Manado/Lembeh Straights, lets start another thread.

Having come back from holiday 2 weeks ago, its time to start thinking
about the next dive trip.
My wife has been reading the latest issue of sport diver, and read an
article on Manado etc......i had been thinking about Manado/Lembeh as my
next destination, anyway she said "where is Manado ..it looks
good"....excellent i thought, at least it was not me who suggested it...

I know its in north sulawesi but where does one fly from to get there ?
Getting to Singapore or KL or Manilla gets me into the right region, where
is the best place to fly to in Sulawesi and from where ??????

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> Having come back from holiday 2 weeks ago, its time to start thinking
> about the next dive trip.
> My wife has been reading the latest issue of sport diver, and read an
> article on Manado etc......i had been thinking about Manado/Lembeh as my
> next destination, anyway she said "where is Manado ..it looks
> good"....excellent i thought, at least it was not me who suggested it...
>
> I know its in north sulawesi but where does one fly from to get there ?
> Getting to Singapore or KL or Manilla gets me into the right region, where
> is the best place to fly to in Sulawesi and from where ??????
>
> Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
> Take out the "goes diving" bit....
> Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk


You either fly to Singapore and get a Silkair (Singapore airlines
regional carrier) direct to Manado or else fly to Jakarta and get an
internal flight. Last option if no flights to Manado itself from
outside Sulawesi is to fly to Makassar (main city Sulawesi) and then to
Manado.

BTW Manado is excellent, pretty much all wall diving, not much "big
stuff" unless you are incredibly lucky and hit sperm whales(!) but
exceptional soft coral cover. Almost certain to see loads of dolphin
from the boats but unlikely when underwater. Also Lembeh is mean't to
be great muck diving (haven't been yet), but a sight called PoPo(sp?)
near Manado is great for weird things - saw Rhinopias there.

Anyway, enjoy - I had an excellent week there (same place Sport Diver
stayed) and hope to go back in about a month.

Dave,

I went to Manado last year I can recommended to go and visit the Bunaken
national park, but especially Lembeh Straight,
The muck diving was so great with so many creatures I saw for the first time
that it's been the best diving in 10 years.
We had a flight from KL to Manado with Malaysian. A reliabile ariline with
excellent service. The flight to Manado had a stop over on the Malaysian
part of the Borneo island. There must be other airlines that fly from
Singapore or Manilla, since Manado is a major city in the north west.

Cees


<morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:ePidnYzBxpfyvnffRVnyvg@pipex.net...
> Having come back from holiday 2 weeks ago, its time to start thinking
> about the next dive trip.
> My wife has been reading the latest issue of sport diver, and read an
> article on Manado etc......i had been thinking about Manado/Lembeh as my
> next destination, anyway she said "where is Manado ..it looks
> good"....excellent i thought, at least it was not me who suggested it...
>
> I know its in north sulawesi but where does one fly from to get there ?
> Getting to Singapore or KL or Manilla gets me into the right region, where
> is the best place to fly to in Sulawesi and from where ??????
>
> Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
> Take out the "goes diving" bit....
> Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

In article <39cf4$42ea932a$d549efef$7509@cache40.multikabel.n et>,
CBolhuis@quicknet.nl (Cees) wrote:

>
> I went to Manado last year I can recommended to go and visit the Bunaken
> national park, but especially Lembeh Straight,
> The muck diving was so great with so many creatures I saw for the first
> time
> that it's been the best diving in 10 years.
> We had a flight from KL to Manado with Malaysian. A reliabile ariline
> with
> excellent service. The flight to Manado had a stop over on the Malaysian
> part of the Borneo island. There must be other airlines that fly from
> Singapore or Manilla, since Manado is a major city in the north west.

Great......this is what i was hoping for, I know KLIA very well and have
flown with MAS many times, i guess your flight must have touched down in
KK (Kota Kinabalu) which i know very well too.

I am hoping that i can get a Air Asia flight to Manado as Air Asia flights
can cost as little as a meal at burger king.........

I had planned on Lembeh Straights so its good to hear you recommend there.

Thanks.

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

<morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk> schreef in bericht
news:oPSdndQsgNYgpnbfRVnyiQ@pipex.net...
> In article <39cf4$42ea932a$d549efef$7509@cache40.multikabel.n et>,
> CBolhuis@quicknet.nl (Cees) wrote:
>
> >
> > I went to Manado last year I can recommended to go and visit the Bunaken
> > national park, but especially Lembeh Straight,
> > The muck diving was so great with so many creatures I saw for the first
> > time
> > that it's been the best diving in 10 years.
> > We had a flight from KL to Manado with Malaysian. A reliabile ariline
> > with
> > excellent service. The flight to Manado had a stop over on the Malaysian
> > part of the Borneo island. There must be other airlines that fly from
> > Singapore or Manilla, since Manado is a major city in the north west.
>
> Great......this is what i was hoping for, I know KLIA very well and have
> flown with MAS many times, i guess your flight must have touched down in
> KK (Kota Kinabalu) which i know very well too.
>
> I am hoping that i can get a Air Asia flight to Manado as Air Asia flights
> can cost as little as a meal at burger king.........
>
> I had planned on Lembeh Straights so its good to hear you recommend there.
>
> Thanks.
>
> Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
> Take out the "goes diving" bit....
> Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

Yes, you are right about the stop at Kota Kinabalu with Malaysian.
I must admit that I preferred the diving at Lembeh to Bunaken. Bunaken has
the more "general" things, you see on many more sites.
However in Lembeh Straight I've seen some of the best critters and new small
life fish I have seen in 10 years. Esp the so called Wonderpuss and
Flamboyant Octopus were marvellous. Still haven't seen the Blue Ringed
Ocotopus and Mimic Octopus, though other divers from our boat did see a
Mimic Octopus.
I stayed at Divers Lodge Lembeh on the island of Lembeh which has a very
relaxing atmosphere and excellent dive guids. Here's their website:
http://nl.diving-on-sulawesi.com/gb/
I am sure you won't be disappointed at Lembeh!
Cees
btw great pics on the photo site!

