Pulau Weh is a small island off the most northern tip of Sumatra. It's an unspoiled tropical paradise where time stands still, and DIVING ROCKS. Aili & I have wanted to explore it for such a long time. The Asia Tsunami deterred our plan in Dec-26 2004but we’re finally HERE!
The Lumba Lumba Diving Center (http://www.lumbalumba.de/) is run by Ton & Marjan. Both are avid divers who stayed on to rebuild the dive operations on Gapang Beach after the Tsunami. We’ve been communicating through emails with the arrangements & both have been great help & were relatively fast in responding to any queries despite constant interruption to their service provider.
Getting there (EX Singapore):
It was a long but uneventful journey-
25/01 0840 (Singapore time): We flew by SilkAir to Medan, arrived at 0905 (Medan time). Met up with Mr Nadjri (mailto:anna-trv@medan.wasantara.net.id) who has helped to arrange for our Medan-Bandah Aceh return air tickets. We promptly checked in & boarded the Adam Air flight at 1010, arrived in Bandah Aceh at 1115. We had a couple of hours before the fast ferry transfers & were met by a pre-arranged taxi pick-up for lunch & sightseeing. We boarded the fast ferry at 1600 at Ulee Lheu, disembarked at 1700, took another taxi & finally at 1800, we arrived at Gapang Beach. Some quick introduction and we checked into our bungalow at Leguna Resort.
Accommodation: Leguna Resort ( 5-8 minutes walk uphill from the Dive center)
Very basic but clean, a big hall with TV on display, AC bedroom with spring mattresses, attached cold shower & squatting toilet. Towels & thin sheets were also provided. Candles were provided as electricity was frequently cut off during the night. The reception staff was friendly & helpful.
Food:
On Gapang Beach there are few restaurants to choose from but the variety is rather limited. Local Acehese food like noodles or rice served with fried or curries fish/chicken/vegetables, and some basic Western food such as pancakes and sandwiches. It’s possible to order other special meals beforehand, such as ikan bakar (Grilled fish) or spaghetti. We had fried mee goreng or pop mee for breakfast & lunch from the restaurant next to the dive shop daily. The white house restaurant up on the hill served very delicious curry with rice & it is the only restaurant that you do not have to wait for the food. After dive snack is the donuts & cakes from the donut lady who will be at the dive shop few times a day.
Diving/ Sea Condition :
We did a total of 17 dives, including two night dives & a long “DECO” deep WW II wreck dive: Batee Tekong (4x), Sabang Wreck, Gapang Beach (2x), Canyon (2x), Arus Paleh (2x), Pantee Peunateung, Rubiah North, Batee Dua Gapang, Rubiah Seagarden, Batee Gla, WW II “Sophie Rickmers” Wreck.
Most dive sites are reachable by boat within 30 minutes from Gapang Beach. The dive boat is a sturdy wooden boat & can accommodate up to 20 divers, via back-roll entry. The dive operation is well organized & the dives went smoothly accordingly to plan, with the local & foreign crew working hard together. Dive briefing was clear. The dives were done in small groups of maximum 5 divers to a DM. Aili & I was usually assigned to a DM because of our slow pace with our cameras. The visibility wasn’t at it’s best, most sites between 10-20m. The average water temperature was at 28°C but I felt very chilly with my 0.5mm wetsuit as most dives were usually multilevel dives lasting an hour to 70 minutes. A 3mm wetsuit is recommended.
The island offers shore, drop offs, wrecks & an amazing array of marine life. The landscapes on most sites are magnificent & different from each other. The Canyon offers unspoiled coral reefs lined with lush coral growth & astounding numbers of giant sea fans, which housed curious looking long-nose hawk fishes, gobies, cleaner shrimps & abundance of reef fishes. Napoleon wrasses & turtles were also sighted. Batee Tekong is definitely the “No 1 Moray eels dive site in the world”, counted easily dozens of them (giant, white-mouth, honeycomb, zebra, fimbriated, white-eye) sticking their heads out of their hiding place with cleaner shrimps for company or just free swimming on each dive. The “Sophie Rickmers” wreck is in prefect condition, with healthy corals growth. A giant grouper is also known to follow divers around the wreck. We also saw tons of lion fishes, scorpion fishes, blue ribbon eels, blue spotted rays, schools of barracudas & trevallies, few nudibranchs, a harlequin ghost pipefish, two pipe horses, lots of cleaners & anemone shrimps, & many more.
