Ironborn
Contributor
What follows is an overview of my two-week trip to North Sulawesi in November 2018, during which I visited both Bangka Island and Lembeh. I will post individual accounts of my experiences in each of those two destinations on separate threads.
It was Lembeh that had originally attracted me to North Sulawesi, and in retrospect Lembeh turned out to be the more fulfilling of the two destinations for me. My trip to the Philippines earlier this year fueled my interest in further Indo-Pacific diving trips in general and my more specific interest in macro photography and muck diving. Hearing other guests in both Puerto Galera and Anilao – but mostly the latter – talk about their experiences in Lembeh fueled my interest in it. Sharing my photos from the Philippines – especially those from Anilao – on Instagram and elsewhere generated feedback from Indonesian dive shops and foreign divers who had been to Lembeh, which further fueled my interest. I sensed that like-minded divers with similar tastes gave Lembeh the “gold medal” and Anilao the “silver medal” for macro photography and muck diving, so I looked forward to improving upon my already impressive experience in Anilao. My research to identify some of the more unusual creatures that I had photographed in Anilao also led me to the highly informative blog of NAD Lembeh. Their blog further fueled my interest in Lembeh and contributed to my eventual choice of that resort, even though I later considered and researched its competitors before deciding.
The problem was that I live literally half way around the world in New York City. I determined that I would need a trip of two weeks in order to justify the expense, duration, complexity, and resulting jet lag of flights of that magnitude. As appealing as Lembeh sounded, variety is the spice of life, and I was hesitant to spend two weeks there, or in any one place, for that matter. I researched North Sulawesi further and learned about Bangka Island and Bunaken, both of which I considered as destinations for another leg of my trip, in addition to Lembeh. I decided on Bangka Island over Bunaken because I have historically preferred reefs over walls. I decided against the “Passport to Paradise” package of the Murex Dive Resort chain, encompassing all three destinations, because: I wanted to spend more time in Lembeh; I had already decided on NAD Lembeh for the Lembeh leg of my trip; and I was hesitant to invest an entire two-week trip in one operator. I nonetheless chose Murex Bangka for the Bangka leg of my trip because: it struck me as the most popular and well-regarded resort on the island; it was one of only two resorts there with Nitrox; and the other resorts seemed more limited in what they offered.
Choosing a flight was a more substantial obstacle. I ultimately chose the combination of Singapore Airlines and its SilkAir regional subsidiary, planning to fly directly between New York and Singapore, with connecting flights between Singapore and Manado. The key selling points for me were the positive reputation of Singapore Airlines and the seamless itinerary that would have enabled me to fly all the way from New York to North Sulawesi on one airline (sort of), which I hoped would reduce the likelihood of a missed connection, lost luggage, or other such complications. The downside was that SilkAir's flights to and from Manado only left four times a week, which limited my scheduling options.
Both of those selling points turned out to be wrong, as Singapore Airlines canceled my originally booked outbound departure from New York due to vaguely described “operational issues” at the last minute, as I was on my way to the airport. They could have gotten me on a flight to London with Virgin Atlantic, one of their codeshare partners, for another Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore that would have gotten me to Singapore on time for my flight to Manado. They refused to do that, however, because they had locked the reservations of all passengers on the canceled flight so that they could rebook everyone “systematically,” rather than on an individual or first-come, first-serve basis. In other words, those with higher fare classes or preferred status received priority rebooking. I must have been at the bottom of the barrel, given my low fare class and my lack of status with that airline, so I had to wait until the next day for my rebooking. I flew on Virgin Atlantic to London for an onward Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore, where I caught the SilkAir flight to Manado the next day. The airline's unnecessary delay in my rebooking caused me to miss the first day of my prepaid, non-refundable stay at Murex Bangka. Perhaps I could have avoided missing that first day of my trip if the airline had been more flexible in rebooking me on a first-come, first-serve basis. I was fortunate that I had originally chosen to fly to Manado on a Friday, as there are also SilkAir flights to Manado on Saturdays. I had chosen Friday for that reason, as it was the only day of the week on which SilkAir also flies to Manado the next day, giving me a backup the next day in the event of a cancellation.
Singapore Airlines staff handled the cancellation and rebooking poorly, with lower-quality customer service than I have ever encountered with any airline other than Southwest. It was as if they were unfamiliar with their own procedures for canceled flights and rebooking passengers from those flights, or as if they had never experienced a cancellation before. It took me so long to elicit an answer from them as to why they could not or would not immediately rebook me on the alternate itinerary that would have gotten me to Manado on time that the window of time to get me on that flight passed, and it was too late; I would have to wait until the next day. To make matters worse, a Singapore Airlines stewardess on my flight from London to Singapore rammed my leg with a beverage cart as she was racing down the aisle at full speed, as if there were some sort of beverage emergency. I plan to avoid Singapore Airlines like the plague in the future and would encourage others to do the same.
