North Sulawesi Trip Report: Bangka Island and Lembeh, November 2018

[Cali_diver]

From California I would fly Singapore Air - Silk to Manado. Bags checked all the way through. It is the most convenient, but most of the time I add my Lembeh trips on to another Liveaboard trip so I will often be flying to Lembeh from another remote location in Indo. Getting to Raja or any other amazing dive location is 100% worth the hassle of getting there....IMHO It is part of the adventure!

 

[Indah]

If you visit Lembeh Strait in the period October - April you can experience nice reef dives at dive sites such as Pulau Dua, at the South East side of Lembeh Island. Further, incredible reefs and also very decent macro you can find at Weda Bay, Central Halmahera. Last September I was overwhelmed during my dives fro Magic bay Rao, North Halmahera, near Morotai. I was surrounded by at least twice as much fish than I ever saw during a dive. And just in front of our own beach very interesting macro night-dives too. What helps of course is that our guides are original from Rao but were trained at Divers Lodge Lembeh and dived there for years.

 

[Centrals]

I thought only Cathay Pacific has gone down the hill over last few yrs.
The OP should write directly to SQ and demand a compensation.

 

[chillyinCanada]

I sure wish you folk would be quiet about Bangka. Sshhhhh for heavens' sake.

 

[chillyinCanada]

My last trip to North Sulawesi was in March 2018. During our stay at Lembeh, I was offered the opportunity to leave the black sand critters for the day and go up island (and around) for some diving off the point. I loved it!

 

[UFOrb]

We’ve also recently discovered Indo and there’s no looking back now! Our first trip last year took in Gili Air, Lombok, which was great for the family, & Tulamben & Candidasa, Bali, which were wonderful and really opened our eyes to Indo diving.

This year we visited Bunaken & Bangka. My diving was restricted in Bunaken by an ear issue but my wife enjoyed Bunaken and her pics/video made me feel I missed out on some very nice diving. And the snorkelling there was great.

Bangka was just wonderful though! Luckily I was able to do some diving at Bangka, although not as much as I’d hoped. Batu Sahaung was spectacular!!

Let's say non-american, in 6 times staying in Bangka I've seen many italians, swiss, dutch, french, oz, SEA divers, not so many german who prefer going to next door Blue Bay

Luko, we stayed at Blue Bay where we were with a mix of Germans, Austrians, Italians and a French couple.
We absolutely loved Blue Bay and can’t wait to go back. There’s some nice muck diving from the shore at the resort, as well as fun and safe snorkelling in the protected bay, where I spent hours with my 5 year old son - he’s becoming a very good spotter! Lembeh will be on the itinerary for a future trip to N Sulawesi.

Btw, were you aware that Bastianos are building a resort next to Murex on Bangka? Apparently with capacity for 80 guests!! There is some real concern about this!

 

[scrane]

This past September I was in Indonesia for a month, a week in Bunaken, four days in Lembeh, and a week and a half in Bangka. Bangka was the high point of the trip. The reefs and sea life were astonishing.
I stayed with TwoFish in Bunaken and Lembeh and with Nomad Divers in Bangka. I chose these resorts mainly for the budget pricing but both turned out to be first class diving operations.
I didn't run into any other Americans the whole trip, which was not a problem because English was the common language in the resorts.

 

[Ironborn]

I thought only Cathay Pacific has gone down the hill over last few yrs.
The OP should write directly to SQ and demand a compensation.

I did write directly to Singapore Airlines and demand compensation. It took half an hour just to find a point of contact to which to submit my complaint because the "Feedback" submission form on their website did not work. That was weeks ago, and I have not heard any response since then. This is an example of what I meant what I said that I experienced exceptionally poor customer service from this airline, aside from the cancellation itself.

 

[Ironborn]

Btw, were you aware that Bastianos are building a resort next to Murex on Bangka? Apparently with capacity for 80 guests!! There is some real concern about this!

Yes, I saw the Bastianos resort near Murex Bangka from the boat when I was there. Apparently they had finished it and were having a "soft opening" at the time. At least from a distance, it looked like a more comfortable and upscale facility than Murex Bangka.

 

[UFOrb]

At least from a distance, it looked like a more comfortable and upscale facility than Murex Bangka.

That’s partly what worries me. I liked the rustic feel of Blue Bay and didn’t mind using the Mandi/ lack of running water, and no air-con which personally I don’t like anyway, although it did get a bit hot through the night with no fans when they turn the generators off. I think it helps to remind us of the environmental impacts we can have. The owner Anke is very aware of the local environment and you can tell she cares very much. Sounds a bit cheesy, but it really did end up feeling like we were staying with friends.

We stayed at bastianos on Bunaken and whilst the manager Mike was great, it did feel much more commercially driven. I heard some other stuff about Bastianos that I’d rather not repeat here as it’s not firsthand info.