Re: Share your Manado experience here!

Indonesia

Share your Manado experience here!

flameangel 09-26-2005, 3:13 PM

Pls share... I'm considering a dive there.... :)

THANKEE GUYS!!!

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

Alex 09-27-2005, 9:45 AM

Hi Flameagel,

I have been to Manado this year in June and to make it short - go there, you won't regret it. Diving there is great. We spend 4 days at Bunaken Marine park and one day at Lembeh Strait (but it was defenetly too less time).The wall dives at Bunaken Marine park are awesome and don't forget to spend a few dives in Lembeh Strait - unbelievable what kind of creatures you will see there - it's realy a freakshow and most probably you will see a lot of interesting stuff there at every dive.

You can't make something wrong in going to Manado for diving.

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

rhinopias 10-02-2005, 3:10 AM

Flameangel,

My wife and I will be returning to Lembeh Strait later this month for the 5th time. We have stayed at Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR) and will do so again this year but will also spend some time at a newer resort there - Lembeh Resort. The staff at KBR have always been very gracious and the dive guides are very good at finding critters and cryptic fish for the photogs. The diving is magnificent, particularly for critters. However, there are also wrecks, mini-walls, and lots of coral gardens for variety and differing species of fish. I'm sure you would be fascinated by the marine life found there. The marine park at Bumaken would also be another good destination in the area. This would be mostly blue-water diving.

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

Lamduan 10-19-2005, 9:51 PM

Hey there Flame Angel,

Lembeh is a great place to dive. Plenty of macro photo opps if you're into underwater photography and if you're not, it's still a great place for muck diving. In fact, I've heard it called the muck diving capital. If you're not into muck diving and searching for stuff on the sandy bottom and prefer more "colorful" coral-filled environments, you may not enjoy Lembeh. My neice, who just started diving recently, went to Lembeh and was disappointed because she "didn't see anything." I remember when I first started diving and like her, the only things I noticed were the critters and corals that were bigger than a bread box. But if you've been diving for a while and enjoy finding the hard-to-find things, you will definitely not be disappointed with Lembeh.

Lamduan

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

Dive 10-25-2005, 9:25 AM

Dear all,

Heard about Manado for long time and is plan to dive over there next year...please share more info in Manado ...cost everything...

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

Edward 12-31-2005, 7:02 PM

I just got back from Manado recently and this was my second trip. This time round I stayed at Tasik Ria and dive with Eco-divers.

Manado is a great place for diving however when I was there 2 weeks ago, the vis wasn't that great compare to last year when I was there also around this period. Last year was vis was about 150-200 ft around Bunaken National Park Area. This time round, I experienced between about 30-60 feet vis only... could be due to rainy season.

I made 2 dive at Lembeh Straits and as usual, it provided me with great memories to bring back (e.g. Hairy frog fish, electric clam, lots and lots of cardinals (some big ones, about 3 in in lenght) and of course the all famous pygmy seahorses... about 12 of them in 1 sea fan.

The strangest dive site is a muck diving site right infront of Mega Mall (literally). Mega Mall is the biggest shopping center in Manado. The government has approved a project for land reclamation infront of Mega Mall area to be built as Manado waterfront. So, this site ill be gone soon. Good macro life around this site.

Overall, you have to be in Manado to understand how great is the diving around this area. One thing for sure, I will be back.

p.s. Muck diving is not for everyone. You either like it or hate it.

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

OrangeBloke 01-06-2006, 11:29 AM

Manado is awesome and I'd happily go back there again.

If you want to get a taste of muck diving but don't want to go to the Lembeh side ask to dive PoPo. There are other muck sites in the area but this one is the best. The walls at Bunaken are spectacular and still in good shape.

Lembeh is worth a visit though and you can do day trips from the Manado side but the journey each way by bus is not a lot of fun. That said the diving there is worth seeing. For the first 5-10 minutes it'll look like you're diving in a load of old junk and dirty sand but once you get used to what you're looking at the range of critters you'll see is incredible.

