeous infinity pool.
Mosquitoes at night were a problem- I got bitten a few times after night dives, walking back to my room.
Overall we enjoyed our stay- mainly because the diving was so great! I think Lembeh Hills has a lot potential. They just need to get the exterminators in, find a new chef, and fix the gap in the sliding glass balcony doors.
