Dive Review of
Kungkungan Bay Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac, Dominica, Cozumel, Roatan, Sea of Cortez,
Hawaii, Australia (GBR), Coral Sea, and PNG 

Dive Conditions

No gloves, 3 to 5 minute safety stop, responsible to
monitor own air remaining
  

Small boats did not have any facilities for cameras. Cameras were safely
handled and stored in a plastic basket. Shore facilities are
excellent.
  

Overall Rating

I planned a trip for 8 of us to go diving in North Sulawesi,
Indonesia. We split our stay between 2 resorts. Having been to the same two
resorts in 2004 and 2006, I knew what to expect. This trip report is for
the first of the 2 places we visited, which is located on Lembeh Strait.

I planned the Lembeh Strait portion of our trip via telephone and e-mail
with Linda at the Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR) office. Linda was very good
at answering our questions, and we booked a 5-night inclusive package. She
also arranged for our transfer to the Santika Hotel from KBR rather than
the normal transfer to the airport.

The KBR resort was generally in good shape. Our group occupied 5 of the
cottage suite rooms, which are a good size and have an enclosed porch.
Unfortunately all 5 of the rooms had very active termites, which were
flying around in our rooms at night. In the morning the floor and sheets
had areas where the results of their nocturnal activities were quite
visible. The weekly fumigations we were told about didn’t seem to be
effective. Perhaps the nature of the building materials used and the
methods of construction have lead to a problem that can’t be overcome
without a major renovation of the buildings. I agree with the March 2007
issue of Undercurrent regarding the need for the housekeeping staff to
aggressively clean the bathroom areas with black mold.

While everyone in the group had a very good time, several mentioned that
the breakfast and lunch offerings were high on carbohydrates and low on
protein. We all noticed the amount of meat was reduced in comparison to the
same meals 11 months ago. The dinners were on a par to our 2004 and 2006
experiences.

Lembeh Strait is known for its muck diving and strange critters. The water
was smooth and most boat rides were 10-15 minutes to the dive sites. Our
maximum depth was 90 feet, though we spent most of our time between 30 and
60 feet.

There were 8 of us in the boat along with the boat captain and 2 or 3 dive
guides. On prior trips, we had had a maximum of 6 divers per boat, so the
boat was a bit crowded this trip. Before each dive we’d get a briefing for
the site, which included a list of the critters usually seen in that
location. Our dive guides usually were able to find everything on the list
and many more exotic fish as well. They were very patient and made sure we
had seen each critter before moving on to the next area at the dive site.
Ade was the dive guide assigned to myself and three others and he was
wonderful.

There were so many different things on each dive that we couldn’t begin to
log them. Some of us were taking digital photographs, which was a big help,
because it provided a record of what we saw with a date and timestamp so we
could match the photos to the dive sites.

In summary, the diving was excellent. The staff members were all very
friendly and all worked very hard at their jobs. They were very willing to
help us whenever we asked for anything. However the overall experience was
not quite as good as we had on our recent prior visits. Some of the group
wondered if the changes we noticed were due to a cost cutting effort
underway by the management.

We plan to return to dive Lembeh in 2009 and KBR will remain a strong
option for us.
 

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