Manado/Lembeh Straits?

[Gno]

Anyone able to offer more infor on whether to spend more time in Bunaken or in Lembeh Straits.

I'll be there in about 3 weeks time and have about 6-7 diving days but have not decided on the lengh of stay at these 2 sites.

Initially I thought of spending more time in Bunaken but everyone seems to like Lembeh Straits for its macro stuff and is a photograhper's paradise.

Am planning to go with Sulawesi Dive Quest (SDQ) but somehow, can get much feedback looking at the posts to date.

Appreciate some feedback.

Thanx!ut:

 

[Gno]

Sorry, forgot to mention that I just took up photopragphy last year and am still a novice. So, would Lembeh Straits be a better bet?

Anyone seen whalesharks in Bunaken lately? Heard a rumour it was seen last week!!

Appreciate the infor!!!

 

[Indah]

Hello, on our site and the link page of our site you will find any information there is about Lembeh Strait. Divers Lodge Lembeh

 

[Reefwalker]

Dear Gno
In my opinion your time is probably split 75/25, that is 75% Bunaken, 25% Lembeh. As a novice photographer, you may find Lembeh visibility a bit of a challenge. Backscatter can be a real problem there unless you have taken pics in limited visibility before. Bunaken has overall more variety than lembeh, though you will be impressed with the unusual animals at Lembeh. To confuse you even more, I think the best diving around North Sulawesi is at Bangka Island. This area has the best combination of critters and clear water along with fantastic scenery. Talk to Murex Dive Resort, they have two liveaboards that visit this area, plus they do day trips to Bangka and the nearby mainland which is just north of Lembeh Strait.
Regards
Reefwalker

 

[Clown]

Hi Gno,

Depends a bit on what you want. Lembeh offers quit a different landscape (or underwaterscape) than Bunaken, mainly a sandy bottom and no wall diving. Main attraction is the increddible small things which you can probably only find there.

If you want to see a bit more (or better a lot more) variety go to Bunaken. Besides that a lot of the small stuff found in Lembeh can, with a bit of luck, be found in and around Bunaken as well. Besides that you get amazing wall diving and with some luck some of the big fish as well.

Whale sharks (Manta's as well) are as far as I know very rare here. Whales on the other hand are seen migrating but I am not sure if you can dive with them.

As a photographer I would suggest to concentrate on macro's or close range photography. The enormous amounts of plankton are causing backscatter with wide-angle photo's. You need to know your business to get a proper wide-angle photo in Bunaken.

Anyway we have been there the last two weeks, and with the help of our guide found everything we wanted and more. I would focus on Bunaken. This place is hard to beat as far as variety is concerned.

Have fun!

 

[Indah]

Seems there is quite some misunderstanding about the sites around Lembeh. Probably because most visitors only did a couple of dives there. Most of the dive operators from Manado only know four or five sites. The other 30 offer much more than muck and critter diving: five wrecks at reasonable depths, walls, caves, coral gardens and so on. Also here we see barracuda's, sharks and rays. But since Bunaken is also great diving a combination probably is the best idea. But then 50/50.

 

[blackice]

Indah once bubbled...
Seems there is quite some misunderstanding about the sites around Lembeh. Probably because most visitors only did a couple of dives there. Most of the dive operators from Manado only know four or five sites. The other 30 offer much more than muck and critter diving: five wrecks at reasonable depths, walls, caves, coral gardens and so on. Also here we see barracuda's, sharks and rays. But since Bunaken is also great diving a combination probably is the best idea. But then 50/50.

I agree we spent only two days at lembah straits but saw heaps of stuff, from seahorses both pigmy and normal brown and yellow to frog fish, white, yellow, orange and grey, mandrian fish, eels, and many other interesting things.

Photographers might want longer there we did about 8 dives and then did a wreck dive aswell, that was well worth it.

 

[jast]

Hi guys,

I'm organizing a trip to Manado from Malaysia this coming Christmas for around 5 days or maybe even 8 days. Anyone of you interested?

I've done a rough calculation with some discount rate that i got, for a trip of 5 days 4 nights, it's around MYR2000, full board, inclusive of 10dives. We're targetting 25th - 30th Dec, not 100% finalize on the date.

Let me know or contact me if you are interested.

Jast
jasontanch78@hotmail.com

 

[frogfish]

Is there any alternative to Silk air to go to Manado from Singapore ? They seem to be heavily booked over the year-end period.

 

[neve]

I'd suggest spending 50-50 time in Lembeh and Bunaken. I only had 2 dives in Lembeh and I'm regretting it even now (trip was in March). My buddies didn't really like small critters so they voted against doing more dives in lembeh. Not that I'm complaining about Bunaken, though, it was fantastic, but I would have liked to spend more time in Lembeh.

To get to Manado:

Maybe try the Singapore-Jakarta-Manado route by Garuda?

Or Singapore-Kota Kinabalu-Manado by Malaysian Airlines

Or Singapore-Manila-Manado by Philippines Airlines.