My trip report for a week at Kungkungan Bay Resort, Lembeh, Indonesia.
Flights
I flew Singapore Airlines/Silkair from Perth to Manado (via Singapore). Was pretty impressed that everything ran on time given that it was right before Christmas which makes it worse than the usual airport chaos. The food on both flights was good as well (for airline food anyway). The one thing I wish I'd realized in advance is that the Perth-Singapore flight is a breakfast service not a supper service as the SQ website just says meal and doesnt specify which. I wish I'd eaten something at the airport before the flight in hindsight, cos I was about ready to go cannibal on someone by the time they served food. It's my first time catching the SQ redeye out of Perth, so I know better for next time I guess.
The way home was more of a pain. Flight was late leaving Manado, not entirely surprised by that. But Id planned to grab dinner at Changi before the flight to Perth. Not so lucky. By the time we landed, got to the gate and made it to the other terminal, there was only about 10 minutes before boarding. Thankfully theres a Starbucks? Like it or hate it, they serve coffee quickly. The flight to Perth was a little more problematic. Really rude cabin crew, and the inflight entertainment system was down for the entire flight. I know its only 5 hours, but still, this doesnt go any way to improving my opinion of SQ. Ive had endless problems with them in the past. I might have the worst luck in the world given how much everyone else raves about them, but I have yet to have a good experience with them. Such is life.
A few friends asked me why I didn't fly via Jakarta or Bali, which according to them makes more sense. Maybe...Until you look at the flight schedules. The connections from Jakarta/Bali to Manado are terrible if you're flying in from Perth. Yes, it might well be cheaper, but it isn't convenient. And Singapore Airlines (despite the problems I always seem to have with them) is nicer than Garuda, or Jetstar, or Lion Air...And I like Changi. Seriously the best airport on the planet.
Transfers
Easy enough. Landed at Manado, bought the visa on arrival for US$25 and met the KBR transfer driver. About a 90 minute drive from the airport to the resort.
Simple trip back. Left Lembeh at 10am to make it to the airport for the 1.50pm flight back to Singapore. A little more traffic than there was on arrival, but not extreme.
The resort
Loved it! Its set right on the foreshore of Lembeh Straight on the mainland side. I stayed in one of the cottages and it was nice and comfortable. Big bed, big stone shower, airconditioned Hot water ran out a little faster than I liked sometimes, but not the end of the world.
Every day you get 2 large bottles of water complimentary in your room to drink since the tap water isnt safe. Much welcomed!
I made it to the spa on my off-gas day and managed a coffee scrub and massage. Fantastic
I love me some spa time!
Kaj and Barb run the resort well and I was impressed by everything. Its certainly on the nicer end based on the standard of dive resorts Ive stayed at in the past.
The food
I could tell my diet was gonna be stuffed while at KBR. Christmas came early and we did the big Christmas dinner on the 24th. Steak and creamy potatoes seemed to be the order of the day for this. Not that I dislike steak and potatoes, but it's certainly not my usual style.
The food was amazing though! From local Indonesian dishes (I love lumpia and gado gado), to other Asian styles (sushi and sashimi are a regular part of my diet) and decent western style options (for when you're seriously just craving a burger and fries). I'm a sucker for Indonesian satay even at home, so this place was like heaven for me! There was a surprising amount of Mexican food on the menu, which was great, because I love Mexican Actually, I think I just love food fullstop.
The menu is effectively a la carte, which is great and there's quite a few options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the serving sizes were certainly enough to satisfy me!
The salad and fruit were fine to eat. I know some people are paranoid and avoid it for fear of getting sick. Even I do in some parts of the world, but the chef at KBR knows what he's doing in preparing the food, so it was all safe.
The barman also mixes a mean drink. It's a pretty well stocked bar. And like the salad and fruit, the ice was safe to drink.
The diving
Just to make it clear, this was my first ever time "muck diving", so bearing that in mind...I basically decided to come to Lembeh for something totally different. I'm normally the one out chasing sharks - and other big stuff. Which is awesome of course, but everyone raves about Lembeh. So what the hell, right? I had to come check the place out at least once in my life.
