Trip Report Manado/Lembeh March 2010

[okidoki]

After many hours of traveling from London we arrived just before midnight with the Lion air flight from Jakarta.
We were greeted by Menos the driver from the 4 Fish Guest house which is located only 40 min drive north of Manado.
The 4 Fish is a small 6 room guest house with excellent personalized attention and service provided by Jan and Ineke, waking up in the morning with great views from the patio, a quick swim in the small clean pool and as there are no mozzies, there is no need to have AC in the rooms as the fans keep the rooms cool enough. The room rate comes with Continental breakfast and with a freshly prepared delicious local dinner every evening.

Our chosen dive center was Thalassa and only a 7 minute walk from The 4 Fish Guest house, Thalassa is a well organized and managed dive out fit with spacious boats, sharp eyed dive guides (Bob and Marcus) and a great lunch which is part of your dive package.

The dives at Bunaken and Manado where very diverse, relatively easy diving but count on currents on most dives. Its great to get dive times up to an hour every dive which adds value for money in my view. The boat rides where a max of 40 minutes from dive shop to Manado Tua and 5 minutes for the afternoon dive sites. The staff on the boats were very helpful and attentive.

It was great to see the abundance of fish around Bunaken and Manado Tua and diversity of creatures and critters which makes the diving great for new divers and UW photographers, Manado bay is great Muck diving where you could be lucky to see the Hairy Frog fish and Mimic Octopus as well.

In Lembeh our chosen dive operator and accommodation was the Divers Lodge Lembeh, again only 6 spacious cabins and great personalized service provided by Rob and Linda, Each cabin has their own dive boat throughout the duration of your stay with unlimited diving so you can schedule the day as you like it with lunch on the boat so you don't have to miss a meal.
You have also the option to dive Nitrox for only a very small surcharge. The team will go out of their way to make sure all is catered for your needs. Just imagine just you, your buddy and guide on each dive, do I have to say more??

Diving on Lembeh is not only Muck so it caters for new divers as well, unfortunately our stay was only 2.5 days on Lembeh we will have to come back to see it all and we will.
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[smanfa]

Hi okidoki

I just wondered how you found the weather in Manado in March. We have been to Manado before but later in the year. We are considering a trip next March but understand that it is out of season and we may encounter rough seas and frequent rain, so it would be great to hear how you found it.
Thanks in advance
Sam

[okidoki]

We had great weather not to hot or humid,it is at the end of the raining season so we had a few down pours but all where at night, viz was good but that as well depends of the currants. and as last it works out cheaper as well so go for it.