Seeking advice: Bunaken and Lembeh

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scrane

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Location
Boise, ID.
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I am in the early stages of planning a trip to Sulawesi Island in October. I am thinking a total of 14-15 days split between Bunaken Island and Lembeh straight. I am leaning towards Two Fish resort because their prices seem reasonable, they have a good reputation, and they have resorts in both areas.

What would be a good split between the two dive areas? Off hand I am thinking 10 days at Bunaken and 4 days at Lembeh. This will be my first trip to Indonesia. I very much enjoy reef diving, but I am wondering if 12 or so dives will give me a good introduction to Lembeh.

I have targeted October because I would prefer to avoid crowds and understand that October is off season. Does this sound right? Does Two Fish seem like a reasonable choice? I am more interested in the diving and less so on comfort. Do dive operators on Bunaken offer dives on Lembeh? Is this a practical alternative vs relocation?

I'm sure I will come up with other questions, but I would like to develop an initial framework for the trip. I certainly appreciate any help you guys can give me.

Sandy Crane
Boise, Idaho, USA.
 
If it's your first time to North Sulawesi, you'll love it as a dive destination. There's a lot of diving, and a lot of variety, in a compact area. We've been there twice in October and had great weather.

I'm thinking that, if you stick with your 10-day/4-day split, you'll be wishing you had split it more evenly, spending more time in Lembeh. And yes, you will want to relocate from one resort to another in the process. You can get a serious dose of wall and reef on Bunaken in 5-6 dive days, and Lembeh is so otherworldly, with so many amazing critters, that it's the uncommon diver who doesn't get hooked on it. Give it some thought.
 
If I were going to come all the way from Idaho to Indonesia to dive for 2 weeks, I would seriously consider trying to take one more step and and pull the Raja Ampat or Komodo trigger. Lembeh is a very special place for those who love muck diving. But honestly, ten days on the walls of Bunaken is a bit much.

Why not a week in Tulamben/Padang Bai, Bali for great diving including an intorduction to awesome muck sites. Then head to Komodo to have your mind blown? Or Raja Ampat for a week and the rest in Lembeh?

If you are committed to Sulawesi you cannot go wrong with Two-Fish. They are good people.
 
You'll then be missing the better of North Sulawesi : Bangka.
Bunaken is a bit boring after 3 days diving around walls, I'd rather suggest stayiing one week in Bangka and one week in Lembeh.
 
for budget you can't go wrong with two fish, or slightly upper with Froggies. Both has Bunaken and Lembeh operation; sure they (as well as other operator) will be more than happy to arrange transfer.
If I have 15 days in North Sulawesi, I will split into 3, ie. 4 days Bunaken, 5 days Bangka and 6 days Lembeh. Don't forget you'll loose half day on every transfer.
 
I just want to reiterate what the others say - my first trip to Bunaken/Lembeh I booked 10days in Bunaken and 4 in Lembeh and regretted not having more time in Lembeh. If you haven't been muck diving before you'll be blown away. I know I wasn't excited about rooting around in rubbish-strewn black sand but its addictive and the marine life you encounter is amazing.
I stayed at Living Colours (but wouldn't go back) and Divers Lodge Lembeh (excellent, been back several times) but friends who stayed at Two Fish in both locations were more than happy - they offer Nitrox too.
It's very easy to add Bangka into the mix, giving you more variety than the walls @ Bunaken. The resorts can arrange boat transfers with diving along the way so you don't miss any dive days. I'd avoid Mimpi Indah, dreadful food and nothing worked in the bungalows.
 
Boy, I want to thank everyone for the overwhelming response!

I mostly appreciate the comments about Bunaken vs Lembeh. I have done a lot of reef diving, but never on the flats. I really am interested in fish varieties and interaction, so I will take the comments about changing my location ratio very seriously.

Also, Bangka had not entered my radar. I will have to do some reading on this. What are the logistics on Bangka. Is it easy to get there from Bukanan or Lembeh? Will Bukanen or Lembah operators offer Bangka dives? How do Bangka dives compare with the other two?

I also appreciate the comments on Two Fish. As far as all the wonderful places to dive in Indonesia? Well there's nothing I would enjoy more than taking a year and bopping around the tropical Pacific. As it is, my wife (who doesn't dive) barely tolerates my disappearing for a couple of weeks at a time. And again thanks for all your great comments.

Sandy.
 
Also, Bangka had not entered my radar. I will have to do some reading on this. What are the logistics on Bangka. Is it easy to get there from Bukanan or Lembeh? Will Bukanen or Lembah operators offer Bangka dives? How do Bangka dives compare with the other two?
Bangka you can use either Murex (the originals in Bangka my favorite, 5 stays with them), Blue bay divers (german serious, they also organize liveaboards) Nomad divers (new kids in town, more budget not that experienced guides) Coral eye (italian, aiming to scientific research firstly), Mimpi Indah (dutch).

Bangka is a mix of incredibly corloful coral dives and muck/macro dives. no place beats Bangka for pygmy seahorses, they even have one of the newest discoveries in the pygmy pipefish family, festucalex rufus, which was supposed to dwell only in PNG. Bangka beats hands down Bunaken for coral and fish life (Sahaung, Batu Gosoh, Batu Pendeta or batu Tiga are great blue water dives with lots of orangy corals), and is a serious competitor with Lembeh in terms of macro, that said there is very little black sand dive so it is very different from Lembeh type of dives.

Lembeh operators can offer Bangka dives for a additional supplement, Bunaken dive operators won't offer Bangka dives or very seldom because it woudl be too far way (2 hours boatride), that said you can get a transfer by boat diving in between.

You can check out my Bangka photo gallery here https://www.flickr.com/photos/luko/sets/72157626249107003/

and this is the newly named pygmy pipefish specie from PNG (described in Jan2015) my friend and guide Aswar also found in Bangka next to Murex resort:

 
Bangka is a mix of incredibly corloful coral dives and muck/macro dives. no place beats Bangka for pygmy seahorses, they even have one of the newest discoveries in the pygmy pipefish family, festucalex rufus, which was supposed to dwell only in PNG. Bangka beats hands down Bunaken for coral and fish life (Sahaung, Batu Gosoh, Batu Pendeta or batu Tiga are great blue water dives with lots of orangy corals), and is a serious competitor with Lembeh in terms of macro, that said there is very little black sand dive so it is very different from Lembeh type of dives.



Absolutly true !! Stayed with Blue Bay Divers on Sahaung a few years ago. Well organized , day trips to Bunaken as well as to Lembeh as soon as 6 divers were interested , good guides and outstanding softcorall covered reefs. Seaweed field just in front of the resort with critters ( my first - and only so far - Bobbit worm during a night dive ! ) Some corall bommies in the bay - nice for day and night snorkeling . Very relaxed atmosphere. Pygmies on nearly every dive !
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/swift/

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