Blogs from Lembeh, Sulawesi, Indonesia, Asia

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh February 6th 2017

INDONESIA - MY CUP RUNNETH OVER There is nothing quite like going on a dive trip and staying for a week or two. I usually plan at least two days of diving when I go to a new country, and as you can see…sometimes I do many more. This is my second trip to Lembeh Straits in Sulawesi, Philippines. It is a marvelous place. I like dive resorts, and dive live-aboards, where the emphasis is on diving. But I also like smaller dive shops so my hotels or hostels are in local neighborhoods and I get to see more of the culture and the people of the country. This trip, which started on December 5th and ended on February 9th was a good mix of diving and travel. I started by joining a friend from my ... read more

EAT, SLEEP, DIVE

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh February 3rd 2017

OLD FAVORITE - THE LION FISH

Never too old

INDONESIA – CORNUCOPIA OF THE SEA I woke up to sunny weather and waited till after the dive boat left the dock at 7:30 a.m. before leaving my comfortable bed and searching out food and friends at NAD dive resort. I fought the temptation to grab my camera and run out and join the other divers doing the morning dives, but the first day of diving, although thrilling, had left me almost sick with exhaustion and a fierce headache. I decided to take the morning off, on day two, to rest and recuperate. Traveling from Santiago, Chile to Lembeh Straits in Indonesia had been a two day endurance test of flights and lay-overs. I went to breakfast. There were a few other guests who were relaxing, rather than diving. I ordered eggs and toast and ate ... read more

DIVING LEMBEH STRAITS

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh January 30th 2017

PORCELAIN CRAB

Never too old

LEMBEH This was a funny trip. My flight to Indonesia from Santiago, Chile was routed through Seattle. I had a fourteen hour layover, not time enough to drive all the way home, then back to the airport. I asked my daughter, Lauren to come visit with me and to bring me a pair of pedal pushers; I lost my brand new ones in Costa Rica on our river run. I could catch up with what was happening at home, and since I would only be diving on this part of my trip I could send some stuff home and travel lighter. Lauren and Mike met me in the airport but when I went to the luggage carousel my luggage wasn’t there. I checked with the airline and it was locked up in a room waiting to ... read more

Fish Heaven and Hell - Bunaken and Lembeh

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh May 21st 2013

Born to travel

The final leg of our trip took us back up to Northern Sulawesi. The first stop was Lembeh Strait, famous in the diving world for being the "Critter Capital of the World." Interestingly, it is a kind of hell for fish with a litter-strewn black sand sea bed seemingly devoid of any marine life. On closer inspection, however, you can find a myriad of strange, rare, and often creepy critters. Scott and I took the same approach as in Komodo, splitting the diving up while one person stayed with Kyla. After the first day I wasn't sure we'd done the right thing. Waiting on the boat had been hot for Kyla and our room at Two Fish Resort was just as hot as we didn't have air-conditioning for the first time on the trip. The subsequent ... read more

Les rois du camouflage

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh July 9th 2012

Seiche flamboyante

Elvi

J'ai entendu parlé du détroit de Lembeh pour la première fois en Nouvelle Zélande l'année dernière. J'avais rapidement noté dans mon carnet noir "muck diving". Sur le bateau qui me mène sur l'île de Lembeh, je découvre cette mer à laquelle le sable noir donne une couleur de saphir. La jungle entourant la côte semble se déverser directement dans la mer, le paysage est spectaculaire. Sous l'eau, pas de corail ni de couleurs flamboyantes... à première vue. C'est ça la plongée "muck"; une chasse au trésor sous marine à la recherche de créatures aussi étranges que magnifiques. Le stick en métal attaché autour du poignet devient une sorte de canne pour aveugle. Sur le sable, je tatônne, tapote, creuse; le regard est partout, à l'affût du moindre mouvement suspect, d'un changement de couleur du sable ou ... read more

Tasikoki- first 2 weeks!