trip report tasik ria and kbr

stewsmith 01-08-2006, 7:16 PM
I have just returned from a 2 week trip to Manado North Sulawesi. My first week was spent at the Tasik Ria resort, which was a very comfortable hotel, with spacious rooms and a very nice jetty bar. The food was not brilliant, but from what I have been told, is that it is a lot better than it was 12 months ago, and will continue to get better. There was an English food and beverage mangaer there and he was trying to turn the hotels food menus into something that was more desireable. The grill on the jetty was a good place to eat if you like seafood.
All of the dives were done from one of the three Eco-Diver boats. All three were good boats and had very good guides and crew. The day started around 8am and it was a 45 minute journey to Bunaken Marine Park. You would spend the whole day on board the boat, lunch being provided. On our first day we had the pleasure of seeing 50 yes 50 pilot whales as we headed off for our first dive. Minutes later and we had 3 pods of dolphins jumping on the starboard side.
WOW....was being said from all of the guests. Steve the Eco-Divers IDC was in awe as much as us. Steve was a very enthusiastic person and he had us buzzing from our first meeting with him at the jetty bar on our first night. He is a very passionate person and very approachable. His wife Janet was also as enthusiastic as him and although they not been at the resort for long were very knowledgable about indonesia. Anyway the dolphins had gone and we were kitting up ready for our first dive. The diving around Bukanen was exciting to say the least. Currents pulling you this way, then that way, then that way again, then up, then down...If you dont like to be in strong currnts then think again about diving here. I loved it though, the viz wasn't that good 12m average i guess, but the corals that were being worn by the reefs were very vibrant and oozing different shades of the spectrum. All of the diving here was pretty much the same, sloping or sheer walls, strong currents and plenty of corals and sponges. The resort did have a house " reef " dive which was a short boat ride away. It also had another little gem on its back door by the name of Po Po. This is Tasik Ria's muck diving site. My first dive there revealed an emperor shrip, ornates, thorny seahorses, snake eels, pipefish, leaffish, a flathead, turtle and several commensal shrimp. Thats without mentioning all the things that i swam past oblivious to what they were.
Dives done at Tasik Ria:- Lekuan 3, Maka Kampung, JCS point " house reef ", Po Po, Raymonds Point,Pangalisan, Tankasi, Fukui, Tanjung Labasong, Bango "my fav", Cela Cela, Batu Meja.
I see dragonets, leaffish,variety of shrimp, sea moths, sea horses, snake eels , flatheads, frogfish, counless nudibranch, pygmy sea horse, big mouth mackerel, squat lobsters,schooling batfish as well as the usual coral reef fish.
Week one was over and it was a 2 hour taxi ride to KBR which is situated in the Lembeh Strait. On arrival we were met by Steve and Miranda who were in charge of the running of the Eco-Divers dive cente and the hotel. "Dream jobs but very hard work". Again like at Tasik Ria we were made to feel at home very quickly. The accommodation was excellent. The rooms were massive, just what you need when you are travelling fully kitted up. The staff here were very efficient and very friendly. From the people at the top right down to the guys that clear up the leaves. The food was of a very high standard and I would find it hard to believe if anyone could complain about this resort. It was very much a family feeling around the resort. The diving is done from 1 of 4 boats here, maybe 5. After each dive you return to base and chill out before the next dive. The diving was everything and more that I had hoped. The knowledge of the guides are second to none. It really was. I was amazed at what I was shown by ADE. My cousin Ade and myself spent a good 15 minutes around a small rock watching the smallest of colman seahorse. Ade even managed to find a frogfish that was about 5mm long. These guys know there stuff and it was my pleasure letting them show me. I did want to find my own things as well, and managed to find a couple of hairy frogfish. Some of the critters that inhabit the Lembeh Strait could be straight out of a Stephen King film. Critters being the appropriate word. Ade even managed to show us 3 different types of pygmy seahorse on one dive. The only things i didnt see that were on my wish list was Harlequin shrimp " theres a pair at police pier 2", stargazer, mimic octopus, wonderpuss. Every other critter I had on my wish list was seen. The highlight for me was the Mandarin dive. What a priviledge that was to see very shy fish mating just inches from my mask. These little fellas are only out for a short time just after dusk.
sites dived were:- KBR house reef, TK3, Pantai Parigi,Jahir, Aw shucks, TK2, Mandarin, Nudi Falls, Police Pier, Angels window, Retak Larry, Suprise, TK1, Hairball 1, Hairball 2, Jahir 2 with a few of the sites being done a couple of times. The house reef was also good and there is a yellow fan at 23.4m that 3 pygmpy seahorses accommodate.
This was a fantastic holiday with very diverse diving. It was deffinately worth the long flights and also value for money. A big thank you to all the people that were involved with my holiday.
i have posted some pics on http://community.webshots.com/user/stewandlou

wheres my buddy gone

Re: Share your Manado experience here!

Joanne 01-16-2006, 1:58 PM

Hello!

It is so exiting to share same filings for the same places!!!

Just few weeks ago we came back from North Sulawesi.It was wondefull 15 days with Bakri Cono Resort at mysterious Lembeh situated in one of the natural bay!!!

Just at the arrival we were amazed by natural beauty of surrounding wulcanos raining forests and smiling village people. We have decided to stay with new build Bakri Cono resort run by young couple Bernard and Julia, We were warm welcomed and accommodated in very unique type of the double bedroom. As we were expecting diving was amazing ,my husband love to make a photos so after every dive he run to camera room and I could enjoy my glass of fresh juice at the club house….we have explore more than 25 dive sites around Lembeh also we were diving in Banka island and National Marine Park of Bunaken ,we have seen hundrets of strange creatures in this capital of muck diving like hairy frog fish, mimic octopus, wonderpus, pigmy sea horse, ghost pipe fish ,banded sea snake and a lot of anemone shrimps and many coral fish.

We also spend some time on tripping with Bakri Cono we visit Tangkoko reserve and we enjoy White Water rafting and we have done some real wulcano climbing as well!!!

Resort was providing delicious kitchen, all staff was very familiar with us and we can only say that we will come back there next year!!!

Joanna