In article <87266$42ecb78b$d549efef$820@cache40.multikabel.ne t>,
CBolhuis@quicknet.nl (Cees) wrote:

> Yes, you are right about the stop at Kota Kinabalu with Malaysian.
> I must admit that I preferred the diving at Lembeh to Bunaken. Bunaken
> has
> the more "general" things, you see on many more sites.
> However in Lembeh Straight I've seen some of the best critters and new
> small
> life fish I have seen in 10 years. Esp the so called Wonderpuss and
> Flamboyant Octopus were marvellous. Still haven't seen the Blue Ringed
> Ocotopus and Mimic Octopus, though other divers from our boat did see a
> Mimic Octopus.
> I stayed at Divers Lodge Lembeh on the island of Lembeh which has a very
> relaxing atmosphere and excellent dive guids. Here's their website:
> http://nl.diving-on-sulawesi.com/gb/
> I am sure you won't be disappointed at Lembeh!


Thanks again for all that, we are planning to do a stop for a week or so
on the way out to Australia, and a stop at Lembeh on the way back.....

BTW at Christmas we were on the "Rig" for two weeks, i may have explained
earlier but i did'nt dive because i had a slight medical problem that saw
me in hospital there, but my wife and guide saw the Blue Ring Octopus
underneath the "Rig"......there may be a photo of it on my site.
I know i keep on about this "Rig" but there is so much stuff under there,
more than any other single dive site around Sipadan, Mabul, or Kapalai.

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

In article <87266$42ecb78b$d549efef$820@cache40.multikabel.ne t>,
CBolhuis@quicknet.nl (Cees) wrote:


Thought you might like to see an article from ASIAN DIVER magazine,
<http://www.asiandiver.com>

It is about the "critters" you can find at Lembeh.........definitely my
next trip......


Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk

morgand@cix.compulink.co.uk wrote:
> In article <87266$42ecb78b$d549efef$820@cache40.multikabel.ne t>,
> CBolhuis@quicknet.nl (Cees) wrote:
>
>
> Thought you might like to see an article from ASIAN DIVER magazine,
> <http://www.asiandiver.com>
>
> It is about the "critters" you can find at Lembeh.........definitely my
> next trip......
>
>
> Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
> Take out the "goes diving" bit....
> Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk


Going there on 29th Aug (yeh!!!)

If you are coming from UK then I guess you are doing at least a full
week. One option is to split it, do say 4 days diving Bunaken and 3 at
Lembeh. This is what we are considering. Eco-divers operate out of
Tasik Ria to dive Bunaken (and also PohPoh(sp?)) and also from
Kungkungan bay at Lembeh so they can put the whole thing together. Ben
with them out of Tasik Ria but not Lembeh before. Very professional but
about an hour to Bunaken each day - but then you get to see the dolphins
PohPoh is round the corner from Tasik Ria and has Rhinopias almost
guaranteed...

In article <42fce31e$1@news.starhub.net.sg>, sthom@starhub.nospam.net.sg
(Simon) wrote:

> *From:* Simon <sthom@starhub.nospam.net.sg>
> *Date:* Sat, 13 Aug 2005 01:56:54 +0800
>
> Going there on 29th Aug (yeh!!!)

I'm envious..........

> If you are coming from UK then I guess you are doing at least a full
> week.

I would not go for less than two weeks, it is a long trek.

> One option is to split it, do say 4 days diving Bunaken and 3 at
> Lembeh.

I like to do more than one location when i go away but recently things
have not gone to plan, when traveling a long way to get to anywhere it
takes a little while to acclimatise so arriving and then diving is not
something we tend to do. We appear to carry a lot of gear with us, all
dive equipment, my wife's video and lighting, my camera, housing and
strobe etc.....it all takes its toll when lugging it around.
So doing 3 or 4 days at any one dive location is not something we would
do, drying gear alone takes up a day.


> This is what we are considering. Eco-divers operate out of
> Tasik Ria to dive Bunaken (and also PohPoh(sp?)) and also from
> Kungkungan bay at Lembeh so they can put the whole thing together. Ben
> with them out of Tasik Ria but not Lembeh before. Very professional
> but about an hour to Bunaken each day - but then you get to see the
> dolphins PohPoh is round the corner from Tasik Ria and has
> Rhinopias almost guaranteed...

My wife is starting to ask more and more questions about Lembeh and has
been surprised by the quality and quantity of what is on offer, i think i
shall be planning very shortly.

Let us know how your week went...........

Dave Morgan @ Work in the UK
Take out the "goes diving" bit....
Trip photos on line at www.morg.co.uk