Hi All,
Having just returned from a 6 day trip to Lembeh, thought Id pen down my experience for the benefit of those who might be interested in diving Lembeh. I do not own an underwater photography system so cant share any pics but this report will be from the viewpoint of a non-photographer.
I chose to dive with NAD Lembeh resort for two reasons 1. Good reviews on this board 2. Timely replies to my emails 3. Good location
As you will know, this dive centre is managed by the much-published photographers Mike and Simon. My initial communication was with Simon as Mike was on vacation but towards the end of my stay, Mike returned and Simon was away.
From their website I found that the Bring a buddy special offer had recently expired but decided to try my luck anyway. To my delight Simon offered the package to me and it worked out well. I had booked the standard room 5N/11 dives package. Since the bungalow was available Simon was nice enough to offer that to me at no extra cost!
I arrived into Jakarta international airport at 11PM and since the connection to Manado (MDC) was at 5AM the next day, decided to spend the next few hours at the airport itself. CGK has got to be one of the worst international airports in Asia. There are only hard wooden benches to rest on and the less said about the hygiene of those benches the better. By 3AM I hailed a taxi to take me to the domestic airport. It is a 5 minute ride at that hour and costs about 30,000 IDR. Normally there is a shuttle to ferry passengers between terminals but that services shuts down between 11PM and 5:30AM I was told.
At the domestic, the procedure was smooth and I checked in at the Lion Air desk. Before heading to the gates you have to pay a departure tax of 40,000 IDR so please keep that ready. FWIW, the airport taxes out of MDC airport are IDR 30,000 and out of Jakarta are IDR 150,000. Not sure where the money goes but both airports are in dire need of upgrading.
My first experience with Lion Air was a good one. It is a no-frills service on a Boeing 737-900ER. I used the 3 hours flight time to catch up on much needed sleep. Arrived on time into MDC and waited for the bags to arrive. In the meantime I went outside to see if our ride to NAD was there and right enough, spotted a placard with my name on it. Once the bags were out, we were on our way. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach Bitung and from there it was a 15 minute boat ride to the resort.
On arrival I was greeted by Zee, Simons wife. It was a very casual atmosphere and one that made me feel comfortable right away. There were two more guests expected shortly and by the time I finished with the paperwork they too had arrived.
I was shown to the bungalow and really liked it. The resort has two bungalows and 10 apartments. Nothing fancy but adequate for the needs of a budget diver. I cant stress enough that you have to know what you are getting into before you reach the resort. There is no beach, restaurants, spas or other comforts one would expect from a resort. However what you get is easy access to 50+ dive sites on the Lembeh straits, tranquil surroundings, hot water and cool air conditioning.
The packages are all-in. All meals are buffet-style with plenty to go around. I stayed 5 nights and didnt see meals repeated. Colas, fresh juices and beer are available at a charge of USD 1.5.
Electricity is on 24x7 courtesy the resorts own generators and this is vital when you need to regularly charge batteries. There is a computer room with free wifi (dont expect superfast access), reference books, and a big camera room.
The dive staff will take care of setting up your dive equipment, changing tanks and finding the interesting stuff. All you need to do is get underwater, see and smile (and maybe depress the shutter)! The guides are locals and have been diving the sites for many, many years. They are a fun bunch and make the dives totally enjoyable. What I liked about NAD is to see how staff were being trained to become qualified dive masters and further their dive education which only helps in enhancing the customers dive experience. Also, it is good to see the expat managers/owners investing in the the local community. I was pleasantly surprised to see kitchen staff also come out and join us on some dives. Mike, Simon and Zee speak the local language fluently and this helps in smoother running of the resort (in my opinion). One amusing phenomenon I noticed was the various flags on display all around Bitung and Lembeh. I was soon to learn that the World Cup fever had spread in these places and reached epidemic proportions. Everyday I would see new flags go up and small flags replaced by bigger flags. Not sure if Ronaldo knows he has a HUGE following among the residents in this part of the world. It was great to see the amicable rivalry between Simon, the lone England supporter, and everyone else at the resort!
