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Dive Review of Lembeh Resort/Murex/Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia/Manado/Lembeh Strait

Lembeh Resort/Murex/Lembeh Resort, Apr, 2006,

by William Deertz, Jakarta, Indonesia (Reviewer Reviewer 5 reports with 1 Helpful vote). Report 2383.

No photos available at this time

Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Accommodations 4 stars Food 4 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 4 stars Shore Diving 3 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 5 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments Excellent resort on Lembeh island (www.lembehresort.com) and with the recent addition of two expatriate onsite managers many improvements are ongoing and the service level is being enhanced. Several new bungalows have been added which are of very good quality (reminded me of a midrange hotel in Bali), however, be forewarned that these are up on a cliff overlooking the resort and it's a long hike up from the general facilities of the dive shop and restaurant. So unless you are physically fit (why wouldn't you be if you are diving?) you may want to go with the older bungalows which are a closer walk. I personally stayed in Bungalow 4B which is one of the older bungalows and was quite pleased. A very large bunaglow with front sitting room, large bedroom, outdoor bathroom and exceptionally large veranda/patio.

The food was very good considering the price and relative remoteness of the resort. Breakfast consisted of your normal made-to-order fare, lunch and dinner were generally a 3 course ala carte menu with several choices for each course (mixture of Asian and Western dishes). Afternoon tea/coffee generally included a light snack but my group thought these weren't very imaginative or good. Morning tea/coffee did not include a snack which my group complained about. We mentioned this to the resort manager so we'll see if tea/coffee snacks are added/improved on future trips.

As for the diving, the dive shop was were very good with each bungalow having their own storage space. The boat crew were excellent about handling all your equipment and rinsing each day. The resort wasn't crowded when I was there so generally there was 1 dive guide for every 3 divers. Per the dive shop manager the maximum is 4 divers per dive guide. The boats handle up to 8 divers with 2 dive guides and go to different dive sites so you will not be bumping into each other. Lembeh Straits diving is generally muck diving looking for the weird critters. There were a few sites that we dived that had some coral and better visibility but generally you'll be diving in limited visibility and looking for strange creatures in the muck. The dive guides were exceptionally good at pointing out the strange critters that generally most people would not find on their own. Some of the interesting things we saw included several kinds of pygmy seahorses, spiny seahorses, snake eel, stargazer, pipe seahorse, flying gunard, and several kinds of frogfish. The only thing on our list that we failed to find was the mimic octopus and the hairy frogfish but these will need to be saved for a future trip.

I would highly recommend this resort. An ideal trip would be 3 days in the Lembeh Straits and 3 days in Bunaken on the other side of the peninsula.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 501-1000 dives
Where else diving Throughout Indonesia including Raja Ampat/Wakatobi/Manado/Komodo/Alor, Australia, Florida Keys, Thailand, Maldives, Saipan
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny Seas calm, noCurrents
Water Temp 80-82°F / 27-28°C Wetsuit Thickness 1
Water Visibility 1-5 M / 3-16 Ft

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions Recommended 60 minute dive times but often exceeded when interesting critters found near the end of a dive
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 2 stars Tropical Fish 2 stars
Small Critters 5 stars Large Fish 1 stars
Large Pelagics 1 stars

Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):

Subject Matter 5 stars Boat Facilities 4 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 4 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Excellent camera room with about 15 stations. Boat attendants were careful and conscientious when handling camera gear. No rinse tanks on the boats but this really wasn't an issue as most dive sites were no more than 15 minutes from the resort and you generally return between dives.
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Note: The information here was reported by the author above, but has NOT been reviewed nor edited by Undercurrent prior to posting on our website. Please report any major problems by writing to us and referencing the report number above.

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