Thursday, July 21, 2016

Microscopic Goodness of Lembeh

YOS Dive Lembeh - Eco Beach Resort
It has been an extraordinary dive trip, indeed. 

A short dive trip to Lembeh Island, an island off the north east coast of Sulawesi, near the city of Bitung. Beautiful dive sites along the Lembeh Straits. 

If you live in Singapore, it's pretty easy travelling to Lembeh Island. Flights to Manado's Sam Ratulangi International Airport (MDC) are easily available, and from Manado (the capital city of the North Sulawesi province of Indonesia), a car ride should bring you to the dive resorts in Lembeh. 
As for us, we flew to Manado on Silkair from Singapore (approximately 3.5 hours flight time). The staff from YOS Dive Lembeh - Eco Beach Resort picked us up from the airport, followed by a 2 hours car ride to the beautiful resort. 

After arriving at YOS Dive Lembeh - Eco Beach Resort, we were welcomed by a group of friendly staffs with Watermelon Juice and warm towels.

Dining Area
YOS Dive Lembeh - Eco Beach Resort is a small but super cozy resort with only 10 rooms in total. The Beach Villa was AWESOME.

A Canopy Bed. YES, A CANOPY BED WITH BED CURTAINS.
Back view of the room
Side view of the room
The room was magnificent. The furnitures, the flooring, the tables, were all wood textured. That made us felt so close to nature, but the entire room was classy and different at the same time.

Shower Area 
Sinks and Mirror
Madness, isn't it? Just the toilet itself is bigger than my room back at home. We even joked about being able to rear two cows in the toilet. 

There were two shelves located in the toilet and yes, we absolutely loved it. We could dry our wetsuits, masks and cameras at the area. 

Balcony
On top of the spacious room and toilet, there was also a balcony with sea view. The breeze and peace at night time, simply makes you wanna just stay out in the balcony. 

Newlyweds, who are divers, looking for a place for your honeymoon? This is the resort for you!

Diving in Lembeh Straits
Lembeh Straits' Dive Sites Map

Lembeh is known for its muck diving with the wide variety of colourful marine creatures. It will be impossible to cover all the dive sites within a trip, hence, it's definitely a place worth to go back for more. 

Some of the beautiful marine creatures...
Flamboyant Cuttlefish
Hairy Frogfish
Embryonic Cuttlefish inside marble-sized egg case
Cowrie
Banggai Cardinal Fish
Spotted Porcelain Crab
Anemone with Parasite
Cockatoo Waspfish
Nudibranch - Willan's Chromodoris
Baby Lionfish
Arminid Nudibranch
Cuttlefish
Common Seahorse
Flathead
Nudibranch with Emperor Shrimp
Banggai Cardinal Fish around Anemone
Ramose Sea Hare
Cardinal Fish with eggs in mouth
Painted Frogfish
Wunderpus
Shuttlecock Spindle Cowrie
Cowrie
Sea Moth

Gardiner's Headshield Slug
Stargazer
Frogfish
Coconut Octopus 
Nudibranch
Wire Coral Crab
Emperor Shrimp
Electric Fileclam
Anemone Shrimp
Orange and Black Dragonet 
Zebra Batfish
Mantis Shrimp
Squat Lobster
Lembeh Seadragon
Orangutan Crab

Anemone Fish Eggs
Aeolid Nudibranch
Painted Frogfish
Solar Power Nudibranch
Credits: Ying Yin

The 9 of us were accompanied by 3 divemasters: Hiros, Parman, Epit. The divemasters were really good at spotting the tiny tiny tiny marine creatures. #respect
After dive
After dive
On the speedboat before going out for our dive
With the local kids
After each dive, the boatman will have fruits, hot ginger tea and hot face towels prepared for all the shivering and exhausted divers.


The staffs at the cafe were responsive and attends to every guest's needs promptly. Smiles were always on their faces! 


The 3 divemasters (Hiros, Parman, Epit) that were humorous, helpful and attentive to all the divers' needs! 

They were conversational in Manado Malay and could only speak minimal English. However, despite the language barrier, it wasn't difficult to communicate via gestures and simple English. It felt really warm with the friendly staffs and divemasters around in the this cozy resort. And also, due to the small capacity of the resort, the ratio of staffs to guests is 1:1 and that makes service standards higher with the staffs being more attentive to each and every guest. 

Overall, it has been a memorable experience in YOS Dive Lembeh - Eco Beach Resort. 

We will be back! 

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