99 replies to this topic

[weescot]

Such a pity. But not too surprising. I have heard of similar problems booking in the Maldives recently. Sheena, didn't you have a problem there last year? Or am I remembering wrong.

Anyway, that officially knocks me off this trip. Even if I could get those two weeks off in November, I already have a Lembeh/ Manado 2 week trip planned in October. So have fun, and I will keep an eye out for the next trip to catch my fancy.

DG

Sorry about all the problems you are having and that you won't get to the Maldives on this occasion. If it is any consolation, the Maldives will always be there - as long as global warming doesn't sink them.

Rosa, the first problem I had was in 08, when I booked a boat, then flights. The boat then changes the dates but I couldn't change my flights, as it was a peak holiday time. I finally got to the Maldives last year on a reputable top of the range boat (Ocean Dancer) but there were still problems (eg no Nitrox, ran out of sodas etc). I think the problem with the Maldives is that whilst they are stunning and idlyic islands, the Maldives has rested on their laurels. it is a high end destination and the attitude all round regardless of the issue is "well, tough - put up with it if you want to come here". The diving is Ok to good - but my local diving in Oman is almost as good.

I also went to Monado last year and the Lembeh Straights and Bunaken are wonderful. I really enjoyed my week there and you will all see some very weird and wonderful stuff in Lembeh Straights. I preferred them over the Maldives to be absolutely truthful. got some pics if you want me to post a few.

Edited by weescot, 08 July 2010 - 10:47 AM.

[WreckWench]

Thank you for the input Sheena! And yes pics would be great! You can also email them to me and I'll use them in the new trip posting I hope to have finalized by tomorrow.

I will have the basic outline posted regardless. I am waiting on the resorts/airlines to confirm the following:

1. Ability to make a shorter trip ie. closer to 8 days total vs 12.
2. Price of extra dives and nitrox
3. Price of extra days
4. How the transfers will work
5. Ability for vegans/vegetarians to eat ok at the resorts
6. If the food is mostly local fare, American Style or both
7. If internet is available at both resorts and if so how much if not complementary
8. What there is to do near the resorts
9. If alcohol is available and if so where or if we can bring our own?
10. If the miles on Singapore Air will count or if the class of service does not give credit for the miles?
11. Exactly what is included and not included in each of the pkgs.

And more...

I hope to have these by tomorrow so I can post this trip. Thank you! kamala

[weescot]

This was my first dive trip using my camera and underwater casing, so they are not brilliant. But hopefully give you a little teaser. Maybe Robin can add some better pics as I think she has been to lembeh Straights more often.

Attached Files

•  Frogfish.bmp   801.65KB   51 downloads
•  Monado2.bmp   801.65KB   48 downloads
•  Monado3.bmp   801.65KB   43 downloads
•  Monado4.bmp   801.65KB   36 downloads

[WreckWench]

Great pics! If you can email them to me I can use them in this new posting!

[Rookie]

Put me on the interested list also!

Thanks

[WreckWench]

Put me on the interested list also!

Thanks

AWESOME! I will ask one of our trip coordinators to get the list updated for this new thread.

[ScubaTex]

Please put me on the 'interested' list. I'll be awaiting the details.

9. If alcohol is available and if so where or if we can bring our own?

Maybe Robin or Sheena know if alcohol is available. Upon entering Bali in 2008, the customs agent asked me if I had any booze in my bags. I lied. I believe Manado has a greater % of Muslim population, whereas the population of Bali is more Hindu.

Bill

[secretsea18]

Please put me on the 'interested' list. I'll be awaiting the details.

9. If alcohol is available and if so where or if we can bring our own?

Maybe Robin or Sheena know if alcohol is available. Upon entering Bali in 2008, the customs agent asked me if I had any booze in my bags. I lied. I believe Manado has a greater % of Muslim population, whereas the population of Bali is more Hindu.

Bill

Manado, and particularly the Lembeh Strait region is primarily Christian, although there are some Muslim there as well.

