Black Sands Dive Retreat Lembeh Straits Bintung Sulawesi

Hi Guys, just would like to give you a quick report on my latest trip. Just returned Sat 29th April from Indonesia. Had a fantastic stay at that small resort Black Sands Dive Retreat -Bintung on Sulawesi . This is a one of the best resort at stayed for a long time . First bungalows are very clean with aircon and fan and outdoor bathroom with hot shower. Every evening somebody from the staff lights up a mosquito coil in front and one in your bathroom. The restaurant is very good as well . Big choice for breakfast , 3 courses lunch and dinner and between dives coffee and cakes. ( Did a minimum of 4 dives a day and didnt lose any weight ) Now the most importing thing for me, the diving and photography, There is a special designated room at the the divecenter with plenty of camera tables and plugs . Outside are 2 big rinsing pools just for the camera gear You dont even have to carry your camera to the boat and back ,all done by the crew if you want it. There is a maximum of 4 divers per boat and guide who are up the best around Lembeh .Diving itself was very easy going and divetimes werent limited. Just a few things I saw during my stay ( mimic , wonder and coconut octopus. Hairball, hairy , painted and giant frogfish , robust and ornate ghostpipefish, harliquin shrimp,nudibranches galore , numeros eels and so on ( even a bambus shark on the house reef ) Summary : I would give this resort 10 out of 10

Herbie

Hi Herbie - no blue ring?

Was at Black Sands at the same time, would also give this resort a great review. Rooms were very comfortable with a great view, food was excellent, dive guides willing and able to find pretty much anything you want and the hosts easy to deal with.

Have stayed at Divers Lodge Lembeh and Black Sands is slightly better in that all the Lembeh Dive sites are within a 5 minute boat ride which means you get to go back to the resort between dives rather than stay on the boat. Second improvement is mosquitos - at DLL I was eaten alive within the first 10 minutes of arriving at the lodge. Had to wear DEET any time you were out of the room. At Black Sands I only saw one mosquito. Not sure what the reason was, but sure appreciated it. The one thing that DLL has that Black Sands does not is a larger fleet of boats - which means that the diver to guide ratio is better. At Black Sands it is one guide per boat - which can have up to 4 divers. While I was there 3 days with 3 divers and 4 days with 2 divers. It DLL it is more typically one guide for 2 divers. Not a huge difference for me but it could be significant. Not to be negative about DLL - also a great resort with great rooms, great food and excellent guides.

The only down side to the trip for me was flooding my camera on the last full dive day - dive 61 on a 65 dive trip so if it was going to happen the timing was OK. My own fault, wrinkled the oring putting a port back on in a hurry.

9999 thanks for the comparison between DLL and Blacksands. We were at DDL in April and loved it. We were on the shared boat package but there were 2 DM's for the 4 of us. So it was basically like a private boat. You are right about the mozzies though! A definite pro for DDL is that it is quite a bit cheaper than Black Sands. From what I've heard most of the resorts in Lembeh are great. Hardly hear a bad thing.