Hi Searcaigh,
I have stayed at Lumba Lumba to do my advanced open water two years ago. If nothing has changed, you can expect the following:
- competative rates: diving, food and room all rather cheap compared to other places in Indonesia
- a great house reef to snorkel or solodive. There are so many wonderfull fish living here, you just need to walk in and search for the bommies.
- boats are ok, nothing great, sometimes a bit cramped up but the trips are not that far away
- diving: there were stunning dives like the canyon but also more boring dive sites. There are large pelargics around and reef fish, for small critters the housereef will do but Pulau Weh is not strong on muck. If you like sting rays and muray eels, this IS the place to be. Overall I dived for 14 days and I was kind of done with it at that time.
- good dive instructor at that time - rates for courses are also quite competative
- the community where Lumba Lumba is located, has very friendly people and you quickly learn where the best food is. It is a bit of a thing to get it quickly in between morning and afternoon dives, except if you walk up to the warung on the road where food is always ready - and very tasty if you like indonesian. For breakfast, I just brought some stuff from home which I could eat quickly befor the morning dives. That is what made the bungalows so great, they have basics for selfcatering, so you can make coffee or tea, there is a fridge to keep a drink cool, and you could get takeout at the warung and eat it on your balcony.
- it is a strict muslim community but Lumba Lumba has bintang. If you want anything else, bring your own.
- transfer airport-ferry-resort can be organised by the resort on request.
- the resort had lots of young people doing their masters. i should say during my stay, the incrowd feeling of these divemasters-to-be was sometimes irritating. Like when they were having dinner in a populair restaurant all guests frequented for dinner, they would tell guests to sit somewhere else because their section 'was for Lumba Lumba staff only'. Well, it is a rickety rackety little place with a few tables in the sand, so you feel kind of weird if they tell you to sit on the other side because they want to be a little incrowd group. On the other hand, they threw a nice party when they all became divemasters and maybe it was something specific for that group at that time. People come and go
I think you will have a wonderful time, it is beautiful out there and Gapang beach is very nice to take a stroll or to watch the world go by.
M.
