Nomad Divers - Bangka Island, North Sulawesi

[TomPlatt]

We visited Nomad Divers recently, we had an excellent time - everything was taken care of from the moment we were picked up directly from Manado airport and delivered to our brand new beach-front cottage. The focus with Nomad is squared heavily on providing world class diving, coupled with authentic Indonesian hospitality - Sophie and Simon are first class hosts. We stayed for two weeks and dived most of the local sites - a wide range of geography with many different reefs, multiple pinnacle dives, drifts and deep cave entrances. We saw a staggering array of unusual species - from the resident dugong on the house reef and stubborn frogfish, inquisitive turtles and bumphead parrotfish, to the incredible pigmy seahorses and beautiful nudies. Indonesian divemasters were on hand with local knowledge to point out things that we would have swam right past, and contributed to a very well organised operation. The food was good quality home-made local cuisine, and plenty of it, which was great as it was included in the already very competitive room rate. The location of Nomad if perfect - its bang in the middle between Bunaken and Lembeh, and although we didn't visit either this time, we will be back to visit Nomad to take advantage of these day trips the next time!

 

[rfkissling3]

I just came back from a 9-day stay at Nomad and since the last review of this place is so old, I wanted to write up my experience. This place is great!

The resort itself is simple, no frills, and in an idyllic setting. It is paradise for any nature lover. Beyond the secluded beach there is a jungle teeming with animals. Really fun.

While the setup is simple, the hospitality is unrivaled. Meals (simple, edible....I am not a "foodie" so I am not the one to best evaluate.) are taken together in a common area, and since the resort is so small, you really get to know your hosts and fellow guests. The hosts are really skilled at understanding what each party would like their stay to be and they strive to bring it to you. For me, an avid photographer, this meant time with my camera and subjects without time pressure. They allocated DMs to allow for me to move "at a photographer's pace" without interfering with other guests' desires.

The diving itself is high-quality and offers a variety of muck, wide angle, and many dives in between. Certainly varied enough to keep me interested for 9 days! Bangka is near Lembeh, and many of the resorts (including Nomad) offer trips to Bunaken and Lembeh for extra fees. You COULD do this, but I am not sure you ever would: there is too much on offer so close to the resort that it would be tough to justify a 3-hour boat ride to Lembeh.

Lastly, I would like to note that while simple and no frills, the resort came with no surprises. They are transparent no AC and no hot water. Power was on for 12ish? hours a day and the power schedule didn't really interfere significantly with charging etc. They were really up-front with these "limitations" and thus there were no surprises.

I would gladly stay at Nomad Divers again, and I hope this model of dive accommodation will spread to other locales!