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Dive Review of Kungkungan Bay Resort in
Indonesia/North Sulawesi

Kungkungan Bay Resort, Jul, 2006,

by Gary Krippendorf, CA, USA (Contributor Contributor 14 reports). Report 2663.

No photos available at this time

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

Accommodations 5 stars Food 5 stars
Service and Attitude 5 stars Environmental Sensitivity N/A
Dive Operation 5 stars Shore Diving 5 stars
Snorkeling N/A
Value for $$ N/A
Beginners 4 stars
Advanced 5 stars
Comments I planned a trip for 12 of us to go diving in North Sulawesi, Indonesia. We split our diving between 2 locations, Bunaken and Lembeh Strait. I had been to the same two resorts in 2004 with a group of 4, so the only difference this time was I made the trip a few days longer and there were more of us in the group. This trip report is for the second of the 2 places we visited, Lembeh Strait, which is southeast of the city of Manado.

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 6-night inclusive package. She also arranged for our transfer from the Santika Hotel to KBR rather than their normal airport pickup.

The KBR resort was in excellent shape and it was clear that maintenance was being kept up and additional construction for upgrades was underway. The restaurant had a mix of western and Asian dishes. The cottage suite rooms were clean with lots of room to move around. The view of the Lembeh Strait from the veranda porch was fantastic. If you go, don’t overlook diving the house reef. I dove it three times and each dive was great.

Lembeh Strait is known for its muck diving and strange critters. Lembeh Strait is muck diving heaven. 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. Most sites were sand bottoms with scattered coral heads. Some of the sites had more bommie type coral formations.

We split our group so that there were 6 of us in each of two boats along with the boat captain and 2 dive guides. Our dive guides were able to find all sorts of well-camouflaged and truly unbelievable critters. Oftentimes we’d have to look several times very carefully to see the critters, even while being pointed at by our guides. They were very patient with us and made sure we had seen the critters. Before each dive we’d get a briefing for the site, which listed the critters known to be in the area. The guides made sure we saw them along with many others. The list of exotic fish we saw goes far beyond the space limits for this review. Whatever praises you have heard about the critters in the Lembeh Strait is true, only better.

There was really only one problem with our diving at KBR. We saw so many different things on each dive that we couldn’t begin to log it all. This was compounded by the fact we were seeing things that we could describe, but couldn’t name. I was 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.

Would I go again? I’m already planning a trip back in 2007.

Reporter and Travel

Dive Experience 251-500 dives
Where else diving Cayman Brac, Dominica, Cozumel, Roatan, Sea of Cortez, Hawaii, Australia (GBR), Coral Sea, and PNG
Closest Airport Getting There

Dive Conditions

Weather sunny, dry Seas calm
Water Temp 77-80°F / 25-27°C Wetsuit Thickness 3
Water Visibility 30-60 Ft/ 9-18 M

Dive Policy

Dive own profile yes
Enforced diving restrictions No gloves, 3 to 5 minute safety stop, responsible to monitor own air remaining
Liveaboard? no Nitrox Available? N/A

What I Saw

Sharks None Mantas None
Dolphins None Whale Sharks None
Turtles None Whales None
Corals 3 stars Tropical Fish 3 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 3 stars
Overall rating for UWP's 5 stars Shore Facilities 5 stars
UW Photo Comments Small boats did not have any facilities for cameras. Cameras
safely handled and stored on towels in plastic basket. Shore facilities are excellent.
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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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