dirtfarmer
Contributor
I had been anticipating my third trip to Lembeh for quite some time. After a long Spring,Summer and Fall with no diving- just dreaming of diving, November had finally come and it was time to hop on some planes and get back to some of the best muck diving in the world. Door to door Nor-Cal to Manado was 35 hours. The good news is that the more times I travel to South East Asia the faster that travel time seems to go by. The SFO-Taipei leg just flew by, having a large choice of movies to watch really helps, as I usually don't sleep for more than a few hours. From Denpasar to Manado the Lion air flight was only delayed by an hour or so, much better than the three hours delay of my last trip. In Manado I tried a new hotel to me, the Novotel Golf Resort, a quick 5-10 minutes from the airport, ( my taxi driver did seem to be playing a real life version of Grand Theft Auto,) the Novotel is nice, and one of the best things about it is no early morning call to prayer, or roosters to wake me up at an ungodly hour, I do that at home on the farm so on vacation I appreciate peace and quiet in the morning. I was picked up for my transfer to Lembeh by Two Fish and reached the resort in time to set up my camera, while the staff set up my dive gear and make the second dive of the day.
The resort has had some improvements since the last year. The new dive shop ( no more rinsing equipment in plastic drums!) and reception area is done and the new standard room was quite nice to stay in. The standard room was a nice upgrade from my usual budget room at Two Fish. Having my own shower and toilet was a great convenience, not having to go downstairs in the middle of the night to take a leak was nice, and I really enjoy a hot shower after the dives to warm back up, but didn't have to race to beat another diver to the showers. Every time I go back to Two Fish they have made improvements, by my second trip they had replaced the 2 stroke boat engines with four stroke ones, and this time even though the food was good the last time, I found it better this year. For breakfast I really enjoy my Banana pancake topped with fried eggs, and damn when it was fried chicken night I was so happy! I was again the only diver from the U.S. but that suits me fine, I really enjoy meeting other divers from all over the world sharing stories and beers. I even bumped into a couple that I had met in Sipadan a few years back.
I dived 9 days with 3 dives a day, and Lembeh produced a great parade of critters once again. Some of the critter highlights were quite a few Pygmy Seahorses- Bargibanti-Densie-Pontohi. A couple of the Bargibanti were pregnant with swollen belly's, so cute but so hard to get a good photo! There were quite a few Ornate Ghostpipes which are one of my favorite critters, and I witnessed one take a cleaner shrimp off an anemone,I missed getting it on video but I did get a few still shots of the shrimp claws hanging out of it's mouth. That's one thing about diving I like so much; watching marine life behavior. Before I was a photographer I would frequently get left behind my group as I would be watching some fascinating behavior. I love Cephelopods and the Blue Ring Octopi were out in force, often my guide would signal Blue Ring and I would frequently wave him off and go back to shooting some other critters photo's. The Mimic and Coconut Octopi were also abundant. I unfortunately did not get to see any Hairy Octopus which there had been frequent sightings before and during my time there. Another guest did get a photo with both a blue ring and hairy in the frame, needless to say I was envious and practically drove my guide crazy asking for Hairy Octopus. We dove one of the Hairy hotspots the next day but a wicked down current blew into Nudi Falls and we had to slowly climb back up the slope with our muck sticks and take shelter along the wall edge cutting short the Hairy hunt. I didn't get a Hairy Octopus but I did get a hairy dive! Mother Nature wasn't co-operating with my request for a Hairy Octopus but we did see a Mototati later so that was a nice substitution. My guide Heskiel was top notch, and helped me get many great photos. He would spot a critter make sure I confirmed its location then start hunting for the next. I was never rushed in taking my photos and video which I really appreciate, at most there were two other divers in my group and for a few days it was just me and him. Two Fish does a great job in keeping you with the same guide and group of divers during your time there and I really appreciate not having to get used to a new guide every few days. Other critter highlights were a profusion of Frogfish including a shaggy one. The Nudibranchs were well represented also in fact there were more Nudi's out than any of my trips before. Crustaceans were also well represented with lot's of the usual cleaner shrimp, Coleman shrimp, and more Tocuzuma shrimp than I've seen anywhere. Heskiel and the other guides also managed to find quite a few Harlequin shrimp though they were smaller ones, and a Boxer Crab with eggs, they also found Tiger Shrimp on multiple occasions.
