Just back from a week dive trip to Lembeh and wanted to do a report on the trip.
Flew from Glasgow- London- Singapore- Mando. Approx 38 hours travel either side of a week in the resort. One hour in a taxi from Mando to Black Sands.
I liked the resort a lot, the staff were all very friendly , I liked the food, the rooms had unbelievable views as did the restaurant.
I can’t praise our guide Etmo any more- he can find a needle in a haystack when there isn’t a needle to be found.
I can confirm that there are some steep steps down to the diving area, so if you had mobility problems it would be sketchy.
There were 2 other guests when we were there , they stayed 4 nights in total, we were there for 7 and the last 3 nights it was just in the resort.
I didn’t realise there was a season for Lembeh- but the guides and the staff were all saying this is the low season.
We had really nice weather- apart from the last day where we had planned to go to the Tangkoko national reserve- we had just left and the rain started pouring down and the roads were flooding so we just asked the driver to take us back as it would have been miserable.
The diving exceeded my expectations, I thought Lembeh would be 100% muck diving , I didn’t realise there would be some reefs in very good condition - so that was a bonus.
The more memorable critters we saw were 3 blue ring octopus, 2 Mitoti octopus (1 blue ring) an algae octopus, countless wonderpus, mimic and coconut octopus.
We saw many flamboyant cuttlefish , bobtail squid, 3 stargazers , wasp fish , leaf fish, 4 species of frog fish. Our guide found a Randal’s frog fish and I was amazed how he managed it. We saw Pygmy seahorses on 4 different sea fans, as well as pipefish and common seahorses.
We saw a few eel species including juvenile ribbon eels, but there weren’t as many as I was expecting.
Etmo found us harlequin shrimps on request and we saw mandarin fish mating.
I had always seen pictures of the infamous Shaun the sheep nudi / so it was a critter I wanted to see. Little did I know they are about the size of a grain of sand
. Il post my best picture but macro camera upgrade needed.
We saw lots of species of nudis, lots of soft coral crabs and squat lobsters. I even had a flyby from a hawksbill turtle. There was a trumpet fish who followed us around on night dives and was actively hunting.
It was also the first time for me seeing an electric clam, I could have watched that all day.
Most of the dives were 55-70 mins, water temp was 29-30C. I did 22 dives over the week. Etmo was saying it’s the low season and the water is warmer now. The only critter he didn’t find we asked for was a rhinopia and he said they are much harder to find when it’s warmer as they go deeper.
Iv heard mixed feedback on Lembeh - I know it’s marmite , but I really rated it as a dive destination. I would 100% go back, I was diving with my friend but I think my wife would really like it.
Il upload a few pictures, but if anyone is thinking about Lembeh my advice is go for it. Happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
Kris
Flew from Glasgow- London- Singapore- Mando. Approx 38 hours travel either side of a week in the resort. One hour in a taxi from Mando to Black Sands.
I liked the resort a lot, the staff were all very friendly , I liked the food, the rooms had unbelievable views as did the restaurant.
I can’t praise our guide Etmo any more- he can find a needle in a haystack when there isn’t a needle to be found.
I can confirm that there are some steep steps down to the diving area, so if you had mobility problems it would be sketchy.
There were 2 other guests when we were there , they stayed 4 nights in total, we were there for 7 and the last 3 nights it was just in the resort.
I didn’t realise there was a season for Lembeh- but the guides and the staff were all saying this is the low season.
We had really nice weather- apart from the last day where we had planned to go to the Tangkoko national reserve- we had just left and the rain started pouring down and the roads were flooding so we just asked the driver to take us back as it would have been miserable.
The diving exceeded my expectations, I thought Lembeh would be 100% muck diving , I didn’t realise there would be some reefs in very good condition - so that was a bonus.
The more memorable critters we saw were 3 blue ring octopus, 2 Mitoti octopus (1 blue ring) an algae octopus, countless wonderpus, mimic and coconut octopus.
We saw many flamboyant cuttlefish , bobtail squid, 3 stargazers , wasp fish , leaf fish, 4 species of frog fish. Our guide found a Randal’s frog fish and I was amazed how he managed it. We saw Pygmy seahorses on 4 different sea fans, as well as pipefish and common seahorses.
We saw a few eel species including juvenile ribbon eels, but there weren’t as many as I was expecting.
Etmo found us harlequin shrimps on request and we saw mandarin fish mating.
I had always seen pictures of the infamous Shaun the sheep nudi / so it was a critter I wanted to see. Little did I know they are about the size of a grain of sand
. Il post my best picture but macro camera upgrade needed. We saw lots of species of nudis, lots of soft coral crabs and squat lobsters. I even had a flyby from a hawksbill turtle. There was a trumpet fish who followed us around on night dives and was actively hunting.
It was also the first time for me seeing an electric clam, I could have watched that all day.
Most of the dives were 55-70 mins, water temp was 29-30C. I did 22 dives over the week. Etmo was saying it’s the low season and the water is warmer now. The only critter he didn’t find we asked for was a rhinopia and he said they are much harder to find when it’s warmer as they go deeper.
Iv heard mixed feedback on Lembeh - I know it’s marmite , but I really rated it as a dive destination. I would 100% go back, I was diving with my friend but I think my wife would really like it.
Il upload a few pictures, but if anyone is thinking about Lembeh my advice is go for it. Happy to answer any questions anyone may have.
Kris