The dive sites are a good mix of corals and muck depending on what interests you. Every night you will be asked what creatures you would like to see. This then decides which sites are visited on the following days dives. Most dives kept us interested from 25 m deep all the way to 3m at the top. Surface stops were rarely boring and 70 min dives were common place. Its a good idea to carry your own magnifying glass as well as pointer stick. Water temp was a pleasant 30 deg at the surface and 28 deg under.
The amazing thing about Lembeh is how creatures seem to magically pop-up where you can swear there was nothing before. Towards the end of my stay I had to borrow the reef guide just so that I could let the dive guides know what creatures I wanted to see.
The resort was not busy at all which is good for divers but not sure so good for the managers and staff. I hope that this is a temporary anomaly and that divers flock Lembeh soon. During my visit I interacted with 5 guests and the reviews were all positive. The true value of any establishment is how they treat you in the face of adversity and as luck would have it I was faced with not-so-happy moments twice.
On the way to MDC airport the driver was a jerk. Didnt so much as bother to help with the bags and then shockingly would not turn up the a/c. It was a very hot day and his behavior was inexplicable. He kept telling me the a/c was not working. I was seeing red and immediately emailed Mike (ah the marvels of technology). Within minutes the driver was talking to Mike and then handed over the phone to me. Mike apologized profusely and told me he had instructed the driver to make sure the a/c was on. Well despite that the guy didnt do anything but I dont blame NAD for this. I did send Mike a follow-up email stating that the journey was a bitter experience. I received a reply saying that this would definitely be looked into. On reaching Jakarta I suddenly realized that I had not seen my wetsuit among my gear when packing. Once again, sent out an email to Mike and within no time received a response that he would take care of shipping it and at no cost just to make up for the less than pleasant journey to MDC airport.
This kind of customer service is what wins you loyal customers and I will definitely recommend NAD to my friends as well as here in this forum.
Having just returned from a 6 day trip to Lembeh, thought Id pen down my experience for the benefit of those who might be interested in diving Lembeh. I do not own an underwater photography system so cant share any pics but this report will be from the viewpoint of a non-photographer.
I chose to dive with NAD Lembeh resort for two reasons 1. Good reviews on this board 2. Timely replies to my emails 3. Good location
As you will know, this dive centre is managed by the much-published photographers Mike and Simon. My initial communication was with Simon as Mike was on vacation but towards the end of my stay, Mike returned and Simon was away.
From their website I found that the Bring a buddy special offer had recently expired but decided to try my luck anyway. To my delight Simon offered the package to me and it worked out well. I had booked the standard room 5N/11 dives package. Since the bungalow was available Simon was nice enough to offer that to me at no extra cost!
I arrived into Jakarta international airport at 11PM and since the connection to Manado (MDC) was at 5AM the next day, decided to spend the next few hours at the airport itself. CGK has got to be one of the worst international airports in Asia. There are only hard wooden benches to rest on and the less said about the hygiene of those benches the better. By 3AM I hailed a taxi to take me to the domestic airport. It is a 5 minute ride at that hour and costs about 30,000 IDR. Normally there is a shuttle to ferry passengers between terminals but that services shuts down between 11PM and 5:30AM I was told.
At the domestic, the procedure was smooth and I checked in at the Lion Air desk. Before heading to the gates you have to pay a departure tax of 40,000 IDR so please keep that ready. FWIW, the airport taxes out of MDC airport are IDR 30,000 and out of Jakarta are IDR 150,000. Not sure where the money goes but both airports are in dire need of upgrading.
My first experience with Lion Air was a good one. It is a no-frills service on a Boeing 737-900ER. I used the 3 hours flight time to catch up on much needed sleep. Arrived on time into MDC and waited for the bags to arrive. In the meantime I went outside to see if our ride to NAD was there and right enough, spotted a placard with my name on it. Once the bags were out, we were on our way. It took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to reach Bitung and from there it was a 15 minute boat ride to the resort.