Bangka and Lembeh complemented each other well, making for a well-rounded, balanced trip, despite my ultimate preference for the latter. The rich reef growth, high fish density, and often impressive topography of Bangka complemented and balanced the often unusual and exotic critter encounters and rewarding photographic opportunities of Lembeh's muck dives. By the same token, the muck dives that we did on Bangka yielded relatively little (compared to Lembeh) in the way of critter encounters or photo opportunities, and the reefs of Lembeh sometimes struck me as somewhat unremarkable, compared to those of Bangka. In a perfect world, one might hope to have both rich reefs and rich muck diving in the same place, but perhaps the best one can do in reality is to combine those two types of experiences by visiting two different types of places in one trip, which one can do in North Sulawesi.
Comparing this trip to my trip to the Philippines, I would say that Bangka and Lembeh were more rewarding for the specific types of diving for which they are known, whereas those two destinations in the Philippines were more balanced and well-rounded. For example, Puerto Galera and Bangka Island are reef diving destinations; I found Bangka's reefs far richer than those of Puerto Galera, but Puerto Galera also had better muck diving and more critters than Bangka. Both Lembeh and Anilao are muck diving destinations; I would say that Lembeh has better muck diving than Anilao in most respects, but Anilao has better reefs than Lembeh. As much as I like muck diving, I also like to take a break from it and see some coral every now and then, and at least in that one respect, Anilao was more balanced.
From a photographic perspective, Lembeh was far more rewarding for me than Bangka Island. To give you an idea of what I mean: after post-processing, I ended up with 116 images from 20 dives on Bangka that I would consider at least minimally presentable, but 334 images from 24 dives on Lembeh that I would also consider at least minimally presentable. Granted, I had four more dives at Lembeh, and my bottom times at Lembeh were usually longer (up to 15 minutes longer), but the disparity is still remarkable even if one accounts for those factors. The limitations of my current wide-angle setup were another factor in this disparity, as it was inadequate for Bangka's impressive reefscapes. My own special interest in macro photography was probably another factor, but even if one accounts for all of these factors, the disparity is still significant. Lembeh's reputation as a goldmine for photo opportunities is well-deserved. Numbers aside, I would also argue that the quality of my images from Lembeh was often higher due to the subjects and the environment. I posted my highlights on my Instagram profile, to which there is a link in my signature block: have a look and judge for yourselves.
(to be continued in the next post on this thread)
It was Lembeh that had originally attracted me to North Sulawesi, and in retrospect Lembeh turned out to be the more fulfilling of the two destinations for me. My trip to the Philippines earlier this year fueled my interest in further Indo-Pacific diving trips in general and my more specific interest in macro photography and muck diving. Hearing other guests in both Puerto Galera and Anilao – but mostly the latter – talk about their experiences in Lembeh fueled my interest in it. Sharing my photos from the Philippines – especially those from Anilao – on Instagram and elsewhere generated feedback from Indonesian dive shops and foreign divers who had been to Lembeh, which further fueled my interest. I sensed that like-minded divers with similar tastes gave Lembeh the “gold medal” and Anilao the “silver medal” for macro photography and muck diving, so I looked forward to improving upon my already impressive experience in Anilao. My research to identify some of the more unusual creatures that I had photographed in Anilao also led me to the highly informative blog of NAD Lembeh. Their blog further fueled my interest in Lembeh and contributed to my eventual choice of that resort, even though I later considered and researched its competitors before deciding.
The problem was that I live literally half way around the world in New York City. I determined that I would need a trip of two weeks in order to justify the expense, duration, complexity, and resulting jet lag of flights of that magnitude. As appealing as Lembeh sounded, variety is the spice of life, and I was hesitant to spend two weeks there, or in any one place, for that matter. I researched North Sulawesi further and learned about Bangka Island and Bunaken, both of which I considered as destinations for another leg of my trip, in addition to Lembeh. I decided on Bangka Island over Bunaken because I have historically preferred reefs over walls. I decided against the “Passport to Paradise” package of the Murex Dive Resort chain, encompassing all three destinations, because: I wanted to spend more time in Lembeh; I had already decided on NAD Lembeh for the Lembeh leg of my trip; and I was hesitant to invest an entire two-week trip in one operator. I nonetheless chose Murex Bangka for the Bangka leg of my trip because: it struck me as the most popular and well-regarded resort on the island; it was one of only two resorts there with Nitrox; and the other resorts seemed more limited in what they offered.
