Bunaken Vs Lembeh or both?

[pughio83]

Im planning a trip hopefully next year and have a few questions for people who have been to both, or had similar questions as i do.

1)What does bunaken offer that lembeh doesnt? I mean surely lembeh critter hunting doesnt get better? i know bunkanen has nice walls but how good is the diving there?

Im looking to have a 2week trip, and probably will try and include bunaken and lembeh. Any advice on a good split of time between the two? Also whats the best time of year to go - it doesnt have to be peak as will be v busy.

2) I have been looking at four different dive operators - nad lembeh, lembeh resort, divers lodge lembeh and twofish divers. I am looking for middle range prices, not necessarily budget. divers lodge and twofish seem very reasonable where as lembeh resort much pricier? Any ideas?

3)Anyone know from the UK the cheapest routes generally to get there. Ie fly to jakarta then onto manado?o singapore/HK/Manila etc..

4)Im off to the philippines for 3 weeks in mar/april next yr. If i was to go to lembeh for a week, is this enough time? Can you fly from manila to mando?

Sorry for all the Q's but info v useful fromppl who have been rather than just websites.

Cheers

 

[bananas75]

Hi pughio,
Cant give advice on Lembeh as I haven't been there, I was in Bunaken last year and thought it was very impressive, but a little limited, there are other better places to have a look at.....

Went through KL last time but this time going via Jakarta as its a couple of hundred cheaper, takes the same time and has easier connections. I've not looked at Sing, but I assume its more expensive (although probably nicer for a stop over....).

 

[Lorenzoid]

I think some of this--the Bunaken v. Lembeh part--has been asked before, so I assume you have you done a search on here for old threads. I was in the same quandary, and the most common answer from folks here seemed to be that no matter how they split their time between Bunaken and Lembeh, they inevitably wished they had spent more time at Lembeh. We finally decided to do our entire (one week) at Lembeh. It was the most amazing diving I have ever done--though I have admittedly not been many places. I had never seen such freaky creatures before. If you have two weeks, you'll be able to get in a good amount of diving at both places. As for dive ops, I had settled on Two Fish for Bunaken before deciding to skip it and spend the whole week at Lembeh.

 

[hg frogman]

I dived both in September 2005 for a total of 40 dives or more.

Preference really depends on one's taste. I have friends who went there several times and we don't have the same opinion.

Bunaken is mostly steep and deep (50 m+) drop-offs with dense, diverse and nice coral cover (soft corals, gorgonians, barrel sponges ... but not prettier than the very best corals of the Philippines ; best sites for corals are around Bunaken island proper: about 10 divesites on this island, some well worth 2 or 3 dives IMO) and a nice shallow table reef with hard corals. Plus reef fish (more than in the Philippines) and some occasional bigger stuff (turtle, barracudas, black- or whitetip reef shark, eagle ray ...). It has also good macro stuff (pygmy seahorses, leaffish, nudibranches, ribbon eels, tiny spider crabs ...) and beautiful night dives. Also on Manado mainland (not far from Bunaken) there were good muck-dives quite akin Lembeh (eg Popoh) where you could spot mimic octopus, mantis shrimps, nudibranches and the like.

Some people love Bunaken walls, some others find this topography a bit boring after a while. When I went there, there were lots of reef fish when there was some current (1 out of 2 dives) and we had sharks sightings 1 out of 3 dives, but my friends who went there more recently told me there weren't as many fish during their visit. Who knows ?

Lembeh was a different experience. Lots of sandy black slopes, some drop-offs but much smaller (with a lot of life though, and a "rare and unusual" feeling about the scenery), the majority of the dive sites akin muck dives. No huge walls, less reef fish and no big one, smaller numbers of nice corals, more garbage but also more special critters eg frogfish, mimic octopus, nudibranches ; with also pigmy seahorses, etc ... actually all the weird critters one can think of. Diving there is often like "hide and seek", plain black sand with nothing special for some minutes then some other minutes on a critter that excites photographers. Conditions are easier for photographers than in Bunaken.

I prefered Bunaken (I like impressive walls) but some of my friends (who like to "pry in the sand" as they say - as an image, they don't do it for real !) prefer Lembeh.

Best season there is May to October. My choice would be June (low season) then September (July and August are busy with vacationers). I would split a two weeks stay half Bunaken, half Lembeh.

We went from France (Paris) with Singapore Airlines via Singapore, then Silkair to Manado. That was fine and straightforward.

About the dive centers I don't know presently. It's good to stay on Bunaken island itself because it's only a few minutes away from the best divesites. Most important criterion for me is how many divers per guide and how many guides per boat (we had 2 divers per guide and 2 guides per boat, dives duration was not limited to 60 minutes, that was perfect).

A typical diving vacation in the many islands of the Philippines usually implies transfers from a Philippino island or place (eg Bohol) to the other (eg Moalboal). These transfers are already quite boring and time-consuming, so I woudn't bother going to Lembeh from there, thus adding to the burden. Philippines are already nice for corals and macro stuff : keep Lembeh for another vacation.