I haven't brought alcohol on a dive trip for a very long time, so am not sure.

I can't let you know right now, but I'll be there at the end of next week. I will post if there are any specific questions about ETOH importation in personal luggage from the customs officials.

My boat will have free beer, and that's plenty good enough for me, as I might have one, or two a day. Lembeh Resort has reasonably priced cocktails for my one, maybe two drinks a day that I'll have there, so I don't plan to increase my luggage weight with booze. Plus it helps to support the local economy to purchase from the resort bar!

You all should be aware that you are gonna be at the resorts the entire time. The town of Manado is only OK, and is no entertainment local. Plus you are all supposed to do the night dives! They are the best. At least at KBR, there is a TV, internet (which was really slow and rather expensive on my last visit), books and most folks hung out in the restaurant after dinner, then were off to bed, exhausted from 3 or 4 dives a day. TV and or internet may be improved since then.

The resort are all inclusive and have local Indonesian dishes plus western/continental cuisine. Neither of them is gourmet, but my meals at KBR were tasty and I usually picked an Indonesian or fish dish for my dinners, breakfast and lunch are usually buffet with a number of items to select. I did not get sick at all at KBR, and enjoyed my trip there. They usually asked us to order dinner before the night dive, and the waitress was on the pier with the menu as we were boarding the boat. This was good because it seemed to take forever for the food to come, but it was hot when I got it!

Make sure you try the Magnum ice cream bars. Yummy.

And for all the photographers, KBR has an incredibly nice and secure camera room! With plenty of room, plugs for both 220 and 110V and good lighting.

And one last thing, bring bug lotion cause there can be mosquitos.

I am off to Indonesia on July 15 for 2 weeks.

Can't say anything about Santika, cause I have never been over to Bunaken side. Lembeh is more my style.

[WreckWench]

Important Trip Update:

Well timezone differences conspired to fully get me the balance of the info I needed to finalize this trip in a timely fashion and be able to use it. I am still tracking down a few details but will start to get this trip out there in component parts as I get them and understand them. I will then get the trip into the regular template we use so we can open up the bookings by Monday. In the meantime we have structured the trip into a longer version and shorter version with the Muck Diving being the variable portion. We are still working out some logistics on nitrox for one of the resorts etc. but should have the lions share of what we need either currently or very soon.

So to start the fun lets 'see' a bit of what the fuss is all about....

Manado Diving:









Manado Satika Hotel:

[WreckWench]

Lembeh aka "Muck" Diving:













Lembeh KBR Hotel:

[WreckWench]

What is "Muck Diving"?

So called "Muck Diving" is a term the was made up to denote diving on barren bottoms or places other than coral reefs. It also usually means that you are looking for small marine animals. Don't let this term fool you, most of our "muck" diving is on clean black sand bottoms. Over the years, we have found that a lot of the "weird critters" people like, spend their lives out on these underwater plains of black sand.


Does KBR dive other places besides "muck"?

One of our strengths at Kungkungan is the great variety of our diving. We have the best "muck" diving in the world but that is not all. We have 3 WW II ship wrecks, beautiful hard coral gardens, and pristine soft coral vistas. And yes, you can even do wide angle photography on many of our sites.

[WreckWench]

MUCK vs. WALL DIVING....

or


Lembeh vs Manado


I was getting the impression that many of you could not do a 12-14 day trip (including 2 days in Singapore prior to the trip) so I have been working on a shorter version that shortens the 'Muck' diving portion of the trip. I've rec'd a few emails saying that the muck diving aka Lembeh is WORLD CLASS and that the Manado portion of the trip should be the variable part of the trip for those tight on time.

I can still tweak this but must do so ASAP! So please let me know if you are ONLY planning the shorter version and which part you want shorter?

The shorter version with airfare from CA will be approx $3k and the longer version with airfare from CA will be about $3900. I will try to have sample itineraries and associated pricing for you later today...still trying to figure out the pkgs sent to me.

