Considering a dive trip to Indonesia?: Undercurrent 04/2016

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Indonesian diving is rapidly becoming the first choice for divers with plenty of travel time -- flights are 24 hours or more -- and money, although bargains are there. The archipelago covers a vast area, so would-be travelers should recognize that it is usually impossible to visit more than one island for diving within a short time.

Indonesia is heaven for macro photographers, and if that's what floats your boat, then North Sulawesi, with its airport at Manado (connecting via Bali or Singapore) and the Lembeh Straits are just the place for muck divers. Furthermore, there is fine reef diving in the Bunaken marine park, which is close to Manado.

One's first impression of Lembeh may be that it's an underwater garbage dump but every piece of trash lying on the black volcanic sand seabed will have an animal living in it -- or what you think is trash might even be a strange animal. It's covered with odd, wonderful critters. By all means, take a powerful magnifying glass and a camera equipped for extreme close-ups. Now, let's look a few recommendations from our welltraveled, expert readers.

Black Sands Dive Retreat at Lembeh received overwhelming approval from Eileen J Councill (Milton, FL) who traveled there in March this year. "This resort was amazing and completely blew away my expectations. The owners are incredible hosts; they are knowledgeable about everything above and below the water, they care about every detail from food to service to accommodations and comfort, and they are passionate about diving." With macro photography the prime reason to dive there, she added, "There is a maximum of four divers on a boat with one guide, which keeps things calm and easy given all the cameras. The equipment is great and the boats are clean. The camera room just off the dive area is superb, but I wish they had a high-pressure air hose." (www.blacksanddive.com)...

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