Overall, I enjoyed the one week break from work & would like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to all those who made my trip an unforgettable one: The hardworking & great team from Lumba Lumba Dive Center, Mr Nadjri from P.T. Anna Rajawali Tours & Travel Agency, & all the wonderful friends from around the world. May we cross paths soon & dive safe. Till my next Big Splash in April, happy bubbles…
I've uploded some so-so pixs onto my gallery....ENJOY!!
http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Pulau-Weh-Jan06
jovin-
The Lumba Lumba Diving Center (http://www.lumbalumba.de/) is run by Ton & Marjan. Both are avid divers who stayed on to rebuild the dive operations on Gapang Beach after the Tsunami. We’ve been communicating through emails with the arrangements & both have been great help & were relatively fast in responding to any queries despite constant interruption to their service provider.
Getting there (EX Singapore):
It was a long but uneventful journey-
25/01 0840 (Singapore time): We flew by SilkAir to Medan, arrived at 0905 (Medan time). Met up with Mr Nadjri (mailto:anna-trv@medan.wasantara.net.id) who has helped to arrange for our Medan-Bandah Aceh return air tickets. We promptly checked in & boarded the Adam Air flight at 1010, arrived in Bandah Aceh at 1115. We had a couple of hours before the fast ferry transfers & were met by a pre-arranged taxi pick-up for lunch & sightseeing. We boarded the fast ferry at 1600 at Ulee Lheu, disembarked at 1700, took another taxi & finally at 1800, we arrived at Gapang Beach. Some quick introduction and we checked into our bungalow at Leguna Resort.
Accommodation: Leguna Resort ( 5-8 minutes walk uphill from the Dive center)
Very basic but clean, a big hall with TV on display, AC bedroom with spring mattresses, attached cold shower & squatting toilet. Towels & thin sheets were also provided. Candles were provided as electricity was frequently cut off during the night. The reception staff was friendly & helpful.
Food:
On Gapang Beach there are few restaurants to choose from but the variety is rather limited. Local Acehese food like noodles or rice served with fried or curries fish/chicken/vegetables, and some basic Western food such as pancakes and sandwiches. It’s possible to order other special meals beforehand, such as ikan bakar (Grilled fish) or spaghetti. We had fried mee goreng or pop mee for breakfast & lunch from the restaurant next to the dive shop daily. The white house restaurant up on the hill served very delicious curry with rice & it is the only restaurant that you do not have to wait for the food. After dive snack is the donuts & cakes from the donut lady who will be at the dive shop few times a day.
Diving/ Sea Condition :
We did a total of 17 dives, including two night dives & a long “DECO” deep WW II wreck dive: Batee Tekong (4x), Sabang Wreck, Gapang Beach (2x), Canyon (2x), Arus Paleh (2x), Pantee Peunateung, Rubiah North, Batee Dua Gapang, Rubiah Seagarden, Batee Gla, WW II “Sophie Rickmers” Wreck.
Most dive sites are reachable by boat within 30 minutes from Gapang Beach. The dive boat is a sturdy wooden boat & can accommodate up to 20 divers, via back-roll entry. The dive operation is well organized & the dives went smoothly accordingly to plan, with the local & foreign crew working hard together. Dive briefing was clear. The dives were done in small groups of maximum 5 divers to a DM. Aili & I was usually assigned to a DM because of our slow pace with our cameras. The visibility wasn’t at it’s best, most sites between 10-20m. The average water temperature was at 28°C but I felt very chilly with my 0.5mm wetsuit as most dives were usually multilevel dives lasting an hour to 70 minutes. A 3mm wetsuit is recommended.
The island offers shore, drop offs, wrecks & an amazing array of marine life. The landscapes on most sites are magnificent & different from each other. The Canyon offers unspoiled coral reefs lined with lush coral growth & astounding numbers of giant sea fans, which housed curious looking long-nose hawk fishes, gobies, cleaner shrimps & abundance of reef fishes. Napoleon wrasses & turtles were also sighted. Batee Tekong is definitely the “No 1 Moray eels dive site in the world”, counted easily dozens of them (giant, white-mouth, honeycomb, zebra, fimbriated, white-eye) sticking their heads out of their hiding place with cleaner shrimps for company or just free swimming on each dive. The “Sophie Rickmers” wreck is in prefect condition, with healthy corals growth. A giant grouper is also known to follow divers around the wreck. We also saw tons of lion fishes, scorpion fishes, blue ribbon eels, blue spotted rays, schools of barracudas & trevallies, few nudibranchs, a harlequin ghost pipefish, two pipe horses, lots of cleaners & anemone shrimps, & many more.
Overall, I enjoyed the one week break from work & would like to extend a BIG THANK YOU to all those who made my trip an unforgettable one: The hardworking & great team from Lumba Lumba Dive Center, Mr Nadjri from P.T. Anna Rajawali Tours & Travel Agency, & all the wonderful friends from around the world. May we cross paths soon & dive safe. Till my next Big Splash in April, happy bubbles…
I've uploded some so-so pixs onto my gallery....ENJOY!!
http://sg.homeunix.com/jovin/Pulau-Weh-Jan06
jovin-