I dived the week wearing a 3/2 wetsuit, which was plenty warm enough for me. The water was a couple of degrees warmer than I expected, but that's fine. Better to be a bit warm than too cold. And since I always dive in a full suit, that's the trade-off. Temps were very consistent at 28C, except for one dive which hit 24C a little random drop. And at the end of the dive, there's a couple of hot water showers near the gear huts to rinse off. There's also a dedicated camera room and a well stocked fish/critter ID library. Came in handy for a few of us!
I think the thing that really struck me about diving in Lembeh was a really significant "holy crap, this stuff is way smaller than I expected" moment on the first few dives. Not that I was expecting "big" stuff as such, just wasn't expecting critters this small. As a scientist, it's been hammered in time and time again that photos are useless without some kind of scale reference (scale bar on microscope images, lens cap, person, etc.). And while I've seen tons of photos from Lembeh, none of them really give any sense of scale. All these amazing shrimp, crabs and other critters that I'd seen photos of...So many of them are the size of your thumbnail! It admittedly took a bit of getting used to, especially with the photography. But by the third dive on the first day, I'd more or less figured out camera settings that worked for me. Got some decent shots, and they got better throughout the week as I got more used to macro, so I'm happy with that! Its also given me the push I needed to buy a macro lens. Clearly this means another trip back in the future.
Ultimately though, I really enjoyed myself. Its not quite what I expected, but it was fun, and I saw some new stuff. The dive guides were fantastic! We mostly dived with Liberty or Ungki, and I cant sing their praises highly enough. The only things really on my critter list were the Mandarin Fish, Blue Ringed Octopus and the pygmy seahorse. I saw all three thanks to the guides, so I was stoked. Some pictures are included below!
I will probably be back at some point in the future, but might mix it up a bit and spend half the time in Lembeh and the other half in Bunaken or something.
Flights
I flew Singapore Airlines/Silkair from Perth to Manado (via Singapore). Was pretty impressed that everything ran on time given that it was right before Christmas which makes it worse than the usual airport chaos. The food on both flights was good as well (for airline food anyway). The one thing I wish I'd realized in advance is that the Perth-Singapore flight is a breakfast service not a supper service as the SQ website just says meal and doesnt specify which. I wish I'd eaten something at the airport before the flight in hindsight, cos I was about ready to go cannibal on someone by the time they served food. It's my first time catching the SQ redeye out of Perth, so I know better for next time I guess.
The way home was more of a pain. Flight was late leaving Manado, not entirely surprised by that. But Id planned to grab dinner at Changi before the flight to Perth. Not so lucky. By the time we landed, got to the gate and made it to the other terminal, there was only about 10 minutes before boarding. Thankfully theres a Starbucks? Like it or hate it, they serve coffee quickly. The flight to Perth was a little more problematic. Really rude cabin crew, and the inflight entertainment system was down for the entire flight. I know its only 5 hours, but still, this doesnt go any way to improving my opinion of SQ. Ive had endless problems with them in the past. I might have the worst luck in the world given how much everyone else raves about them, but I have yet to have a good experience with them. Such is life.
A few friends asked me why I didn't fly via Jakarta or Bali, which according to them makes more sense. Maybe...Until you look at the flight schedules. The connections from Jakarta/Bali to Manado are terrible if you're flying in from Perth. Yes, it might well be cheaper, but it isn't convenient. And Singapore Airlines (despite the problems I always seem to have with them) is nicer than Garuda, or Jetstar, or Lion Air...And I like Changi. Seriously the best airport on the planet.
Transfers
Easy enough. Landed at Manado, bought the visa on arrival for US$25 and met the KBR transfer driver. About a 90 minute drive from the airport to the resort.
Simple trip back. Left Lembeh at 10am to make it to the airport for the 1.50pm flight back to Singapore. A little more traffic than there was on arrival, but not extreme.