[ScubaTex]

Wall vs Muck
Cake vs Pie
Blonde vs Brunette vs Redhead

So little time, so many choices,
Paradise vs paradise - great diving vs great diving,
DIVE YOUR @$$ OFF!!!

ALL OF THE ABOVE!!!

Edited by ScubaTex, 10 July 2010 - 01:31 PM.

[WreckWench]

More about diving in Manado (From the Dive Operator's Website & Correspondence):

Of course we offer the best possible diving and snorkeling in the most flexible way. The walls and slopes of Bunaken National Park offer a wealth of big and small underwater life and we even challenge our guests to make a “wish list” for themselves, for whatever they would like to see that is smaller than 1 meter and is indigenous for the area. Because you dive only in very small groups, maximum 4 divers with 1 guide, the chance is very high that you can cross everything off your list before you leave.

Night Diving:

Night dives are a must. The tranquil atmosphere, the opportunity to be close to many fish sleeping in the reef, the encounter with numerous nocturnal species and the fluorescent algae all around you make these dives a fairytale-like experience.

Special Trips:

The special day trips for diving we offer bring you to our other dive areas as well. This makes North Sulawesi so special; within a maximum of 1,5 hours travel, you can visit and dive in 4 completely different underwater environments; The south side of Bunaken National Park, named Popooh and the waterfront side of the city, The Bangka Archipelago in the north and the Lembeh Strait in the east. (SD will be staying there for 2-4 days of diving) You will be amazed by the variety you can encounter, even if you would still stay around the Bunaken area. Try our special mini cruises like the “Critter Tour” and the “Big Fish Tour”. Our guests comment on the “Critter Cruise” that we should call it “bethlehem” an acronym for “better than Lembeh”. (For those interested I have requested pricing and min numbers needed for these add'l tours. I suspect you have to give up a day of diving to do them due to travel constraints.)

STILL CAN’T GET ENOUGH DIVING?

While shore diving is not allowed due to the possibility of strong currents up to 4 knots, you can make a shallow dive in the mangroves or in our marina. You will be amazed what you can find there and the best thing is, you don’t have to pay for it. It is free, either dive in daytime or at night. Especially for photographers that like to shoot “up and under” this is a great opportunity. Check out the tides and the best time to go with our office staff and they will organize your equipment to be put where you want to get into the water. These places are not deep, but very interesting to observe juveniles and macro critters. Have fun!

Nitrox:

We do not offer Nitrox diving at Thalassa (the diveshop on Hotel Satika's premises). The reasons for this decision is that we take safety very seriously. The steep walls in combination with the often unpredictable currents makes diving with Nitrox too hazardous. Besides this it is the lack on precision of many of the Indonesian workers in combination with the poor medical and technical back-up that re-enforced the decision not to offer Nitrox as one of our services. We do however, offer PADI Nitrox Certifications. Take advantage of this to enjoy longer bottom times or an extra safety margin in Lembeh.

NOTE: Email correspondence back and forth yielded this additional information:

1) With a maximum depth of 20-25 meters, (60-75ft) what dive sites are not compatible with the above limit?
All dive sites can reach this limits. The walls go down to 80-100 meters; the coastline gradually slopes down to about 35 meters.

2) Do you or your dive masters / guides limit bottom time on any dives?
We use a bottom time limit of 60 minutes for every dive. This is mainly to prevent slow tissue saturation.

[Diver Ed]

I am interested in the longer trip. I have never been Muck Diving, and definitely want to experience that as well as the more traditional reef diving. Too far to go for me to not try and see it all. I am also looking into a side trip option. http://www.manadosaf...rs_tangkoko.php
I am waiting on feedback from a few places that I sent an info request in to. From what I have seen, there are different options available. A morning trip to the park to see the wildlife and surroundings, the evening trip to see the monkeys and try to see the Tarsier Spectrum after dark, and the overnight option. Please let me know if anyone else would have an interest in something like this.

Ed