We were up at 7am, and groggily rolled into breakfast by 7:15am. Chow was buffet style, simple fruits, cereal, bread, and you could request eggs. We set up and were ready to go onto the boat by 8am. There were 8 guests with about 3 guides. The boat was really spacious with plenty of space for divers to get setup without being in each others' way and backroll entry and ladder re-entry. The distance out to the first site was longer than I expected – about 20 min. Sarah and I were paired up with local guide Johan, who was a terrific spotter and always cheerful.
I had high expectations and they were surpassed by the very first dive. Muck diving is just about the only place in the world where trashing the environment actually has a positive upside. The area around Lembeh Straits has mostly either a silty or a black sand bottom with some spots of coral reef or coral rubble. For the most part, however, it's a barren, inhospitable environment that offers little shelter. As a result, the marine life that survives is tiny, often cleverly camouflaged to blend in, and there's a lot of symbiosis. Anenomefish living in stinging anenomes is a good example. So is the gobies that stand guard while their blind partner shrimp ceaselessly dig safety holes and push sand and rocks out of the way. When there's any sign of danger, the goby communicates this to its partner through the link provided from the shrimp's antenna on its dorsal fin and they retreat to the hole in the blink of an eye. So how does trash fit into this? It gives the animals an extra place to hide. Tires, shoes, coconut shells, all become highlights of a dive because of what you can find in them. You can't pick up a bottle without finding something peeping out from inside its neck.
The first site was silt giving way to black sand, and surprises were everywhere. Cuttlefish of all sizes, two mimic octopuses (by first encounter with them), nudibranchs (but not the huge variety I've seen elsewhere), a bizarre two-foot buried crab that shot out like an arrow when disturbed, many different shrimp, and best of all, warm temperatures (81F/28C), shallow depths, and a 70 min pleasant dive. I came up thinking, "This is going to be an awesome week!" The only downside was due to my own fault. I had a new camera, a CanonS95 point and shoot in an Ikelite housing, but the strobe and macro lens I ordered arrived too late for me to bring it along, rendering the camera virtually unusable for anything but shallow, well-lit subjects. So frustrating, because you come to this area to hunt bizarre creatures you won't find anywhere else and it's ideal to claim photos as trophies.
We did two dives, the second at a reef and not nearly as nice as the first and then returned around noon. The crew was awesome, took care of everything and we just took our cameras, lights, etc. Annoyingly, my Oceanic hoseless dive computer crapped out again on the second dive. I just had it fixed earlier this year after it died about 100' down on a wreck.
The resort has dedicated wet and dry camera rooms. Lunch was served and as soon as you sat, plates were brought out to you. Delicious and healthy local food. Basic water, coffee, tea, and Milo are free and sodas/beers/smoothies are pay as you go. There was a third boat dive after lunch around 2:30pm, but we were on the 2 boat dives a day plan and were pooped anyhow. We caught a nap and then around 4:30pm, when the boat came back, a group of about 5 of us went for a twilight dive in the house reef. The "house reef" is a bit misleading, because it's not really a reef, but just the area in front of the resort. Still, I managed to see two octopus, a stingray, a Harlequin shrimp, leaffish, banded pipefish, sea snake, and a variety of crabs during the 70 min dive. Came back, took a quick shower, and it was dinner time.
The guests are from all over. We have Bent, Swedish university ecology professor who takes and sells photographs on the side; Liz, also a university teacher from Newcastle, Australia; Olaf, a single photo enthusiast from Germany, a couple from Germany, and Godfried and Micky, an older but really energetic and fun couple from Denmark. Everyone is a competent diver, considerate, and pleasant. We spent the evening just chatting with each other and the owners, Simon and Zee, who bought the resort in 2010 after managing it for two years. It really is a labor of love and the remarkable thing – the one thing every well-run place has in common that I've stayed at – is that you can tell the staff is happy, empowered, and genuinely happy to be here. A lot of laughing and smiles, though they clearly work hard in the background so the guests can chill out.
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