On arrival I was greeted by Zee, Simons wife. It was a very casual atmosphere and one that made me feel comfortable right away. There were two more guests expected shortly and by the time I finished with the paperwork they too had arrived.
I was shown to the bungalow and really liked it. The resort has two bungalows and 10 apartments. Nothing fancy but adequate for the needs of a budget diver. I cant stress enough that you have to know what you are getting into before you reach the resort. There is no beach, restaurants, spas or other comforts one would expect from a resort. However what you get is easy access to 50+ dive sites on the Lembeh straits, tranquil surroundings, hot water and cool air conditioning.
The packages are all-in. All meals are buffet-style with plenty to go around. I stayed 5 nights and didnt see meals repeated. Colas, fresh juices and beer are available at a charge of USD 1.5.
Electricity is on 24x7 courtesy the resorts own generators and this is vital when you need to regularly charge batteries. There is a computer room with free wifi (dont expect superfast access), reference books, and a big camera room.
The dive staff will take care of setting up your dive equipment, changing tanks and finding the interesting stuff. All you need to do is get underwater, see and smile (and maybe depress the shutter)! The guides are locals and have been diving the sites for many, many years. They are a fun bunch and make the dives totally enjoyable. What I liked about NAD is to see how staff were being trained to become qualified dive masters and further their dive education which only helps in enhancing the customers dive experience. Also, it is good to see the expat managers/owners investing in the the local community. I was pleasantly surprised to see kitchen staff also come out and join us on some dives. Mike, Simon and Zee speak the local language fluently and this helps in smoother running of the resort (in my opinion). One amusing phenomenon I noticed was the various flags on display all around Bitung and Lembeh. I was soon to learn that the World Cup fever had spread in these places and reached epidemic proportions. Everyday I would see new flags go up and small flags replaced by bigger flags. Not sure if Ronaldo knows he has a HUGE following among the residents in this part of the world. It was great to see the amicable rivalry between Simon, the lone England supporter, and everyone else at the resort!
The dive sites are a good mix of corals and muck depending on what interests you. Every night you will be asked what creatures you would like to see. This then decides which sites are visited on the following days dives. Most dives kept us interested from 25 m deep all the way to 3m at the top. Surface stops were rarely boring and 70 min dives were common place. Its a good idea to carry your own magnifying glass as well as pointer stick. Water temp was a pleasant 30 deg at the surface and 28 deg under.
The amazing thing about Lembeh is how creatures seem to magically pop-up where you can swear there was nothing before. Towards the end of my stay I had to borrow the reef guide just so that I could let the dive guides know what creatures I wanted to see.
The resort was not busy at all which is good for divers but not sure so good for the managers and staff. I hope that this is a temporary anomaly and that divers flock Lembeh soon. During my visit I interacted with 5 guests and the reviews were all positive. The true value of any establishment is how they treat you in the face of adversity and as luck would have it I was faced with not-so-happy moments twice.
On the way to MDC airport the driver was a jerk. Didnt so much as bother to help with the bags and then shockingly would not turn up the a/c. It was a very hot day and his behavior was inexplicable. He kept telling me the a/c was not working. I was seeing red and immediately emailed Mike (ah the marvels of technology). Within minutes the driver was talking to Mike and then handed over the phone to me. Mike apologized profusely and told me he had instructed the driver to make sure the a/c was on. Well despite that the guy didnt do anything but I dont blame NAD for this. I did send Mike a follow-up email stating that the journey was a bitter experience. I received a reply saying that this would definitely be looked into. On reaching Jakarta I suddenly realized that I had not seen my wetsuit among my gear when packing. Once again, sent out an email to Mike and within no time received a response that he would take care of shipping it and at no cost just to make up for the less than pleasant journey to MDC airport.
This kind of customer service is what wins you loyal customers and I will definitely recommend NAD to my friends as well as here in this forum.
