Diving & Dive sites

The unique underwater world of Lembeh Strait deserves an unique dive facility. Nowhere else will you find six dive guides, one instructor and four boats catering for a maximum of ten guests. In total, our guides have clocked up more than 10.000 hours of diving in the Lembeh Strait. Very few places on the sea bottom are unfamiliar to them, and even fewer creatures can hide from their experienced spotting eyes. Our policy ensures that there are never more than two guests with one dive guide, unless of course our guests specifically choose to dive in a larger group.

Our English speaking guides show you creatures you may never discover on your own and allow you to take your time to observe them more closely. This is ideal for photographers and videographers, since patience is the key to a good result. There is no time limit imposed on your dive, provided you stay within your computer limits and have enough air! And if you book a non-limit dive package in advance, you and your buddy will have a boat to yourselves, so you decide how many times you want to dive, where and when – this is true “no limit” diving. However, we do ask that all divers adhere to our house rules: preferably no deeper than 30 meters and no deco dive profiles. Read our dive rules.
While most of our guests use their own dive gear, complete sets are available for rental. Please inform us in advance. NITROX is available, with a surcharge of only euro 2,50.

Our boats are specially designed for diving. They all provide good shelter, an on-board toilet, a spacious working area, 220/230 volt electricity, a fresh water tank for camera equipment and all necessary safety devices. Cold soft drinks, water and hot tea and coffee, as well as cookies and fruits, are available as snacks after diving. A delicious lunch is also served on board.

Divers Lodge Lembeh offers you the biggest diversity of dive sites around. More than forty diving locations are within our reach and these present the perfect opportunity for an unforgettable diving holiday. A huge number of creatures are to be found in the Lembeh Strait, but perhaps the most famous and unusual are the pygmy seahorse, hairy frogfish, blue ringed and mimic octopus and all kinds of nudibranchs. Larger creatures, like eagle rays, giant groupers, schools of bump head parrotfish and sharks, are found swimming around here too.

The Lembeh Strait with its beautiful surroundings, beaches, rocks and jungle offers many underwater landscapes. Besides the famous black volcanic sand bottom, there are numerous coral gardens, walls and wrecks.

PADI dive courses are available for all levels. Rob Sinke is a Master Instructor who has trained more than eight hundred students. Please contact us if you want to upgrade your level or just want to take your open water course, the Lembeh Strait is an ideal place to practice your skills and become a licensed diver.

Lembeh Strait

Its reputation as the best place for muck and critter diving in the world may give a false impression because Lembeh has much more to offer, including walls, coral gardens and four wrecks. When you see a picture of a pygmy seahorse, a hairy frogfish, a delicate ghost pipefish or a mimic octopus, its likely the picture was taken at one of Lembeh’s thirty dive sites. We also have some wonderful colourful coral dive sites, such as Angel’s Window, and occasionally we also see sharks, eagle rays, turtles, barracudas and tuna here. The east side of Lembeh Island still remains largely unexplored.

Wreck diving

Lembeh Strait offers you the opportunity to dive four interesting shipwrecks, overgrown with beautiful corals and resting at comfortable depths of 15 to 30 metres.

Mawali
The Mawali or Tanduk Rusa is the most commonly dived wreck in the Strait. This Japanese freighter from WWII is lying on its portside and has a length of 90 metres.

The melted glasses we found in the kitchen shows that the ship burned before she sunk. This may explain the huge hard corals that are growing on the wreck. The wreck is still complete with propeller, beams, bridge and engines. The cargo holds are safe to visit, but the machine room is unstable and should be avoided.

The wreck acts as a very nice artificial reef, so is attractive even for divers who are not particularly interested in wrecks. Its depth of 16-30 metres and the absence of strong currents make this a pleasant dive. It is marked by a buoy on the surface.

Bimoli
The Bimoli wreck is lying on her starboard side, at a depth of 17-30 metres. The torpedo that hit this Japanese freighter caused a lot of damage but most of the ship is still easy to recognize and is accessible. In the hold you can find ammunition (don't touch!) and even the radio is still on board. Often there are a lot of fish, including schools of big barracuda.

Divers need to be careful when ascending as large ships pass very close to the wreck. Strong currents are not uncommon. The wreck lies at a depth of 17-30 metres. There is no buoy marking its position.

Indah
The Indah wreck stands straight on its keel. We are not sure if she dates from WWII or is younger. She is about 40 metres long and is home to a lot of sponges. Her depth is 18-29 metres. Usually there are no currents. There is no buoy marking her position.

Kapal Ikan
This 40 metre steel fishing vessel is seldom visited by divers. Although not an old wreck, it is already becoming overgrown with sponges and corals. She stands on her keel and is largely intact, providing a home to lots of fish and lobster. Her depth is 22-30 metres and sometimes strong currents make anchoring difficult. There is no buoy marking her position.

