Another Lembeh Blog . . .

[tarczy]

Well . . . it's official!!

I'm goin' to Lembeh!!

I couldn't make Jonathan's recent Lembeh trip 'cuz of work related issues, but I have three weeks free over the Christmas Holidays. Not wanting to twiddle mah thumbs over the Holiday Season, and being bored with the Caribbean, I decided to take the plunge and book a trip to Divers Lodge in Lembeh from December 17th to January 8th.

Soooo . . . the flight is on my fav trans-con carrier, Malaysia Airlines, from Los Angeles to Singapore, where I decompress for about 30 hours. We stop briefly in Kuala Lumpur, a phenomenal airport! Total flight time from LAX to SIN = 21 hours. Not bad!

Once in Singapore, I get a good night's rest at the fabulous M Hotel. The next day will be spent exploring Singapore (never been there). Later that evening - dinner with one of my more favorite Singapore based clients. Maybe he'll let me drive his very cool Aston Martin V12 Vanquish around Singapore for awhile. The guy has a collection of something like 30 cars!

Next day, board Silk Air for a short hop (yeah ... like 4.5 hours!) to Manado, North Sulawesi. Once there, the Divers Lodge folks pick me up and drive to the lodge. That will be "home" for the next 18 days. I don't expect this lodge to be a five-star resort, but hey . . . we be diving! Just hope the beds are comfy.

Soooo . . . stay tuned. Hope to be posting regular updates beginning December 17th.

[Neptune7]

Gee! I was thinking of asking you to go next spring but you're too quick for me. I will end up the only one who didn't get there.

Never been to Singapore? It's not a city, it's a huge shopping mall. But you gotta see it to beleive it. Since you have a friend there, he might show you more interesting stuff than stores, malls and dutyfree shops. The night life can also be "memorable". I hope we are gonna get some pictures...

I am gonna wait impatiently for your blog.

Take care Mark.

Pierre

[Jonathan Bird]

18 days....holy crap, you aren't fooling around man! NICE!

If the guy has 30 cars, see if he will really spoil you and let you drive something with a horse on the hood that was made in Italy. Aston Martins are nice and all....

Jonathan

[David White]

Several of us extended our Lembeh trip with a few days at the Santiki Hotel in Manado, diving with the Thalassa Dive Centre. After nine days of diving in Lembeh it provided a refreshing change of pace; deep walls, monstrous corals, lots of fish etc. Something to consider since you have almost three weeks in Manado. Bear in mind that Thalassa Dive Centre only does three dives a day (night dives are scheduled twice a week but are available with three or more divers) and bottom times are limited to 60 minutes. Because of the extreme depths available they do not offer nitrox.

[Jonathan Bird]

Jim sent me an e-mail and said it was kinda cattle-boat-like though. Do you agree?

[David White]

To be fair to Thalassa, when we first arrived they were catering to more than 70 divers. Uncommonly busy, even for them. They even had to bring in an extra boat to accomodate us. Four of us shared a divemaster on our boat and the other group (5 maximum) went with the other divemaster. There was plenty of room on the boats for everyone. During a slower period it would likely be a lot less hectic for all concerned. The divemasters took care of all the equipment, even ferrying our cameras back and forth to the boats by truck since it was a really long walk. The diving in Bunaken Marine Preserve is well worth the visit. The coral formations are some of the largest that I have ever seen, visibility is as far as the eye can see, and the water is warmer than Lembeh. I wish that I had been able to spend more time there since there was so much more to see than we were able to accomplish. Besides, how many dive operations limit a divemaster to a buddy pair, or provide a personal divemaster for a certain videographer like they do at Divers Lodge? As far as cattle boats go, Thalassa's operation is tame. Given the circumstances, I think they did a commendable job.

The Santiki Hotel is quite luxurious set in acres of landscaped grounds, although the service levels in the dining room were not as personal as we had become accustomed to in Lembeh. The food was good with a varied selection at the buffet and personal pizzas available at The Big Tree restaurant. I will download some of the video from Bunaken and see if something can be put together to show what it is like.