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh February 8th 2012

KalB

Firstly, sorry it's taken me so long to write something! The Internet at Tasikoki hasnt been very reliable! I'll try to start at the start: I was alittle nervous about arriving into Indonesian customs carrying all of those medical supplies, but there was no problem at all and they sent me straight through. I had two people from the centre meet me. I was very glad of that because as soon as we step out of the airport terminal there was a sea of faces staring at me! My driver Antony helped me get an Indonesian sim card and credit so that I could let Tris know I arrived ok. I also sent Dad a txt which he received but didn't tell Mum about! It was about an hour and a half drive from the airport ... read more

"We'll see what we'll see", sanoi DM

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh August 4th 2011

Sukelluspäivä alkaa

JYSQ

30.7. Sukellusrutiinia: Aikaisin ylös, sukelluskamat kasaan ja aamupalalle Living Coloursiin. Sieltä veneelle ja 2 sukellusta hienoja seinämiä. Veneestä kiirehdittiin suoraan lounaalle, jonka jälkeen hetki aikaa toipua ja takas veneelle kolmannelle dyykille. Sitten suihkuun, sukelluslogin kirjoitusta terassilla, riippumatossa lojumista, kunnes illalliselle ja taas nukkumaan. 31.7. Rutiinilla meni tämäkin päivä. Sukelluksilla alkoi olla jo vanhaa tuttua virtausta,kun uusi kuu lähestyy. Kaikki tähän mennessä olivat olleet aika mietoja. Lounaan jälkeen otettiin täydellinen välikuolema, mä nukuin koulutustilan sohvalla ja S riippukeinussa pihalla (kunnes joku alkoi luukuttaa Family Guyta). Oli kerrankin aikaa ottaa päikkärit kun päivän 3. sukellus oli mandariinikalasukellus ja se tehdään vasta kun alkaa hämärtää. Lähdettiin joskus 16.30 menemään. Niitä kaloja kyllä nähtiin useita, mutt... read more

From Bali to Sulawesi...

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh May 10th 2011

me, Frauke and Ben

Katep

So after the amazing Ubud I headed down to Nusa Lembongan; a small island just off the coast of the southern end of Bali. On the boat on the way over I met Ben an Aussie surfer and Frauke a German girl, and so the three of us hung out. I didn’t have any where to stay so Frauke, who’d been very organised and booked somewhere, let me share her room. She was also a diver and we convinced Ben to join us so the three of us ended up diving together for a few days. The diving was great... the first dive was ‘the manta dive’ and we saw three huge manta rays which were beautiful. On the first day we all went for lunch at a local warung (cheap Indonesian cafe) and I left ... read more

Lembeh Straits, Indonesia

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh May 3rd 2011

Shrimp

Valerie and Steve

After a couple of dives at Lembeh, we knew we'd found it. Our Holy Grail of muck diving. Steve & I were in 7th heaven. ... read more

Diving The Wonderful Macro World of the Lembeh Straits

Asia » Indonesia » Sulawesi » Lembeh April 12th 2011

Juvenile Zebra Batfish

Ali

How many people can say they discovered a new species? At a guess - something along the lines of number identified species - which depending on definition is between 2 and a 100 million (wikipedia). Lets say for simplicity that there are 10 million species on this planet, and that half were catalogued by a handful of early biologists pre-twentieth century - and another 4 million during the twentieth century. Using this inadequate estimate - there are a million species to be found, identified and described by science this century. I want to be that one in a million. I didn't discover a new species But I saw one - only discovered in 2007 - I must be one of only a few hundred or possibly thousand people to have ever seen it. The astounding amazing ... read more

Brief history of Indonesia

The Dutch began to colonize Indonesia in the early 17th century; the islands were occupied by Japan from 1942 to 1945. Indonesia declared its independence after Japan's surrender, but it required four years of intermittent negotiations, recurring hos...more history

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