Strait of Bangka

To the north of Lembeh Strait, the island of Bangka falls away to a 2000-metre deep sea and offers a different landscape for diving. Here, steep rock formations are overgrown with corals and visibility often exceeds 30 metres. You will find lots of colour on walls full of healthy fan corals, enormous table corals with sharks resting underneath and lots of fish typically seen on coral reefs. Dugongs and sunfish (mola mola) have also been spotted here. Although the current can be strong, it is always possible to dive in the shelter of the huge rocks. Dive sites: Batu Gosoh, Sahaung and Batu Mandi

Between Pulisan & Tangkoko

The small pinnacle named "Preacher’s Rock" seems to be too small to be a dive site. Under the surface, however, you will see that it forms the top of a small mountain. Big schools of surgeonfish, snapper and sweetlips are found here and often also eagle rays and bump head parrotfish.

The most beautiful wall in this area is, however, off the island of Ponteng, near the village of Batu Putih, where you will find a wide variety of hard and soft corals and sponges, as well as many fish and other types of underwater life. Dive sites: Batu Pendeta, Ponteng and Batu Putih

Diving Season

The seasons are defined by the monsoons, and the year is divided thus:

• N.W. Monsoon - December to April
• S.E. Monsoon - June to October.

The periods in between are called transition periods, usually May and November. In general the N.W. Monsoon is the rainy season and the S.E., the dry season. More rain will fall on the north and west slopes of the mountains than on the N.E. coast of Sulawesi and Lembeh. Northerly winds can cause a heavy swell and big waves to the north of the Lembeh Strait, but at the same time, the waters at the eastern ocean site of Lembeh Island are very calm and clear. During the S.E. Monsoon the sea on the S.E. side of Lembeh Island can have large waves, but at this time we can make trips to Bangka and Tangkoko.

During both seasons, the diving is equally good if you choose the right dive spots. The sea in front of Divers Lodge Lembeh is always calm. Air temperatures throughout the whole year vary between 24 - 31 degrees C. Water temperature ranges between 26 and 29 degrees, with the coldest month being August. A 3 mm full suit with a hood should be sufficient for most of the year, but photographers and those who are not used to colder waters may want a 5 mm suit, especially in August.

Our Boats

All dive locations are reached by boat, so a reasonable amount of time is spent on board a boat. This is why we think that the trip to the dive spot, preparing for the dive and the time in between dives should be as comfortable as possible. We have designed our 4 boats to provide comfort combined with convenience. The boats differ in size and are equipped for a maximum of 2, 4 or 6 guests, with two boats each catering for 4 guests. With a maximum of 10 guests at the resort, the boats are never crowded.
Lunch is served on board, between the two dives, and cool soft drinks, tea, coffee, biscuits and fruit are available at any time.

A large cabin provides shelter from the rain and sun, but if you like, you can sunbake on the bow deck. Dive gear is stored and prepared in the mid-deck area. Entering and exiting the water is easy and you are welcome to put your gear on and take it off in the water. There is a toilet at the back of the boat.

Because we also visit remote dive sites on the ocean side of Lembeh Island, our boats are designed to withstand strong winds and heavy seas and the sometimes fickle weather conditions of these tropical waters. Two outboard motors propel the boats. We believe we have the best dive boats in the Lembeh Strait!

Life jackets, an emergency kit, oxygen tank, a GSM phone and spare parts for diving equipment are kept on board. A solar panel with battery and power converter provides 220/230 volts to recharge camera batteries if necessary. All of our boats are equipped with navigation lights.

If you book an unlimited diving package in advance, you and your diving buddy will be guaranteed a boat to yourselves, making it easy to choose where and when you dive. In any case, the boats will never be crowded as usually no more than 4 guests will be on board for any trip. However, for those guests who want to have 6 on board, our biggest boat will easily accommodate this.

Last but not least, our boat trips provide unforgettable views of the harbour, the town of Bitung, the villages, the landscapes and the seafarers of Lembeh Strait, so bring along your land camera to capture these images

Dive Rules

• You will be asked to sign a "Standards of Safe Diving Statement" before you start diving with us.
• You will need your dive certification and dive log. If you have any medical problems that may affect diving, you will need written confirmation from your doctor that you are able to dive.
• We do not impose time limits on dives, but we ask that you do not exceed decompression limits. We do not allow decompression dives or dives deeper than 30 metres.
• You are expected to dive according to the buddy principle.
• You must dive with a dive computer, because it is likely you will be diving more than once a day and on consecutive days.
• An inflatable safety sausage and a (loud) whistle are obligatory at some sites.
• You are asked not to touch anything underwater, not only for the protection of the underwater environment, but also for your safety as many poisonous creatures inhabit these waters. If you are going to rest any part of your body on the sand, first make sure that it is safe to do so. Beware of spiny poisonous creatures, such as the devil fish, hiding in the sand!
• Please do not ask the guides to manipulate the animals in any way. Observe the underwater environment from a reasonable distance and do not frighten the creatures.
• Take nothing but good memories or pictures. Leave nothing but bubbles

Email: info@diving-on-sulawesi.com
phone: +62 812 44 33 754 (Dutch, English, German and Indonesian)