North Sulawesi - Spring 2009

[ajy733]

My husband and I are relatively new divers. We have done about 25 dives in the Mexican Riviera area and we are hooked!!! We are off to Roatan later this year for two weeks of diving at a couple of different resorts. So our diving time will increase a lot.

Now after much debate we have decided that in April or May of next year we want to go to North Sulawesi for a diving trip. I really need some help choosing the right places to stay. Live aboards are out since Bruce gets motion sick at the Imax so we have to be land based. The concept of muck diving is new to us and a little confusing. Since our experience is in Akumel we are used to seeing lots of coral and fish and I am not sure that we want to give that up completely.

I am considering the following places in Sulawesi: Lembah Resort ( I love the idea of the big verandah watching the water), Minahasa Lagoon ( I am not sure how far out the way this is and if thats a good thing), Siladen Resort ( The price might be out of league not sure though), Gangga Island Resort and Bunaken Cha Cha Nature Resort.

We want nice quiet accomodations ( hot and cold water, western toilet, a/c optional) with a great view and not too many guests, good food although we are hardly picky eaters, not too much fish though, lots of opportunities to dive during the day and possibly a night dive, patient dive masters and groups that are not too large since we are not the most experienced divers and I wouldn't want to hold people back, sites that are not too far away by boat (again the sicky spouse issue), some "muck" diving but also lots of coral and larger creatures and perhaps a day of other than diving sight seeing in the area. So as you can see I want it all!!!

I have read all posts on this site about this area and they are wonderfully helpful. We would be going for about two weeks so we could split it up any way we wanted although I don't think we want to do more than two places since it cuts into dive time.

Any advice is appreicated. I just want to make the most of the trip. Thanks!!

 

[TSandM]

What we did was split our time between the Bunaken reserve and the Lembeh straits, and I would highly recommend doing that. The two places are quite different. Bunaken is all walls and drift diving, tons of color, lots of macro stuff. Lembeh is "muck diving", which is basically diving over a dark grey sand bottom which hides lots and lots of fantastic creatures. There is also some coral, and there are some utterly beautiful fish (Banggai cardinalfish, for example).

We stayed at Tasik Ria on the Bunaken side. It was a nice resort, very pretty and well-maintained, with a huge pool, and massages available on site. The food was okay but plentiful. The resort has the disadvantage of being quite a ways from the diving, but the boats were large and comfortable and the trips weren't unpleasant at all. The food on the boats was fantastic!

On the Lembeh side, we stayed at Kungkungen Bay resort, which I absolutely loved. The lodging is in individual cabins built from native wood and stone, and all the cabins look out over the strait. Meals are taken in the central building, which sticks out over the water. Food and beverages are available at any time. There are lovely amenities, like hot tea and cookies when you get off the boats, and they take your dinner order after the last afternoon dive, so by the time you get down with your shower and get to dinner, they're already working on it. The food was better than that at Tasik Ria (but not as good as the food on the boats!)

Wherever you end up staying, you'll enjoy the diving. We came home with hundreds of photographs and even more memories.

 

[Rynomar]

I have not been to North Sulawesi yet but my wife and I are looking at going some time in the summer of 2009. You might want to look at 2 Fish Divers Dive Manado/Bunaken and Dive Lembeh with Two Fish Divers Bunaken in the Lembeh Strait area. It sounds like they have a good operation and often try to have one DM per couple when possible. From the information that we found, it sounds like muck diving is the main type of diving in the Lembeh Strait area. If you want some more information on muck diving try the search feature on Scubaboard.

There are supposed to be a ton of really cool uniqie critters found on the muck dives that are uncommon elsewhere. Many of these creatures are hard to see and that is were the DM comes in really handy. I have been on many dives with groups of 10-15 people and one DM. Often when a neat creature is spotted everyone rushes up to see it and things can get a bit sporty. Having one DM with a small group would be really nice for enjoying the creatures that are spotted and also for searching for any specific creatures you want to see.

