Travelnsj
Contributor
This report will be in two parts, first Lembeh Straits and Buyat Bay. Second part will be Raja Ampat and Singapore.
Arrived at Lembeh Resort and made it in a little less than 90 minutes! Last year there was an overturned truck in the road and the years before major traffic jams and always two plus hours. Weather was near perfect, mid 80s, couple of overcast days, showers at night otherwise Sunny!
Lembeh Resort: Definitely had a few upgrades in the last year. They have now added a coffee bar/divers lounge next to the dive shop, a Photo Center run by Steve Fish (not many places he has not dove in this world) and a Spa. As I have said in my previous reports the food was excellent and even tasted better this year and again my room was the best. The staff bends over backwards to do anything for you and people I did not think I had seen before knew my name. I cannot speak more highly of an accommodating staff and the overall resort. One sad note Glenn Knappe the GM was leaving to open a new high end resort in Bali!
The Diving: 7 dive days, 22 dives. Water temps 83 to 85 degrees. Critters@Lembeh is owned by Danny Charlton and his wife, the shop is managed by Kerri and Hergen. There is not a request they will not try to honor. The dive guides I dove with this year were various and most I have dove with before and were excellent as usual. The first couple of days I was budded up with a couple of serious photographers (wanna be pros with their Big equipment). I have dove with professional photographers before but one of these guys was arrogant and rude (never works well with me). The dive guide would spend up to 20 minutes or more with each of them and I would end up diving pretty much on my own. I complained that I was solo diving and did not have an eye for the critters as their dive guides did. They assigned a dive guide just for the photo guys. I was then budded up with Manfred and Beate from Austria and Germany. They were great as Manfred was doing Video and had this great light that I could sneak in and get some photos with my Sony point and shoot. I finally saw a wonderpus (a few times) and a Boxer Crab this year. And again saw the Blue ringed octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, weedy Rhinopias, and many more of the customary critters. One day I had three boat dives plus a 5 am solo dive on the house reef that had to be one of the best dive days I have ever done. We did Hairball 1, Jahir 1 and TK 1. Saw Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Wonderpuses, Long armed Octopuses, Warty, Painted and Hairy Frogfish etc etc.
Overall my experience at Lembeh Resort and diving with Critters@Lembeh was excellent as in the years past. And if any of you have read my previous trip reports you know I am an honest, cynical and a jaded diver .LOL.
Buyat Bay:
I had to do about a 3 hour land transfer to Buyat bay. Unfortunately I was the only diver going to the area and they had already taken a boat down a couple of days before with a group. Thus I met a dive boat not far from Buyat and we did our first dive called first stop on our way down to Buyat bay. This is a relatively new area for diving that Danny who owns Critters@Lembeh has pioneered.
The Accommodations is an old fenced in mining camp. The rooms are basic with AC and Hot water. No Internet but they had HBO! The food was good not like Lembeh Resort but they had great fried chicken!
The diving: After diving in Lembeh Straits for 7 days it was great to see 60+ visibility, water temps 84F to 86F. I found the diving to be very good. Lots of colorful hard corals and one of the largest plate corals I have ever seen. The marine life was healthy plenty of tropical fish, cuttlefish, nudibranchs etc. I had planned only two nights and 8 dives in this area. The second day we ended up being confined to the bay due to a nasty squall that came through thus the visibility was poor and missed a couple of good sites outside the Bay. Poison Island was one of the better dive sites. I do think if you plan to go to Buyat Bay you should plan at least 12 dives.
Ill post Raja Ampat in the next couple of days.
Arrived at Lembeh Resort and made it in a little less than 90 minutes! Last year there was an overturned truck in the road and the years before major traffic jams and always two plus hours. Weather was near perfect, mid 80s, couple of overcast days, showers at night otherwise Sunny!
Lembeh Resort: Definitely had a few upgrades in the last year. They have now added a coffee bar/divers lounge next to the dive shop, a Photo Center run by Steve Fish (not many places he has not dove in this world) and a Spa. As I have said in my previous reports the food was excellent and even tasted better this year and again my room was the best. The staff bends over backwards to do anything for you and people I did not think I had seen before knew my name. I cannot speak more highly of an accommodating staff and the overall resort. One sad note Glenn Knappe the GM was leaving to open a new high end resort in Bali!
The Diving: 7 dive days, 22 dives. Water temps 83 to 85 degrees. Critters@Lembeh is owned by Danny Charlton and his wife, the shop is managed by Kerri and Hergen. There is not a request they will not try to honor. The dive guides I dove with this year were various and most I have dove with before and were excellent as usual. The first couple of days I was budded up with a couple of serious photographers (wanna be pros with their Big equipment). I have dove with professional photographers before but one of these guys was arrogant and rude (never works well with me). The dive guide would spend up to 20 minutes or more with each of them and I would end up diving pretty much on my own. I complained that I was solo diving and did not have an eye for the critters as their dive guides did. They assigned a dive guide just for the photo guys. I was then budded up with Manfred and Beate from Austria and Germany. They were great as Manfred was doing Video and had this great light that I could sneak in and get some photos with my Sony point and shoot. I finally saw a wonderpus (a few times) and a Boxer Crab this year. And again saw the Blue ringed octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, weedy Rhinopias, and many more of the customary critters. One day I had three boat dives plus a 5 am solo dive on the house reef that had to be one of the best dive days I have ever done. We did Hairball 1, Jahir 1 and TK 1. Saw Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Wonderpuses, Long armed Octopuses, Warty, Painted and Hairy Frogfish etc etc.
Overall my experience at Lembeh Resort and diving with Critters@Lembeh was excellent as in the years past. And if any of you have read my previous trip reports you know I am an honest, cynical and a jaded diver .LOL.
Buyat Bay:
I had to do about a 3 hour land transfer to Buyat bay. Unfortunately I was the only diver going to the area and they had already taken a boat down a couple of days before with a group. Thus I met a dive boat not far from Buyat and we did our first dive called first stop on our way down to Buyat bay. This is a relatively new area for diving that Danny who owns Critters@Lembeh has pioneered.
The Accommodations is an old fenced in mining camp. The rooms are basic with AC and Hot water. No Internet but they had HBO! The food was good not like Lembeh Resort but they had great fried chicken!
The diving: After diving in Lembeh Straits for 7 days it was great to see 60+ visibility, water temps 84F to 86F. I found the diving to be very good. Lots of colorful hard corals and one of the largest plate corals I have ever seen. The marine life was healthy plenty of tropical fish, cuttlefish, nudibranchs etc. I had planned only two nights and 8 dives in this area. The second day we ended up being confined to the bay due to a nasty squall that came through thus the visibility was poor and missed a couple of good sites outside the Bay. Poison Island was one of the better dive sites. I do think if you plan to go to Buyat Bay you should plan at least 12 dives.
Ill post Raja Ampat in the next couple of days.
