Which dive resort in Nusa Lembongan?

[myvek]

Hi again!

Thanks for helping me decide where in Bali I should go diving this February - Nusa Lembongan it will be! (I think that entire post is now non-existant because of the data corruption which occurred on ScubaBoard recently )

Anyho, I was wondering if you have any feedback on the following three dive resorts on Lembongan:

TwoFish
World Diving
Blue Corner Dive

My quandary is based on the fact that I've only heard positive things about all the 3 dive resorts And that's whats making it so hard for me to decide... They all run professional dive operations, they all have nice accommodation, they are all friendly and fun-loving, and they are all priced about the same! And having recently been on email correspondence with 2 of them, they both sound so helpful and knowledgable. Its going to be a tough decision to make in the end!

Do you have any feedback (positives and/or negatives) on any of the 3 dive resorts which could help me decide? It would be soooo appreciated!

 

[exposure]

I spent a week with World Diving (John and Sue) and that was simply awesome. Very friendly people and convenient place. For accomodation, they have two standard which should fit any budget. Otherwise I spent 2 weeks with Two Fish in Bunaken and Lembeh before they openned Nusa Lembongan. That was also really great but I don't know for Nusa Lembongan. It seems that the choice will be difficult as you probably spotted the best one. By the way, I have no idea about Blue Corner Dive

 

[pughio83]

Can't fault twofish lembongan. Lovely resort, can't be beaten on price, great pool, low divers to guides! Safety always first!!!

 

[zivva]

The 3 ops offer the same value : good accomodation, good food, good diving, good safety (same low divers to guides ratio, quite standard on the island), good equipment.

To go thru some tiny details :
- Blue Corner & World Diving DMs are more experienced with local diving than the ones from 2F (Catur being the only local DM @ 2F) but 2F is - in general - a little bit more commited to local environment protection.
- World Diving main boat is quite slow but more comfortable than the others. They also have 3 smaller but faster boats. Depending on where you want to dive & the number of guests, you might get on the slow boat or the other ones.
- World Diving & 2F are located in the center of Jungut Batu beach, BC is at the north side of the beach, a little bit more remote area ... but as the island is not so big, it's a 10 minutes walk difference top ...
- 2F might be a little bit more expensive when renting equipment. If you have your own equipment, prices should be +/- the same.
- San Mig Light is available @ BC, Laurent from 2F makes some fresh bread (don't know if it's super good, need to try it ) from time to time, World Diving restaurants (Pondok Baruna & Pondok Baruna Warung) are among the best value for the money on the island ... but don't get too excited, you just get Nasi Campur from WD when diving.
- 2F wifi might be faster than the ones from WD & BC.

 

[Andreni]

Hi

We dived with world diving in summer 2011. The overall experience was good but for next summer we might dive with another op.

Negative:
- Every morning we had to wait quite a long time until all the other divers had their equipment (we travelled with our own). We had the impression that also the ones who were diving with WD all the time got different rental gear every day (and had to try it on..).
- Some of the dive staff weren't friendly at all, they didn't even greet if you met them in the morning.
- Our dives were most of the time quite short because we had to dive with inexperienced diver.
- It was just a one-time mistake but it gives an impression of how they are organised: one day they forgot the ladder for the small boat and it was really uncomfortable to get back into the boat

Positive:
- The diveguides are really experienced and I felt safe diving with them.
- The choice of divesites was good, it was never crowded under water.
- The bungalows are really nice and so is the pool.

In general we really liked Lembongan island and it was absolutely no problem to rent a motorbike and explore the island on your own.

 

[myvek]

Thanks for sharing your feedback on the dive resorts!

To summarise based on all the information gathered thus far:

Two Fish pros - environmentally conscious, great bread and jam made by Laurent, he's also supposed to be an encyclopedia on mantas, good wifi, they do trips to Tulamben
Two Fish cons - only 1 local DM, no restaurant on site (only breakfast, tea, coffee - and beer I hope?!), slightly more expensive equipment rental

World Diving pros - great value warung on site, big boat more comfy, experienced DMs, the most prompt in answering my queries on email
World Diving cons - big boat is slightly slower, I've heard that their boats can be more crowded than Two Fish?

Blue Corner pros - San Mig Lite , cozy beach bar with bean bags , infinity pool overlooking the sea, nice restaurant on site, slightly cheaper than Two Fish and World diving, experienced DMs
Blue Corner cons - A tiny bit remote, no fans in the oasis cottage, only AC (I like the option of having both AC and fan, and depending on the ambient temperature I'd use one or the other), maybe the bar gets too noisy to get a good night's sleep?

Trouble is, I still can't decide because the pros and cons kinda out-weigh each other for all the three dive resorts!

I've heard there can be power outages on the island, so would you know if any of the above resorts have generators? Which one has the best room size? Nice bathrooms with good water pressure (so important for getting all that salty gunk off after a long day's diving )?

Feel free to send me a personal message if you'd prefer that!

 

[zivva]

I've heard there can be power outages on the island, so would you know if any of the above resorts have generators? Which one has the best room size? Nice bathrooms with good water pressure (so important for getting all that salty gunk off after a long day's diving )?

Long (1h +) power outrages mostly during heavy rains & storms, otherwise it can happen almost daily (thanks PLN ...) for a few minutes.

The 3 resorts have gensets, obviously.

No problem with water pressure I'm aware of anywhere on the tourist areas of the island.

Never visited WD & 2F bungalows but from outside they seem to be +/- the same size and same kind of set-up. BC Oasis Cottage are traditionnal lumbungs (coconut wood bungalows).

The 3 resorts got a pool, so you'll get mosquitos at sunset ...

Sorry, it doesn't help you so much to make your choice

PS : the Manta Encyclopedia is located in front of 2F (Aquatic Alliance @ Big Fish), interesting presentations & talks every tuesday & thursday ...

 

[myvek]

Zivva, thanks so much for your input - it does help me a LOT! I just need to decide what my priorities are and then choosing the resort will be easy peasy!

 

[iDreamOfBubbles]

Although I haven't stayed with either of the three mentioned, I did have a very good experience with Bali Diving Academy in July. They have bungalows on site, as well as a variety of restaurants around them. We had three different DM's over the course of our five days with them, all of whom we're a lot of fun to dive with, as well as very safety oriented. They listened to our needs as inexperienced divers, and made sure that even in high current areas such as Crystal Bay we were diving within our limits.
We ended up doing our AOW with them, and felt that we received very close instruction and guidance.

This could possibly be misleading, as we never got to see the insides of any of the boats used by other dive centers, but BDA's big boat (they also have a small dingy used for dives in the bay) seemed much nicer and more comfortable than many of the other boats we saw. It was pretty fast, and we were definitely comfortable enough on the long ride out to Manta Point (despite getting horribly seasick from the surge while getting back into the boat).

One last thing to consider was that we never had a ratio higher than 3 divers to 1 guide in our group, even in peak season, so I would guess that groups would be even smaller in February (that's probably true everywhere, though).

If you decide not to dive with any of the the three mentioned, I would highly recommend Bali Diving Academy!

 

[instructorinasia]

Dove with World Diving and really liked them. Used to work for Two Fish and can confirm they are a good operator.

Don't think you will go wrong with either of these