This is my 3rd Trip to Lembeh. I’ve been diving since 1970 and in all my thousands of dives I’ve never experienced anything equal to Lembeh Muck diving. From the Red Sea to Australia to Bonaire and Mexico, Lembeh is the most exciting. It’s for sure not the prettiest. It’s murky, there’s very little coral. But the critters are the things of dreams. We were diving in Lembeh in February and July of 2018. We’re back in February of 2019 for our third adventure.
It’s a long way to come. We fly from LAX to Singapore. We find spending a few days in Singapore is both exciting and lets us acclimate to the time change. Then onto Manado, Indonesia which is about 4-5 hours from Singapore. It’s a long way to come. But it’s really worth it. And staying in Lembeh is less expensive than most Caribbean resorts so the cost of getting to Lembeh is reduced by the saving in staying there.
Frankly, nothing I’ve seen diving is as exciting as Blue Ring Octopuses Hunting, Hairy Frogfish Eating, Ribbon Eels Eating, Flamboyant Cuttlefish Eating and the list goes on and on. In fact, I was lucky enough to get Flamboyant Cuttlefish Eggs, up close hatching. Plus Nudibranch eggs and so much more.
Honestly, I owe all the things I saw and was able to video to the wonderful dive guide I found at Dabirahe Dive resort in Lembeh. His name is Puri, and while I’ve heard that other guides are great too, I’ve never had anyone find so many creatures, help me catch them doing their thing, and find so many of them eating. It’s amazing. Plus I’ve NEVER been so pampered getting in and out of the water, that I’m spoiled to dive anywhere else. I’m afraid I’ll never be able to have an experience like I had at Dabirahe ever again. It was truly awesome. From the food, to the service to the villa, all was beyond perfect. I’d return for a 4th trip any time.
But it’s really about the amazing creatures. I really find that I shoot more great video footage on a dive in Lembeh than I often shoot in a week in the Caribbean. It’s amazing. And I’m so thrilled with the critters that we’ve found that I put a special video monitor up over my desk that runs my Lembeh videos 24 hours a day. I just can’t get enough of these amazing, ugly, wonderful critters. So, if you can, head to Lembeh. I’m hooked. Oh, and I’ve shot everything with an inexpensive Olympus TG-5 in a housing with a tripod (Yes use a small tripod underwater) and a 15,000 lumen light from Big Blue. Wow, I love this light) You don’t need a big camera. But you do need to shoot MACRO. There’s virtually no wide angle shooting in Lembeh because the water is too murky. But the critters love it and so will you. It’s amazing.
18 апр 2019