The resort
Loved it! Its set right on the foreshore of Lembeh Straight on the mainland side. I stayed in one of the cottages and it was nice and comfortable. Big bed, big stone shower, airconditioned Hot water ran out a little faster than I liked sometimes, but not the end of the world.
Every day you get 2 large bottles of water complimentary in your room to drink since the tap water isnt safe. Much welcomed!
I made it to the spa on my off-gas day and managed a coffee scrub and massage. Fantastic
I love me some spa time!Kaj and Barb run the resort well and I was impressed by everything. Its certainly on the nicer end based on the standard of dive resorts Ive stayed at in the past.
The food
I could tell my diet was gonna be stuffed while at KBR. Christmas came early and we did the big Christmas dinner on the 24th. Steak and creamy potatoes seemed to be the order of the day for this. Not that I dislike steak and potatoes, but it's certainly not my usual style.
The food was amazing though! From local Indonesian dishes (I love lumpia and gado gado), to other Asian styles (sushi and sashimi are a regular part of my diet) and decent western style options (for when you're seriously just craving a burger and fries). I'm a sucker for Indonesian satay even at home, so this place was like heaven for me! There was a surprising amount of Mexican food on the menu, which was great, because I love Mexican
Actually, I think I just love food fullstop.The menu is effectively a la carte, which is great and there's quite a few options for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And the serving sizes were certainly enough to satisfy me!
The salad and fruit were fine to eat. I know some people are paranoid and avoid it for fear of getting sick. Even I do in some parts of the world, but the chef at KBR knows what he's doing in preparing the food, so it was all safe.
The barman also mixes a mean drink. It's a pretty well stocked bar. And like the salad and fruit, the ice was safe to drink.
The diving
Just to make it clear, this was my first ever time "muck diving", so bearing that in mind...I basically decided to come to Lembeh for something totally different. I'm normally the one out chasing sharks - and other big stuff. Which is awesome of course, but everyone raves about Lembeh. So what the hell, right? I had to come check the place out at least once in my life.
I dived the week wearing a 3/2 wetsuit, which was plenty warm enough for me. The water was a couple of degrees warmer than I expected, but that's fine. Better to be a bit warm than too cold. And since I always dive in a full suit, that's the trade-off. Temps were very consistent at 28C, except for one dive which hit 24C a little random drop. And at the end of the dive, there's a couple of hot water showers near the gear huts to rinse off. There's also a dedicated camera room and a well stocked fish/critter ID library. Came in handy for a few of us!
I think the thing that really struck me about diving in Lembeh was a really significant "holy crap, this stuff is way smaller than I expected" moment on the first few dives. Not that I was expecting "big" stuff as such, just wasn't expecting critters this small. As a scientist, it's been hammered in time and time again that photos are useless without some kind of scale reference (scale bar on microscope images, lens cap, person, etc.). And while I've seen tons of photos from Lembeh, none of them really give any sense of scale. All these amazing shrimp, crabs and other critters that I'd seen photos of...So many of them are the size of your thumbnail! It admittedly took a bit of getting used to, especially with the photography. But by the third dive on the first day, I'd more or less figured out camera settings that worked for me. Got some decent shots, and they got better throughout the week as I got more used to macro, so I'm happy with that! Its also given me the push I needed to buy a macro lens. Clearly this means another trip back in the future.
Ultimately though, I really enjoyed myself. Its not quite what I expected, but it was fun, and I saw some new stuff. The dive guides were fantastic! We mostly dived with Liberty or Ungki, and I cant sing their praises highly enough. The only things really on my critter list were the Mandarin Fish, Blue Ringed Octopus and the pygmy seahorse. I saw all three thanks to the guides, so I was stoked. Some pictures are included below!
I will probably be back at some point in the future, but might mix it up a bit and spend half the time in Lembeh and the other half in Bunaken or something.
Oh, I have plenty of shots from that trip with plenty of backscatter, don't you worry about that! Just not planning to post them 
