The first time Lembeh and the anticipation is huge. We decided on the basis of the very good reviews (TripAdvisor 4.5 *) and the recommendations by Aquaventure for the Bastianos Lembeh, which is located on the small island of Lembeh. 

The Bastianos Lembeh is only 15 minutes by boat from the port of Bitung in northeastern Sulawesi, the road of Lembeh itself is only 12 km long and a maximum of 3 km wide, but the enormous shipping traffic around the port of Bitungs and the amounts of rubbish for it That the “Lembeh Strait” is one of the world’s best dive sites for macro lovers and is thrilled with its incredible biodiversity in the macro area.

 

 

Arrival

The journey is usually via the Manado airport and from there it continues by car to the port town of Bitung in the east, the journey lasts a little over an hour, but it can sometimes take a bit longer depending on the weather.  From the port, a 15-minute boat trip takes you to the Bastianos resort on the island of Lembeh.

The fastest connection from Germany is from Frankfurt via Singapore to Manado, as so often we were on the road with Singapore Airlines this time and were not disappointed. The complete journey was approx. 20 hours (13h fra-sin and 3h sin-MDC) and thanks to stay in Singapore without any problems.

Arrived at the resort we were kindly welcomed by the staff and received a brief introduction to the resort, later in the afternoon there was also a detailed briefing by Thomas the resort’s managers during a cool cocktail. The aluminium bottles that each guest receives for water/tea etc. have been very positively noticed. To be able to use again and again, there was a “drinking station” in the restaurant and at the reception.

 

 

Facilities

 

Food/Service

What we noticed extremely positive, the staff in the restaurant and also on the boats is always careful to keep the guests sufficiently and adequately drunk. As soon as the water glass is only partially empty, it is immediately repaid. Breakfast, lunch and dinner are offered in the restaurant at pre-allocated tables and consist of a typical buffet. You get your table assigned on arrival and keep it for the entire stay.  We stayed together after a few days with a lone diver, whom we had met while diving. This change of place caused short-term confusion for the staff, but it was nevertheless quite possible.

The food is delicious and offers a wide variety of food, fruit and desserts. 

 

 

Diving

Many of the reports we have read describe how murky the water is, how bad the view or lake like Lembeh is. We were taught better. 
If you expect coral reefs as in Egypt with sight ranges of 30m and more, you will of course be disappointed…. But, you don’t get to Lembeh. Despite everything, you have visibility up to 15m. The soil condition, consisting of black sand, rubbish and occasional coral blocks may seem dull and dreary at first, but as a macro photographer you feel in paradise. Especially in view of the fact of the extraordinary variety of snails, almost an El Dorado for every snail lover. 

Up to 5 dives are offered daily, two in the morning and one in the afternoon, as well as a twilight dive to marvel at Mandarinfische (not always possible) and a night dive. During the first two dives you spend the surface break on the comfortably equipped boat and get served in between by tea and fruit. After all other dives you will return to the resort. Each boat is equipped with, among other things, a toilet, water reservoir for cameras and emergency oxygen. Diving is usually with a maximum of four people plus guide, this is especially for photographers very pleasant. We were lucky enough to be on the road three times. Most dives have a maximum dive depth of 25 meters and are not really limited in time, on average we were over 80 minutes per dive in the water. If you do a lot of these dives it is advisable to dive with Nitrox, otherwise the zero time will be very fast.

There are so many indescribable dive sites in the Lembeh Strait, but we try and describe our personal top 3.

Hairball is a sandy dive site located in the north of the Lembeh Strait, in a small cove. There we found for the first time a hairy Frogfish, however this was not the only highlight, Wonderpus octopus and coconut octopus were constant companions during the dives.

A very popular dive site located directly on the mainland is Nudi falls. The boat is stuck on drooping branches and it is surprisingly possible to find even a lot of coral fields under water. When you come up, you will pass a small coral-covered wall, in which we found beside two Lembeh Seadragons also an “electric” scallop. However, the dive site is also more than just its name, at every corner you can find the most different snails.

The last in the bunch is Bianca, the name of the dive site of the former dive vessel anchored there. Besides the usual suspects, there are also some special curious animals, the leaf-sheep-snail is at home there as well as the Wonderpus octopus and the coconut octopus. Among other things, in this place at dusk you can observe the Mandarinfische during your mating dance. 

 

 

Conclusion

We travelled with great expectations and these were more than just fulfilled, be it the highly professionally managed dive centre, the delicious food or the impressive dive sites, everything just fit. The resort was consistently clean, very well equipped and the staff always friendly helpful. If you want to dive Lembeh, we can only recommend the Bastianos.

Here you can find our picture gallery about the Bastianos Lembeh.