Hi everyone,
I just returned from Manado and had quite possibly one of the best dive vacations in Asia. Manado is lacking somewhat in the large schools of palegics but the critters that typically get overlooked because your eyes are on the blue are abundant!
There were 5 of us - all AOW 100 - 200 dives each - but mostly inexperienced in muck diving. We went with the intention of heading over to the mack-daddy of all muck diving in Lembeh Strait but honestly couldn't pull ourselves away from the diving we found on the Manado side (muck dives here) and Bunaken Island. We spent hours pouring over reference books each night trying to identify and having our DM's point out to us the names of all that we saw in the days diving. Blue ribbone eel, electric clam, orangutan crab, porcelin crab, frog fish, scorpion fish, blue spotted ray, juvenile sweetlips (that jiggle like an uncoordinated mambo dancer), and seahorses galore! Night dives revealed Spanish dancers, decorator crabs - just amazing things to see everywhere. The vis was 35 meters +, there were great drift dives as well.
We took a risk and did not go the big resort route, instead relying on quite a few scubaboard recommendations for a tiny resort called Lumbalumba. They have only 5 cottages but the resort is on a hill with spectacular view of Bunaken, etc. The sunsets and sunrises were surreal. LL has their own dive boat which we virtually had to ourselves for the duration of the trip (max person will ever be 12) and we had 2-3 excellent DM's that really had a passion for making sure that we didn't miss the unique animals around us. The owners are very down to earth and have created a little sanctuary - the grounds are really quite beautiful. They even have a dive site located right off of their jetty. Being that the resort is on a hill you can expect a healthy climb to your cottage. The food was excellent (beers a bit pricey) and they will have a pool by end of the year.
We debated about making the 2 hour overland trip to Lembeh just for the experience but frankly didn't want to detract from our dive time to do this as we weren't lacking for anything where we were.
Bottom line was that this was one of the most exciting trips in terms of new stuff seen, service, and value - I highly recommend diving Sulawesi.
I just returned from Manado and had quite possibly one of the best dive vacations in Asia. Manado is lacking somewhat in the large schools of palegics but the critters that typically get overlooked because your eyes are on the blue are abundant!
There were 5 of us - all AOW 100 - 200 dives each - but mostly inexperienced in muck diving. We went with the intention of heading over to the mack-daddy of all muck diving in Lembeh Strait but honestly couldn't pull ourselves away from the diving we found on the Manado side (muck dives here) and Bunaken Island. We spent hours pouring over reference books each night trying to identify and having our DM's point out to us the names of all that we saw in the days diving. Blue ribbone eel, electric clam, orangutan crab, porcelin crab, frog fish, scorpion fish, blue spotted ray, juvenile sweetlips (that jiggle like an uncoordinated mambo dancer), and seahorses galore! Night dives revealed Spanish dancers, decorator crabs - just amazing things to see everywhere. The vis was 35 meters +, there were great drift dives as well.
We took a risk and did not go the big resort route, instead relying on quite a few scubaboard recommendations for a tiny resort called Lumbalumba. They have only 5 cottages but the resort is on a hill with spectacular view of Bunaken, etc. The sunsets and sunrises were surreal. LL has their own dive boat which we virtually had to ourselves for the duration of the trip (max person will ever be 12) and we had 2-3 excellent DM's that really had a passion for making sure that we didn't miss the unique animals around us. The owners are very down to earth and have created a little sanctuary - the grounds are really quite beautiful. They even have a dive site located right off of their jetty. Being that the resort is on a hill you can expect a healthy climb to your cottage. The food was excellent (beers a bit pricey) and they will have a pool by end of the year.
We debated about making the 2 hour overland trip to Lembeh just for the experience but frankly didn't want to detract from our dive time to do this as we weren't lacking for anything where we were.
Bottom line was that this was one of the most exciting trips in terms of new stuff seen, service, and value - I highly recommend diving Sulawesi.