Check out the underwater gallery at two fish divers for some neat pictures. Also, Ed_DMan posted this link with some great pictures recently on the Canon forum http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/un...ng-lembeh-strait.html?highlight=lembeh+strait

If you want to dive on some of the more typical coral reefs, Bunaken National Park is located outside Manado, the main city that you will probably fly into. There are several resorts including Two Fish Divers, that have resorts at Lembeh Straits and also on or near Bunaken National Park so you can get in some muck diving and reef diving during the same trip with little hassle.

I hope that this helps a little and let me know what you decide. Also, where are you staying on Roatan?

 

[scubamickey]

You might also want to know that Bonine once a day prevents motion sickness very well. No reason to let that keep you from enjoying a liveaboard. The only person that I've ever seen get sick on a liveaboard was a girl who insisted the she would not take anything for it and that her silly little wrist band would have any effect

 

[hallboy]

It seems that celebes divers wil fit any of your wills. you could split your stay between their 2 resorts, manado side and on Siladen
Diving in Manado, Bunaken, Siladen, Lembeh with Celebes Divers - Sulawesi, Indonesia

 

[Rickg]

You might want to look into MUREX Resort also. The have 3 resorts in 3 different areas (Bunaken, Bangka and Lembeh Strait) so you can almost duplicate a LOB trip by moving from resort to resort.

Murex Dive Resorts & Liveaboards

 

[Travelnsj]

I like the Lembeh Resort room #5...great view....strongly suggest lose a day of diving....get on a plane and go to Sorong. Go to the Sorido resort and dive in Papua...the finest diving I have found on the planet.

As new divers you will go to two of the finest spots being Lembeh and Papua...took me years to find.....I'm like Bruce...I get seasick walking in rain!

 

[BlueBayDivers]

if you consider to stay in bangka area too, check out Blue Bay Divers. small resort, may 14 guests, always 2 divers to 1 Dive master, 3 boats. so never crowded on board.
day trips to lembeh (1 hour drive) and to bunaken (1,5 hours drive).
small paradise-like island. family atmosphare. NO AC.
if you like all of that then check out http://www.blue-bay-divers.com
best regards
anke

 

[JenM]

It's really hard to know whether you'll like muck diving until you've experienced it. It really is very different from "regular" coral reef diving. For one thing, since the bottoms are often, well, mucky, if you don't have good bouyancy control, you won't see much of anything. Also, muck diving is all about focusing in on often tiny, unusual creatures that are very hard to distinguish from their surroundings. Newer divers tend to be so overwhelmed by all the new stuff they are seeing underwater that it is harder for them to focus in on that stuff. Add to that the fact that the underwater environment in SE Asia in general is far more diverse than the Caribbean and I think you'd be happiest basing yourselves on the Manado side or in Bangkka, with a few days in Lembeh at the end of the trip. If you get hooked on muck diving, you can always go back.

On the Manado side, if you want a nice place that has a/c and western amenities, isn't too pricey, and you get seasick, I always recommend the Santika Hotel/Thalassa Divers. It is the closest resort to Bunaken without actually being on the island so boat rides are usually 15-20 minutes long and the crossing should be pretty calm at that time of year. They usually also come back to the resort in between dives so you aren't committed to spending the entire day on the boat. The bonus is that they have a great dive operation with a low DM/diver ratio.

The biggest thing to be aware of with the places on Bunaken island is that they are all somewhat basic. I think one place just added a/c this year (no one else has it) and some places don't have hot water. That's all fine as long as you are expecting it, but you don't want to get there and then be surprised. Siladen and Gangga are different - they are full-on resorts from what I hear - I'd love to check them out sometime.

 

[Wiggsy]

Actually, following on from what JenM wrote, has anyone out there been to Siladen Island diive resort and spa centre? I'm taking a group there this July and would love to hear something of a report (but I don't want to hijack this thread...!)