[Jonathan Bird]

Sounds like it was pretty good then. Jim must have been suffering from DLSS. (Divers Lodge Spoiling Syndrome.)



Jonathan

[tarczy]

Ahhhh . . . sorry for jumping the gun, Pierre!! Oh well . . . you're welcome to join me over the Christmas Holidays.

David - Great video footage!! Can't wait to see the rest of your footage as well as experiening Lembeh in real time. Thanks for the Santiki Hotel/Thalassa Dive Centre tip. I dunno, though. This trip is not only a photo expedition, but also a time to get away from the cell phones, e-mail and overall stress of my job. It seems to me that switching resorts and diving in a "loaded" boat might be too much of a stresser. Nevertheless, I'm thinking about your recommendations.

On another note . . . supposedly I get a boat and a divemaster all to myself for 18 days. So, I'm hoping I can balance the days between muck diving and deeper reef diving. I'm looking forward to diving some of the deeper sites like Nudi Retreat and Pulau Putas.

Jonathan - Somehow I knew you'd fit in a reference to Ferrari. I dunno if he has one (more likely several), but just for you, I'll be sure to take some pics and post them if he lets me drive one.

[sorvju-f]

Originally Posted by tarczy

Well . . . it's official!!

I'm goin' to Lembeh!!

I couldn't make Jonathan's recent Lembeh trip 'cuz of work related issues, but I have three weeks free over the Christmas Holidays. Not wanting to twiddle mah thumbs over the Holiday Season, and being bored with the Caribbean, I decided to take the plunge and book a trip to Divers Lodge in Lembeh from December 17th to January 8th.

Soooo . . . the flight is on my fav trans-con carrier, Malaysia Airlines, from Los Angeles to Singapore, where I decompress for about 30 hours. We stop briefly in Kuala Lumpur, a phenomenal airport! Total flight time from LAX to SIN = 21 hours. Not bad!

Once in Singapore, I get a good night's rest at the fabulous M Hotel. The next day will be spent exploring Singapore (never been there). Later that evening - dinner with one of my more favorite Singapore based clients. Maybe he'll let me drive his very cool Aston Martin V12 Vanquish around Singapore for awhile. The guy has a collection of something like 30 cars!

Next day, board Silk Air for a short hop (yeah ... like 4.5 hours!) to Manado, North Sulawesi. Once there, the Divers Lodge folks pick me up and drive to the lodge. That will be "home" for the next 18 days. I don't expect this lodge to be a five-star resort, but hey . . . we be diving! Just hope the beds are comfy.

Soooo . . . stay tuned. Hope to be posting regular updates beginning December 17th.

You too my friend ...it will be hard to recover something new after all of you in Feb...also having second ( or I dont know how many totally) tiger trip, but HAA I might be first to give Raja Ampat report to UW-chat.

You can check also Livingcolours, Bunaken, very pro resort ( I have been there already two times and March 08 will be third.

http://www.livingcoloursdiving.com/

There are couple of muck-diving site, but mainly its wall diving. There is also one mid size wreck, but the best area is behind the wreck!

Jukka

[tarczy]

Originally Posted by sorvju-f

You too my friend ...it will be hard to recover something new after all of you in Feb...also having second ( or I dont know how many totally) tiger trip, but HAA I might be first to give Raja Ampat report to UW-chat.

You can check also Livingcolours, Bunaken, very pro resort ( I have been there already two times and March 08 will be third.

http://www.livingcoloursdiving.com/

There are couple of muck-diving site, but mainly its wall diving. There is also one mid size wreck, but the best area is behind the wreck!

Jukka

Jukka-

With your phenomenal eye for composition, I'm sure you will return from Lembeh in February with the best pics out of all of us.

Thanks for the Living Colours dive resort recommendation. I'm finding it difficult to decide whether or not to stay at the same resort for 18 days and just relax, or split the trip into two parts - first part Divers Lodge and second part somewhere else. However, $35.00 EU per day??? Jeez!!! That's a screaming deal!! Do they have toilets in each of the bungalows?? What am I missing? I guess if you're going back there for a third time, it must be pretty good!