Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia

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Lembeh Resort: "A Great Workshop for Photographers", Jan, 2024, by Richard Schifreen, WI, US ( Reviewer 6 reports with 2 Helpful votes). Report 12874.
No photos available at this time
Ratings and Overall Comments 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Accommodations		Food
Service and Attitude		Environmental Sensitivity
Dive Operation		Shore Diving	N/A
Snorkeling	N/A
Overall Rating
Value for $$
Beginners
Advanced
Comments	I was at Lembeh Resort for the annual Capturing Critters Underwater Photography Workshop. Lots of great things to say about the Resort. Most outstanding is the friendly and helpful staff. The facilities are excellent, as is the food. The diving facilities include a gear locker, photography room (lots of power outlets), dive center and Backscatter partner photography center. Dive boats are comfortable with a working marine head and knowledgeable crew. No camera tanks on the boats, cameras are carefully placed on mats.The dive crew takes care of your equipment including setup, tank changes, removal and cleaning. Entry is backward roll and you remove and hand-up your camera, weights, dive kit and fins prior to climbing the boarding ladder. Lembeh is mostly muck diving, looking for critters in the volcanic sand and rubble with only a couple dive sites for healthy coral reefs. The Workshop is designed for photographers and videographers with different skills, equipment and interests. You needn't be an expert. Our group had cameras ranging from a cell phone in underwater housing, to compact cameras with simple lighting, to the complex mirrorless systems with specialized housing and lighting. Photo editing was a significant part of the Workshop and you needed a laptop with Lightroom Classic and Photoshop to get the most out of the program. What is most critical is having diving skills to be comfortable with managing your air (all attendees used Nitrox), tracking your NDL, buoyancy needed for photography and comfort with three daily hour-long dives to as deep as 70-75 feet. Attendees will be focusing on their photography and diving skills need to be adequate for that level of concentration/distraction. There were a maximum of 3 divers to each dive guide. Dive guides found the subjects and assigned one diver to each, assisting divers in turn and taking each diver to a new subjects as the dive progressed. They would return divers to the boat as needed when NDL or air ran low. A couple things to consider. First, a limited number of larger tanks are available. Dives may be 60-70 minutes at 70-75 feet. If you think you might need a tank larger than the standard AL80 order it in advance (no extra charge). If you find you need the larger tank during the workshop it may take a day or two for them to accommodate you. Second, the staff is knowledgeable and will take care of your gear. They generally do a great job BUT remember you are ultimately responsible and need to check and double-check your gear just like on any other dive. This is a wonderful resort, dive operation and Workshop. Prepare for a great experience!
Websites	Lembeh Resort
Reporter and Travel
Dive Experience	251-500 dives
Where else diving	My dive travel was substantially reduced due to COVID, but is now more frequent. I have visited multiple sites in the Caribbean and Pacific.
Closest Airport	Manado	Getting There	This is a long trip from the U.S., but there are several air options available. Make sure to carefully research the on-line options to obtain your entry visa and submit your customs declaration prior to traveling. The instructions may not be entirely clear and the websites may still be "buggy." Also, we used the very convenient electronic biometric lanes for exiting the country that were standing unused due to lack of signage while other travelers waited in long lines for immigration agents.
Dive Conditions
Weather	sunny, windy, rainy, cloudy, dry	Seas	calm, choppy, surge, no currents
Water Temp	82-84°F / 28-29°C	Wetsuit Thickness	3
Water Visibility	25-50 Ft/ 8-15 M
Dive Policy
Dive own profile	no
Enforced diving restrictions	I was an attendee at the annual Capturing Critters Undewater Photograpy Workshop. This included seminars and structured dives.
Liveaboard?	no	Nitrox Available?	yes
What I Saw
Sharks	None	Mantas	None
Dolphins	None	Whale Sharks	None
Turtles	1 or 2	Whales	None
Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):
Corals		Tropical Fish
Small Critters		Large Fish
Large Pelagics
Underwater Photography 1 (worst) - 5 (best):
Subject Matter		Boat Facilities
Overall rating for UWP's	N/A	Shore Facilities
UW Photo Comments	I was part of the annual Capturing Critters Undewater Photography Workshop. Everything was organized around photography. Only photographers attending the workshop dove with our group. We had three guest professionals, the Lembeh Resort photography pro, two or three daily seminars, image reviews and advice and three photo boat dives each day. Each day was non-stop seminars, meals, workshops and diving. The dive guides found the interesting subjects, helped with lighting, and provided for a safe, organized experience. We each got individual attention based on our skills, equipment and interests. It was an outstanding but exhausting experience for photographers. There were two morning dives with a long surface interval and a third dive after lunch. Some of the attendees would sit out an afternoon dive or an evening workshop to rest up for the next day. Finally, I'm not going into detail regarding the specific curriculum as it changes every year - check the Lembeh Resort website for details on the program and faculty for the next Workshop.

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Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in Indonesia

Lembeh Resort: "A Great Workshop for Photographers", Jan, 2024,

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

Overall Rating

Reporter and Travel

Dive Conditions

Dive Policy

What I Saw

Ratings 1(worst) - 5 (best):

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

Dive Review of Lembeh Resort in
Indonesia