Manado, N Sulawesi, creatures large and small

[pelan-pelan]

Bunaken Marine Reserve - superb diving. Recent reports of success of this Park seem to be right - if possible, things are better now than a couple of years ago. Well-known for walls, spiralling shoals and drift . . .
But
there are small critter sites on the Manado side as well. Sand is lighter than Lembeh and the temperatures are warmer than Lembeh - currently 29C seems the norm. Hairy frog fishes, various ghost pipe fishes, Pegasus sea moths, mandarin goby, orang utan crabs etc. And these are "standard" sightings - not rare occurences.

Never dived with anyone better than lumbalumbadiving.com. They have a new dive lodge backed by years of experience in Manado. They look after your gear, listen to what you are interested in, provide highly experienced diveguides who deliver what you want from your dive, listen to your experiences after the dive, provide you with spotless, well-equipped cottage (more a villa really) accommodation and feed you good food. Chef Martin even takes account of what you like to eat. And if that isn't enough, the gardens are beautiful and you get a million dollar view out over the bay to Manado Tua. They are committed to preserving the environment - sewage is in plant filtration beds not out in the sea!

The jetty dive is awesome. Be sure to clamp the reg in your mouth as you stride in. You may drop it as you gasp at the size of the robust ghost pipefish immediately under the jetty. Just call them Arnie and Sly.

Have dived with them many times over the past 8 years and they have always maintained the highest standards of service - so expect standards at the new lodge to be maintained.

And "lumbalumba" means dolphins. Not that I need to say that. Get the impression there are a good few folk on this board who appreciate critters and are familiar with North Sulawesi.

 

[ssra30]

I just came back from a quickie Lembeh/Bunaken trip last month and will return to Lembeh next month for 2 weeks.
I was on a liveaboard and spent most of the time in Lembeh but also spent a day (4 dives) around Bunaken. I have to say that the clear blue water around Bunaken is hard to beat but I was a bit disappointed. The seafan/wall/hard coral was nice but the palegics were quite disappointing and after Lembeh, the macro stuff was a bit ordinary (I probably would not say this, if I was not in Lembeh on the same trip).
Snorkeling with dolphins were fun though (unfortunately there were very skittish and I could not get all that close but certainly saw a whole bunch about 5-10 meters away and they very noisy underwater).
You can see some pictures from my Lembeh/Bunaken trip in my website.

 

[pelan-pelan]

Point here - the critters are on the Manado side.

I've dived Lembeh and just come back from Manado this time. On the Manado side (see above - warmer and brighter than Lembeh) they are starting to locate many critters. Until recently diving focussed on Bunaken, now they are looking to their own shore and finding they can rival Lembeh. I dived Lembeh and Manado both about 2 years ago and already they were defining dive locations with critters. They've always been there - it's just that diving was focussed on the bigger stuff/walls.

Blue ring, mimic octs, frogfish plain or hairy, seahorses all types, ditto ghost pipe fish, leaf fish, sea moths, shrimps of all sorts, crabs inc orang utan, flamboyant and other cuttlefish, snake eels, flathead crocodile fish, stone and scorpion fish, mandarin fish etc etc. And then there is a proliferation of corals and sponges which is not present in Lembeh. You would expect to see all of these (except maybe the blue-ring and mimic) in only two dives - one shore dive at the jetty and one 20 minute distant boat dive at Poo Pooh. Another couple of dives would get you the blue ring and maybe the mimic. Chuck in a night dive and you'd be high on critters.

Oh - and did I say pilot whales!

What I didn't see there were flying gurnards which are abundant at Lembeh. Also - there are a fair few nudis, but if you're a nudi-freak - then Lembeh still has the edge. (And if you are a nudi-freak - check out Nha Trang in Vietnam. They've eaten most of the fish, but the nudis are great and Rainbow Divers divevietnam.com even have a nudi speciality.)

If there is anything you are particularly interested in - ask and I will tell you if or where and when we saw it. Have also some photos that we are still processing - so can provide a portrait as well!

 

[gabyne]

Extraordinary images on your website! Great! I'll be in Lembeh the first two weeks of October and just in the process of choosing a resort. Can't decide between KBR, Lembeh Resort, Divers Lodge and SDQ Lembeh. They all seem to have very dedicated guides (maybe most of them learned in KBR?) which is the most important point for me.

Where have you stayed on your short trip or have you been to some of the resorts before? Where will you go next month?

Thanks a lot for your answer!!

Gaby

 

[Santa]

I've dived Bunaken rather extensively for two seasons doing all my courses there. To me it's small wonder - especially regarding critters and soft coral. You really can stay in one spot and still be continually amazed.

It's true about the Manado side, where, if you know where to look you will also find the mascot pygmy seahorse. The wreck off Manado also features a pretty good muck dive on the way back up (it's not lembeh, but...)

Still I'd go for the resorts on the island any day. Food and board is on the decidedly "local" side of things; very cheap and still charming. Resorts like Two-fish and Froggies are pretty well-run dive-ops - nice and laidback averaging 2-3 dives a day and most sites only 10-20 minutes away, depending on tides.

The local guides are very nice and knows the reefs inside out. House reefs are spectacular and the snorkeling is great as well - and never more than 2 minutes away. Usually you can come on the dive-boats for free if you're taking a day off - or just living at the resort.

you're apt to meet some very interesting people there - from sponge experts to nuclear sub captains. The backpacker feel tends keep the superficial types - literally - at bay.

 

[ssra30]

Extraordinary images on your website! Great! I'll be in Lembeh the first two weeks of October and just in the process of choosing a resort. Can't decide between KBR, Lembeh Resort, Divers Lodge and SDQ Lembeh. They all seem to have very dedicated guides (maybe most of them learned in KBR?) which is the most important point for me.

Where have you stayed on your short trip or have you been to some of the resorts before? Where will you go next month?

Thanks a lot for your answer!!

Gaby

I was on a liveaboard, the Panunee and will be back next month also on the Panunee. KBR is the only resort there for a number of years and most local guides in Lembeh all did their times there. Since then, many resorts and liveaboards managed to lure some of the star diveguides away from KBR but KBR certainly still have excellent guides. Because of competition, KBR has underwent pretty big management overhaul, new dive operator, upgraded facility. However I don't have any experience with any resort there. In the past, I contacted KBR a few times but found them incredibly snooty and arrogance so I never did go there. However, I heard that their attitudes had improved for the better with more competition and change of management.

 

[Santa]

Go again man 4 dives at Bunaken is not enough ;0)

The viz can be truly great but it's not as constant as maybe in a pelgic environment. If it's bad it's often due to inland rainfall that moves muck out of Manado - especially right after rain season. Using the change of the tide to your advantage helps a bit on "cloudy" days. Occasionally the volcanoes at Tomahon may erupt (a bit anyway) and falling ashes will blur things for a few days.

But true if you're into big sharks and mantas it's not the ideal place. There are manatees though ...

Where did you go, the lekuans?

 

[ssra30]

I know it is not fair to judge a place just on 4 dives. I dove Lekuan I, Raymond Point, Tanjung Kopi and Sela Sela.
I am sure I will be back in Bunaken again but Bunaken is one of those annoying place, especially for dSLR camera I suppose. At least at Lembeh, I know I am just going to concentrate on macro stuff. With nice blue clear water around Bunaken, I would most likely go with wide angle lens so what would I do when I find those pgymy seahorse
Kind of like Richeliue Rock in Thailand, go with macro for the sure known thing or wide angle just in case a whale shark stop by :06:

 

[anemone]

So, Bunaken is more likely to see big stuff? probably good for a beginner like me

 

[whitehead]

I am at a complete loss.