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Black Sand Dive Retreat - Lembeh Strait
I couldn't find very many reviews of them so I thought I'd put in a report of how my trip went. When we arrived, we were greeted by the owners, Bruce and Fung Moore. They were very nice. We couldn't wait to see what Lembeh Strait was like. We arrived in the morning, had lunch, and went on a house reef dive right away (free with our package).
Food and Accommodations
The first thing you notice is the amazing landscaping. So many lush and green plants and trees. I loved the fact that there were only a handful of separated bungalows rather than the "hotel" type setup. The bungalows had a balcony overlooking the strait, cold air conditioning, hot water dispensers, tea and coffee. The closet was very large and the bed was extremely comfortable. I usually don't sleep well on vacation and I definitely got in my share of naps and sleeping here. The bathroom had an open air ceiling and an amazing shower. Very beautiful. It was one of the nicest resort rooms I have ever stayed in. Having wi-fi in our rooms was also a bonus. There was turn-down service which I didn't even know what that was until we stayed at Black Sand. It was also nice to have someone come by and light and place the mosquito coils in the evening (although there were very few bugs). The food was very great. The lunch and dinner menu changes daily and you order from a choice of appetizers, entrees, and dessert after breakfast. There seemed to always be a traditional menu item and a European menu item. The chicken satay was my favorite. Bruce would come and check how our day was going during the meals and he is very knowledgeable about the area. He was a great resource when we had critter questions or questions about the local area. There is a daily 10am snack and coffee or tea waiting for you at the dive center, conveniently right after your 1st dive. There is also a 4pm snack waiting for you after your afternoon dive. Our daily routine consisted of eat, dive, eat, nap, dive, eat, dive, nap, eat, sleep (repeat). Not too bad
The Diving
The diving was all that it was hyped up to be. There was a lot more diversity of dive sites than I had originally thought. Although many of the dive sites are over black sand, there are some very nice coral sites as well as a few nice open area/pinnacle dives. Black Sand Dive Retreat is located in a great spot. They have some of the best Lembeh sites literally right in front of them and are very close to all the popular sites. I think our shortest boat ride was 1 minute and our longest was 15 minutes. There are three small fiberglass boats which are perfect because you always come back to the resort after your dive and it also limits the boats to 4 divers max. There were some other dive resorts that had 10 or 12 divers on their boats. I have gotten spoiled and really enjoy diving in very small groups or just with my wife and the dive guide. Half of our dives were with 2 other divers (who we enjoyed diving with) and the rest were just my wife and I, and the dive guide. It was great. The dive guides were all very good. We primarily dove with Hengke and he was awesome. He definitely knew where to find the critters and was just a really nice guy. Very fun to dive with. My wife and I usually aren't big fans of night dives but the night dives here completely changed our attitudes. We couldn't get enough of them. They were all absolutely incredible. We saw several ghost pipefish, stargazer, several wonderpus, a mimic octopus and many frogfish. The highlight for us was the mandarin fish dive however. I never realized that sitting in 18 feet of water and not moving for 70 minutes could be so much fun. Hengke spotted the mandarin fish right away and placed us where we would have the best view. We got to witness 5 or 6 mating sessions about 1 feet in front of us. I didn't really care too much about mandarin fish before this experience. I'm glad I listened to my wife and did it. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
Black Sand Dive Retreat was a great experience. We really enjoyed our time there and can't thank Bruce, Fung, Hengke, Atu, Soleman and the rest of the staff there enough.
Highly recommend them. Everything was great.
Photos
I couldn't find very many reviews of them so I thought I'd put in a report of how my trip went. When we arrived, we were greeted by the owners, Bruce and Fung Moore. They were very nice. We couldn't wait to see what Lembeh Strait was like. We arrived in the morning, had lunch, and went on a house reef dive right away (free with our package).
Food and Accommodations
The first thing you notice is the amazing landscaping. So many lush and green plants and trees. I loved the fact that there were only a handful of separated bungalows rather than the "hotel" type setup. The bungalows had a balcony overlooking the strait, cold air conditioning, hot water dispensers, tea and coffee. The closet was very large and the bed was extremely comfortable. I usually don't sleep well on vacation and I definitely got in my share of naps and sleeping here. The bathroom had an open air ceiling and an amazing shower. Very beautiful. It was one of the nicest resort rooms I have ever stayed in. Having wi-fi in our rooms was also a bonus. There was turn-down service which I didn't even know what that was until we stayed at Black Sand. It was also nice to have someone come by and light and place the mosquito coils in the evening (although there were very few bugs). The food was very great. The lunch and dinner menu changes daily and you order from a choice of appetizers, entrees, and dessert after breakfast. There seemed to always be a traditional menu item and a European menu item. The chicken satay was my favorite. Bruce would come and check how our day was going during the meals and he is very knowledgeable about the area. He was a great resource when we had critter questions or questions about the local area. There is a daily 10am snack and coffee or tea waiting for you at the dive center, conveniently right after your 1st dive. There is also a 4pm snack waiting for you after your afternoon dive. Our daily routine consisted of eat, dive, eat, nap, dive, eat, dive, nap, eat, sleep (repeat). Not too bad
The Diving
The diving was all that it was hyped up to be. There was a lot more diversity of dive sites than I had originally thought. Although many of the dive sites are over black sand, there are some very nice coral sites as well as a few nice open area/pinnacle dives. Black Sand Dive Retreat is located in a great spot. They have some of the best Lembeh sites literally right in front of them and are very close to all the popular sites. I think our shortest boat ride was 1 minute and our longest was 15 minutes. There are three small fiberglass boats which are perfect because you always come back to the resort after your dive and it also limits the boats to 4 divers max. There were some other dive resorts that had 10 or 12 divers on their boats. I have gotten spoiled and really enjoy diving in very small groups or just with my wife and the dive guide. Half of our dives were with 2 other divers (who we enjoyed diving with) and the rest were just my wife and I, and the dive guide. It was great. The dive guides were all very good. We primarily dove with Hengke and he was awesome. He definitely knew where to find the critters and was just a really nice guy. Very fun to dive with. My wife and I usually aren't big fans of night dives but the night dives here completely changed our attitudes. We couldn't get enough of them. They were all absolutely incredible. We saw several ghost pipefish, stargazer, several wonderpus, a mimic octopus and many frogfish. The highlight for us was the mandarin fish dive however. I never realized that sitting in 18 feet of water and not moving for 70 minutes could be so much fun. Hengke spotted the mandarin fish right away and placed us where we would have the best view. We got to witness 5 or 6 mating sessions about 1 feet in front of us. I didn't really care too much about mandarin fish before this experience. I'm glad I listened to my wife and did it. It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
Black Sand Dive Retreat was a great experience. We really enjoyed our time there and can't thank Bruce, Fung, Hengke, Atu, Soleman and the rest of the staff there enough.
Highly recommend them. Everything was great.
Photos
