http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Asia , Indonesia , Sulawesi , Lembeh en-us Fri, 24 May 2013 01:47:07 +0000 Fri, 24 May 2013 01:47:07 +0000 J39ai entendu parl du dtroit de Lembeh pour la premire fois en Nouvelle Zlande l39anne dernire. J39avais rapidement not dans mon carnet noir muck diving. Sur le bateau qui me mne sur l39le de Lembeh je dcouvre cette mer laquelle le sable noir donne une couleur de saphir. La jungle entourant la cte semble se dverser directement dans la mer le paysage est s http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-731081.html Firstly sorry it39s taken me so long to write something The Internet at Tasikoki hasnt been very reliableI39ll try to start at the startI 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 w http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-685624.html 30.7.Sukellusrutiinia Aikaisin yls sukelluskamat kasaan ja aamupalalle Living Coloursiin. Sielt veneelle ja 2 sukellusta hienoja seinmi. Veneest kiirehdittiin suoraan lounaalle jonka jlkeen hetki aikaa toipua ja takas veneelle kolmannelle dyykille. Sitten suihkuun sukelluslogin kirjoitusta terassilla riippumatossa lojumista kunnes illalliselle ja taas nukkumaan.31.7.Rutiinilla me http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-632954.html 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 didnt have any where to stay so Frauke whod been very organised and booked somewhere let me share her room. She was also a diver and we convinced Ben t http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-611053.html How many people can say they discovered a new speciesAt 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 pretwentieth century and another 4 million during the twentiet http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-609890.html After a couple of dives at Lembeh we knew we39d found it. Our Holy Grail of muck diving. Steve I were in 7th heaven. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-609492.html Anecdotes IIWell here is another round of stories and observations I have picked up along the way. I have also found some pictures that sort of matches the spirit of the stories below.The other kind of travel tipsIn the last installment of Anecdotes I was rambling about how useless phrasebooks are. The same goes for travel guides in general. They do try to warn you of strange customs in the count http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-546571.html This is a bit old now but it took me so long to sort all the photos Here is LembehOn the morning of my transfer to Lembeh I woke up with a blooming ear infection againVery angry and upset but I started to take drops immediately and got some anti inflammatories in Manado on the way to Lembeh.Arriving at the resort I had to watch everyone else go off for dives and come back very excited...for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-540763.html Blog 5 Getting mucky in lembehOk so the last 7 days i have spent at NAD Lembeh Resort fulfilling a dream of mine to dive the mysterious and murky waters of Lembeh straits. The resort is run by the renowned underwater photographer and vieographer Mike Veich the resort itself is small clean cosy and very professionally run. Whlst i was there i also spent my birthday so i had the local tradition http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-514134.html Blog 4 The journey to Lembeh.......Since my last blog i have stayed in Kota Bharu Kuala Lumpur The crowne plaza hotel in Singapore il explain that later in the blog and on a bench outside Changi Airport and finally i am in Lembeh SulawesiSo thats the easy bit out of the way now the journey here was fairly broken up so wasnt too bad i stayed in Kota BharuKB for 2 nights it was origina http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-512084.html The word muck diving might not say much to most people but once you have tried it you never turn back It is a little bit like opening a diving book that shows hundreds of weird critters all with funny colors and shape except that you experience the real thing Lembeh Strait to that extend is THE place to discover species that you have never seen before so camera gears all set ready for http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-477058.html We arrived in Lembeh on the 17th of December but something important happened earlier that morning. My camera finally arrived. I hurried my way out of the boat and then a lady gave me my camera. I called my uncle to tell him that I've received the camera and I thank him so much for it. It's in a wooden box nailed. So I couldn't open it.... hmmmmph I asked one of the guys if they had a screw dr http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-418329.html The Lembeh Straight has poor visibility and not much coral. So why dive there Because they have the weirdest assemblage of odd creatures that don't seem to even belong in the sea. The fish often don't swim but walk on feet or fling themselves about on the sea floor like a dog flipping about trying to bite fleas on its hind quarters. Many of the creatures look exactly like the coral or sea wee http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-344973.html Ching Ching and I went to dive with Nomad Adventure Divers on the Island of Lembeh. Found some great stuff and Ching Ching got to photograph a nice crisp picture of a pygmy seahorse. http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-238892.html No soon were we back from our travels we were planning a short dive holiday to recuperate from the big holiday. As soon as we set foot in Singapore our transit location with Silkair from Kathmandu Eric suggested a Christmas in the water at Lembeh Straits the undisputed muck diving capital of the world. Having not been in the water since Thailand back in August we were itching to get wet and too http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-234237.html Two hours drive from Manado Sulawesi is Lembeh. It's a port city the Lembeh straits and island just 2kms of dark murky sea water away. Oil sheens the surface trash floats and sinks around old boats. Tough looking Indonesian port works and seamen carry massive loads up precariously leaning plank gangways loading the boats. Muscles and veins bulging blurry tattoos clearly self made they stare http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Indonesia/Sulawesi/Lembeh/blog-195834.html