Alas after some fantastic diving in Lembeh it was time for me to travel back to Bali as I had to get on a liveboard to Komodo. Poor me to have to leave Lembeh to dive Komodo! I really love diving Lembeh and will again someday, it really is a special place.
here is a link to my photobucket album Lembeh 2014 by thedirtfarmer | Photobucket
The resort has had some improvements since the last year. The new dive shop ( no more rinsing equipment in plastic drums!) and reception area is done and the new standard room was quite nice to stay in. The standard room was a nice upgrade from my usual budget room at Two Fish. Having my own shower and toilet was a great convenience, not having to go downstairs in the middle of the night to take a leak was nice, and I really enjoy a hot shower after the dives to warm back up, but didn't have to race to beat another diver to the showers. Every time I go back to Two Fish they have made improvements, by my second trip they had replaced the 2 stroke boat engines with four stroke ones, and this time even though the food was good the last time, I found it better this year. For breakfast I really enjoy my Banana pancake topped with fried eggs, and damn when it was fried chicken night I was so happy! I was again the only diver from the U.S. but that suits me fine, I really enjoy meeting other divers from all over the world sharing stories and beers. I even bumped into a couple that I had met in Sipadan a few years back.
I dived 9 days with 3 dives a day, and Lembeh produced a great parade of critters once again. Some of the critter highlights were quite a few Pygmy Seahorses- Bargibanti-Densie-Pontohi. A couple of the Bargibanti were pregnant with swollen belly's, so cute but so hard to get a good photo! There were quite a few Ornate Ghostpipes which are one of my favorite critters, and I witnessed one take a cleaner shrimp off an anemone,I missed getting it on video but I did get a few still shots of the shrimp claws hanging out of it's mouth. That's one thing about diving I like so much; watching marine life behavior. Before I was a photographer I would frequently get left behind my group as I would be watching some fascinating behavior. I love Cephelopods and the Blue Ring Octopi were out in force, often my guide would signal Blue Ring and I would frequently wave him off and go back to shooting some other critters photo's. The Mimic and Coconut Octopi were also abundant. I unfortunately did not get to see any Hairy Octopus which there had been frequent sightings before and during my time there. Another guest did get a photo with both a blue ring and hairy in the frame, needless to say I was envious and practically drove my guide crazy asking for Hairy Octopus. We dove one of the Hairy hotspots the next day but a wicked down current blew into Nudi Falls and we had to slowly climb back up the slope with our muck sticks and take shelter along the wall edge cutting short the Hairy hunt. I didn't get a Hairy Octopus but I did get a hairy dive! Mother Nature wasn't co-operating with my request for a Hairy Octopus but we did see a Mototati later so that was a nice substitution. My guide Heskiel was top notch, and helped me get many great photos. He would spot a critter make sure I confirmed its location then start hunting for the next. I was never rushed in taking my photos and video which I really appreciate, at most there were two other divers in my group and for a few days it was just me and him. Two Fish does a great job in keeping you with the same guide and group of divers during your time there and I really appreciate not having to get used to a new guide every few days. Other critter highlights were a profusion of Frogfish including a shaggy one. The Nudibranchs were well represented also in fact there were more Nudi's out than any of my trips before. Crustaceans were also well represented with lot's of the usual cleaner shrimp, Coleman shrimp, and more Tocuzuma shrimp than I've seen anywhere. Heskiel and the other guides also managed to find quite a few Harlequin shrimp though they were smaller ones, and a Boxer Crab with eggs, they also found Tiger Shrimp on multiple occasions.
Alas after some fantastic diving in Lembeh it was time for me to travel back to Bali as I had to get on a liveboard to Komodo. Poor me to have to leave Lembeh to dive Komodo! I really love diving Lembeh and will again someday, it really is a special place.
here is a link to my photobucket album Lembeh 2014 by thedirtfarmer | Photobucket
) perfectly sufficient. Not fancy but not rundown. The food is pretty good for a budget resort, you would probably find better 
