Bunaken vs Lemebeh (or both?)

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Hi,

planning a trip to Sulawesi in November and am currently trying to decide where to go. We want to spend about a week diving and have heard good things about both Lembeh and Bunaken. Given the limited time, I was wondering which one people would recommend. Our last trip was to Mabul/Sipadan in Malaysia and we enjoyed the combination of muck plus pelagics. Would it be possible to do both sites in one week (without changing resorts)?

Thanks.

David
 
David,
If you are staying on Bunaken Island the boat trip to Lembeh would be approx 4 hours, should you stay on the mainland it will mean that to also dive Lembeh you would have to make a car journey to Bitung (approx 90 minutes) then on a boat to do the diving there (many Resorts offer this option).
If you stay on the island and cannot or donot wish to do a 8 hour boat journey there and back then you would have to leave Bunaken at about 06.30 go to Manado (by boat), then transfer from Manado to Bitung (car) and then boat to Lembeh, leaving Bunaken at 06.30 you should be in the water at 10.00.
I would suggest that you split with two resorts, 1 in Lembeh and 1 on Bunaken, but ensure that your transfer to Manado (to then go to Bunaken) is organized for the morning so that you can be in the Bunaken Resort by 13.00, this way you can join the afternoon dive on your day of arrival, should you stay in Lembeh first.
Hope this will help
 
I'm in Bunaken right now and it's gorgeous. There are muck sites here as well. Just dove three today. I would think crossing over to do both on one trip is easy, but based out of one resort, a headache.
 
I manage a Resort which has locations on both Bunaken and Lembeh Islands (I am at the Lembeh side) and we do offer "day trips", but as mentioned above, it is a LONG day involving waking up early, taking a boat to Manado (if already on Bunaken) for about an hour, then over land to Bitung (another hour or so) and then finally being met by the dive boat on Lembeh Strait, and your dive day begins by 9:30AM or so.

The one positive thing is that because it's the same organization as Bunaken, there is some amount of "continuity" due to using the same type of boats, system of diving, etc...plus you have lunch at the Lembeh side resort, and you can relax and look around while on your surface interval, digesting, reading, etc...then out for the last dive (normally 2 dives before lunch and one after) and then back here for a quick rinse/shower and return to Bitung/Manado/Bunaken. Like I said : It is a LONG day!

If you are more into wall/reef diving (which Bunaken has) and are not sure if muck diving appeals to you, then this is a good way to "sample" Lembeh for a few dives--albeit very abbreviated compared to what you would see IF you stayed ON Lembeh itself (or one of the mainland Resorts on the Strait).

Speaking from my personal experience and hearing the views of hundreds of divers, the more experienced (and well-traveled) ones always lament that they didn't stay longer in Lembeh--not that Bunaken is bad by any means, but the marine life at Lembeh is so bizarre and rare/unusual it makes many divers "re-think" their concepts and attitudes.

Aside from my resort, there are others which have locations on both sides and can offer you "package deals" that include food/lodging and diving on BOTH sides, with free transport between the two locations. If you want specifics, please PM me for details.

Good luck and have a great trip!
HB
 
We stayed at Tasik Ria and dove Bunaken, and stayed at Kungkungen Bay Resort and dove Lembeh. They DID offer an option to come over to Lembeh for a day. It's a couple hours' drive.

Bunaken was vertical walls with lots of color -- a macro photographer's delight. We didn't see many pelagics. The reef tops were brilliantly colored gardens of an enormous variety of fish.

Lembeh was truly muck diving, and I loved it. Were I to go back, I'd probably just go there, with maybe a side trip to Bangka Island. We had a lovely house reef packed with critters, but the muck diving was utterly fascinating: A world of camouflage and bizarre shapes and behaviors. Whatever you do, make sure you spend at least half your time there.
 
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Do both Bunaken and Lembeh, if you like exploring, do more days (and nights) at Lembeh. Night dives are great fun. Do as many as you can. I saw a crab spawning on a night dive at Lembeh last year.

Several resorts have both Bunaken side and Lembeh side resorts. If you left Bunaken in the morning you could be diving in the afternoon and night at Lembeh .
 
Think if u don't want to change resort, u might have to pay extra to get to the further site (Lembeh or Bunaken). My friend stayed at Manado & had to pay extra for a day trip to Lembeh (which is definately not enough!).

For us, we stayed 4 nites in Lembeh (made an 1 day - 3dives trip to Bangka - extra charges) & moved to Bunaken Island for 3 nites. We dived Lembeh in the morning before leaving for Bunaken Island & managed a late afternoon dive at Lembeh.
 
Do both! I agree - go to Lembeh first - then Bunakan to relax. You should be able to catch a car from Manado to Lembeh for something like ($20?) - I think it took 1 hour to drive to Lembeh, then 20min by boat to the resort. I think it's 1 hour back, then you can charter a private boat to Bunakan for 150,000-250,000 Rps depending on your barganing power. Think the boat ride took about 40 min to get back to bunakan? I started at Bunakan - went to Lembeh and back to Bunakan. (like "bunakan" said, factor 3-4 hours for each trip)

I dove both sites last July - they are both great (but the Muck diving at Bunakan is not even close to what's at Lembeh)
 
Do Both - diving completely different in at both locations, if you are into muck spend more time at Lembeh
 
Personally I prefer Lembeh but maybe it's because I like the easy diving for critter photography :) On the other hand, if you only have limited time and have a long travel time to get to Manado, maybe you can try to stay at one of the resorts on the main land on the Manado side - You'll do day trips to Bunaken for the colourful wall diving, and afternoon dives on the main land side which are more muck, with great critter variety - Not as good as Lembeh, but prettty close !
 
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