Choosing a flight was a more substantial obstacle. I ultimately chose the combination of Singapore Airlines and its SilkAir regional subsidiary, planning to fly directly between New York and Singapore, with connecting flights between Singapore and Manado. The key selling points for me were the positive reputation of Singapore Airlines and the seamless itinerary that would have enabled me to fly all the way from New York to North Sulawesi on one airline (sort of), which I hoped would reduce the likelihood of a missed connection, lost luggage, or other such complications. The downside was that SilkAir's flights to and from Manado only left four times a week, which limited my scheduling options.
Both of those selling points turned out to be wrong, as Singapore Airlines canceled my originally booked outbound departure from New York due to vaguely described “operational issues” at the last minute, as I was on my way to the airport. They could have gotten me on a flight to London with Virgin Atlantic, one of their codeshare partners, for another Singapore Airlines flight from London to Singapore that would have gotten me to Singapore on time for my flight to Manado. They refused to do that, however, because they had locked the reservations of all passengers on the canceled flight so that they could rebook everyone “systematically,” rather than on an individual or first-come, first-serve basis. In other words, those with higher fare classes or preferred status received priority rebooking. I must have been at the bottom of the barrel, given my low fare class and my lack of status with that airline, so I had to wait until the next day for my rebooking. I flew on Virgin Atlantic to London for an onward Singapore Airlines flight to Singapore, where I caught the SilkAir flight to Manado the next day. The airline's unnecessary delay in my rebooking caused me to miss the first day of my prepaid, non-refundable stay at Murex Bangka. Perhaps I could have avoided missing that first day of my trip if the airline had been more flexible in rebooking me on a first-come, first-serve basis. I was fortunate that I had originally chosen to fly to Manado on a Friday, as there are also SilkAir flights to Manado on Saturdays. I had chosen Friday for that reason, as it was the only day of the week on which SilkAir also flies to Manado the next day, giving me a backup the next day in the event of a cancellation.
Singapore Airlines staff handled the cancellation and rebooking poorly, with lower-quality customer service than I have ever encountered with any airline other than Southwest. It was as if they were unfamiliar with their own procedures for canceled flights and rebooking passengers from those flights, or as if they had never experienced a cancellation before. It took me so long to elicit an answer from them as to why they could not or would not immediately rebook me on the alternate itinerary that would have gotten me to Manado on time that the window of time to get me on that flight passed, and it was too late; I would have to wait until the next day. To make matters worse, a Singapore Airlines stewardess on my flight from London to Singapore rammed my leg with a beverage cart as she was racing down the aisle at full speed, as if there were some sort of beverage emergency. I plan to avoid Singapore Airlines like the plague in the future and would encourage others to do the same.
Bangka and Lembeh complemented each other well, making for a well-rounded, balanced trip, despite my ultimate preference for the latter. The rich reef growth, high fish density, and often impressive topography of Bangka complemented and balanced the often unusual and exotic critter encounters and rewarding photographic opportunities of Lembeh's muck dives. By the same token, the muck dives that we did on Bangka yielded relatively little (compared to Lembeh) in the way of critter encounters or photo opportunities, and the reefs of Lembeh sometimes struck me as somewhat unremarkable, compared to those of Bangka. In a perfect world, one might hope to have both rich reefs and rich muck diving in the same place, but perhaps the best one can do in reality is to combine those two types of experiences by visiting two different types of places in one trip, which one can do in North Sulawesi.
Comparing this trip to my trip to the Philippines, I would say that Bangka and Lembeh were more rewarding for the specific types of diving for which they are known, whereas those two destinations in the Philippines were more balanced and well-rounded. For example, Puerto Galera and Bangka Island are reef diving destinations; I found Bangka's reefs far richer than those of Puerto Galera, but Puerto Galera also had better muck diving and more critters than Bangka. Both Lembeh and Anilao are muck diving destinations; I would say that Lembeh has better muck diving than Anilao in most respects, but Anilao has better reefs than Lembeh. As much as I like muck diving, I also like to take a break from it and see some coral every now and then, and at least in that one respect, Anilao was more balanced.
From a photographic perspective, Lembeh was far more rewarding for me than Bangka Island. To give you an idea of what I mean: after post-processing, I ended up with 116 images from 20 dives on Bangka that I would consider at least minimally presentable, but 334 images from 24 dives on Lembeh that I would also consider at least minimally presentable. Granted, I had four more dives at Lembeh, and my bottom times at Lembeh were usually longer (up to 15 minutes longer), but the disparity is still remarkable even if one accounts for those factors. The limitations of my current wide-angle setup were another factor in this disparity, as it was inadequate for Bangka's impressive reefscapes. My own special interest in macro photography was probably another factor, but even if one accounts for all of these factors, the disparity is still significant. Lembeh's reputation as a goldmine for photo opportunities is well-deserved. Numbers aside, I would also argue that the quality of my images from Lembeh was often higher due to the subjects and the environment. I posted my highlights on my Instagram profile, to which there is a link in my signature block: have a look and judge for yourselves.
(to be continued in the next post on this thread)