 

[pughio83]

Cheers guys, will probably opt for a 2week trip, and do 8-9days lembeh and few days bunaken. I have dived a lot in the philippines and have enjoyed the macro a lot, so i think lembeh is more for me. Unless bunaken offered a lot of pelagics or significantly different fauna from good philippines reefs then i would rather put the time into lembeh. mimics, blue ringed etc... is what i want to try see with luck lol!

Yes i have checked the older threads on this matter but had a few more q's and was still pondering. I guess if i dived with two fish or somewhere that dives both places i can decide after few dives. The annoying thing is its hard to take a non diver to lembeh/bunaken as not much else to do so it may be a lone wolf trip. thats why i was going to factor it into my philippines trip. I have been going p'pines yearly for last 4 yrs so i know about the constant flying everywhere, but my destination is to see family n friends on boracay so maybe fly into manila then onto manado to go lembeh then after a week head bk to manila and onto boracay.

mmm choices. tnx for the advice.

 

[AlanWald]

There has been in the past flights from Davao in the Philippines to Manado. I don't have any current information. In Lembeh do as many night dives as you can. It is great fun. We saw a crab spawning.

 

[pelan-pelan]

Why not consider a dive operation on Manado side? You can go off diving and the family can do trips up to Tomohon and the highlands, or trekking up the volcano, or visiting the national park. Or they can come on the boat and sunbathe and/or snorkel. As you cross the bay to Bunaken there is a good likelihood of seeing dolphins, and pilot whales are not so unusual.

Then you can go out in the evening for a meal. Manado itself is a typical noisy, dusty Indonesian town. It is a busy place but you are quite safe to walk around. It may not be pretty and scenic but if you are in Indonesia then you would want to experience the environment.

There are some fascinating dive sites, as already mentioned in other posts, on the Manado side as well. Transfer from Manado to Lembeh is much quicker that coming over from Bunaken, so you save on travelling time.

 

[pelan-pelan]

Apologies for another post.

From Lembeh there is plenty to do for non-divers with trips up into the highlands as mentioned and also activities like canoeing.

Have a look at Divers Lodge Lembeh.

Flights - Air Asia into KL has looked good value for money.

 

[Malene]

Hello,

I totally agree with what Lorenzoid says about the split of time between Bunaken and Lembeh. Before experimenting Lembeh, I was in favour of big walls, great visiblity, lots of fish... That is why I loved Bunaken. But then, last year in November, we did a diving trip to Lembeh (from near Manado). Two dives there and I was hooked! It is absolutely fascinating.
So I went back to Sulawesi last May, and spent my whole 10 days in Lembeh, and the time passed to quickly! Now I can't wait to go back there.

I dove with Divers Lodge Lembeh which I recommand very warmly. It is not too expensive but the quality of service is outstanding. Everybody at the center, from dive guides to staff to boss do everything for you to be happy and spend perfect holidays. I had one guide (plus crew) just for me and I could choose when and how much I wanted to dive. In addition, everyday my guide would ask me what I wanted to see today and would find it for me! This were really dream holidays :kiss2:

Malene - Lembeh addict

 

[TSandM]

We did five days in each place, and although Lembeh is more my kind of diving, I'm very glad we did both. The walls at Bunaken are impressive in their scale, and beautiful in color. The quirky currents make for some entertaining dives, and the last bit, when you come up over the top of the reef into the shallows, was incredibly rich in reef fish and spectacular crinoids. The walls themselves didn't offer a lot of fish, but a lot of smaller, macro life, and the guides we had (from Eco Divers at Tasik Ria) had astonishing eyes.

Tasik Ria was fine -- clean and well air conditioned -- but the food was uninspiring and it is a long boat ride to the dive sites. I didn't mind, because after all, what else are you going to do with your day? But someone prone to seasickness might not be so happy.

Lembeh reminded me of a treasure hunt. The topography was reminiscent of home -- lower viz, dark, silty bottom, little coral and almost no color. But the sea life was just incredible. From things of beauty, like Banggai cardinalfish, to things of wonder, like rhinopias and hairy frogfish, every dive was full of excitement and surprises. I'm used to searching for very well camouflaged critters in that kind of environment, so I found a lot of things on my own, which rather surprised our guides. For someone interested in the weird and wonderful, and not averse to lower viz and dull scenery, Lembeh is the cat's meow.

We stayed at Kunkungen Bay Resort, and I would do it again in a heartbeat. It's a beautiful place, built into the side of a hill. The cabins were made from the trees they cut down and the stone they quarried to build the resort, and they are lovely. The view is fantastic. The food was excellent, and the service to divers was delightful (meeting the boat with hot tea and cookies!)

Writing this has reminded me of how much fun we had on that trip -- wish Indonesia weren't so horribly far away.