Advice on Indonesia. Where to go in N. Sulawesi or beyond?

[Mr. Sunday]

I'm looking for some current advice on where to go in May-June for 10-12 days in Indonesia.

My wife and I have strongly been considering going with Two Fish divers in Bunaken/Lembeh. My biggest concern is there is better diving in the area.

Were limited on time and have a medium budget to work with. So liveaboard is not an option this time round. We will be flying through KL, Bali, or Singapore. Quality of diving is most important. Hotel amenities such as electricity and hot water are also needed.



-Does anyone have a better option for a similar price and travel time than Two Fish in Bunaken/Lembeh?

-Are there any great reasonable dive resorts on Bangka?

-Are there new or other locations that should be considered?

I know these questions have been asked before. Just looking for the most current info I can get. Much appreciated!

Thanks
-k

 

[Kilili]

Two Fish is pretty inexpensive and you'll have a hard time getting better rates in the area. As for hot water, I had none, but other rooms may. Cannot say I missed it though. Bastianos also has 2 places on the south side of the island, and I've heard good things about Living Colours. Better than Two Fish? Not really, just different.

As for dive sites, will be pretty much the same in this area.

I researched other places in the general area, never found anything budget. These days, any place that's new in the area will tend to be more expensive.

You might try to follow up on this posting:
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/in...07-hello-manado-north-sulawesi-indonesia.html

You may wish to go to Ambon instead. Good diving, and Blue Rose Divers is quite inexpensive. Again no hot water, but aircon, which I consider to be far more important. With Blue Rose, you'll likely dive in very small groups. We once had as many as 5 divers on the boat Their boats are the greatest, very fast.

 

[AlanWald]

You may want to split your time between Bunaken and Lembeh Many resorts have a second resort in Lembeh or can help you make a transfer (e.g. go from Manado to airport with the Bunaken side resort when they are taking other guest for departing flights and meet the Lembeh resort people who will be at the airport making drop offs and pickups) Do as many night dives as you can especially in Lembeh. If you dive with Two Fish Divers Lembeh try and get Opo as you guide, he is very good and great fun and he will play his guitar and sing for you at night.

 

[cgf]

Opo as your guide is the best you can have, really.
he is also a really nice man.
both diving Bunaken and Lembeh of two fish are good, beside diving in Bunaken.. so-so.

In Bunaken don't take the room, get a cottage, it's much better and...
do not be too late for supper if you want to eat something.
in my both experiences in Lembeh the food was plenty (and much better)

 

[Luko]

-Are there any great reasonable dive resorts on Bangka?

check out Blue Bay divers, Mimpi Indah and Murex Bangka, these are the three operators based around Bangka that are not budget but "reasonably" priced (ie. 100€/day incl. diving or less).

 

[jake11]

We just came from diving in Bunaken and then Lembeh. If you love critters then Lembeh is the place to go. The diving in Bunaken was mainly wall diving and the walls were very colorful and full of fish. We found it a good mix to do both. At the end of our 6th day of muck we were kind of done and muck is my favorite kind of diving. I was glad we had split our time between the 2 locations. We found the Lembeh side to be much prettier and more peaceful. We all liked our stay in Lembeh a lot better than the Bunaken side. Hope this helps. Enjoy!!!

 

[Wisnu]

We visited north sulawesi several times and still love the area.
Our plan for next year 10 days dive trip will be 2 days Bunaken, 3 days Bangka, 5 days Lembeh and 2 days highland (not for diving).
In Bunaken, you can stay at the mainland or the island - most accommodation in the island is basic, no air con - electricity available in the evening. More choice at the mainland - from simple room to 5stars hotel; but you hv to spend more time to reach Bunaken (20 - 70 minute).
You can ask the dive center to arrange transfer from one location to another location say after third dive, at very reasonable cost - you will not miss your diving time.
If you travel in budget - yes, twofish (bunaken & Lembeh) is a good choice but don't expect much on the room and food.

 

[miu]

I dived with Two Fish in Bunaken and Lembeh. The wall diving in Bunaken was really nice, but got rather boring after 2 days (I stayed 5).

Lembeh was far more exciting. I ended up adding a few days to my stay there and wished I hadn't spent so much time in Bunaken. As someone else mentioned, Opo is an amazing guide, but the other two guides were also great. The atmosphere there was really fun and laidback, and the guides usually hung out with the divers at night, drinking and laughing. The food was also good. I didn't have hot water, but I wouldn't have wanted it, as it's so hot there, I couldn't imagine wanting to take a shower in anything but cold water.

I also dived Bangka for 5 days. I stayed at Mimpi Indah Resort. It was more expensive than I could afford, but the owners (a husband and wife whose names I can't remember- husband is Dutch, wife is Indonesian) gave me a discount. My buddy and I were the only ones there, so it was well worth the seclusion and being the only divers on the boat. The cabins and food were great. The guides, Damos and Ito, were fantastic and a lot of fun! The whole time, we didn't see another dive boat.

Bangka has a lot of macro (we saw 2 different kinds of pygmy seahorses), but we also saw a small school of bumpheads a couple of times, a few white-tips, and some other kind of baby sharks sleeping under a ledge (they were spotted- looked like cat sharks, but not sure). I even saw a huge octopus during the day (standing up next to some coral and didn't run away as I shot about 2 minutes of video). Next time, I would definitely do Bangka and Lembeh and skip Bunaken.

 

[Mr. Sunday]

Thank you to all that have replied so far.

Im thinking a combo trip to Lembeh and Bangka might be what I am looking for. Now I just need to figure our which operations to go with on Bangka.

 

[kathydee]

I've been to Bunakan twice. Perfer Living Colors. Pretty wall diving, some sharks/turtles if you are lucky. Night dives are nice. Vis has varied from 50 to 130ft durring these trips.

Lembeh is a very different scene. Vis can be 30-40ft, milky. Often dive sites are simply black sand with some of the most exotic critters you can imagine. Some are tiny <.5" so hovering in one place staring at a .25" crab is not uncommon. It's a macro photographers paradise, but after 3 days personally it's time for me to move on to bluer waters and pretty coral.

One nice feature about Living Colors -- there is a beautiful shallow reef just off shore for nice sunset snorkling. The bungalows are charming and it seemed to have a bit slower pace than Two Fish. You still have the option of diving Two Fish in Lembeh and they will help with the transfer.

Another option is to fly from Manado to Denpasar for some diving in Bali. This would also streamline your flights - if your SE Asia entry point is Denpasar.

Have fun!