Lembeh Strait
Ten years ago, I visited a website called Dancing Fish, created by a woman who enjoyed UW photography and published it on her webpage. I could not believe the creature that were featured on her site! The destination was called Lembeh Strait, and strange creatures that I never even imagined existed covered page after page of her site. A tiny but deadly octopus with iridescent blue rings? Another octopus that could change shape in an instant to imitate other creatures? Beautiful, tiny, colorful seahorses that were no larger than a grain of rice? Frogfish of every size and every color, even hairy ones? Hundreds of beautiful, colorful worms. I knew I could never see these creatures anywhere in the US or in the Caribbean. From this day, ten years ago, I have dreamed of going to Lembeh!
In 2012, I visited Lembeh Strait with my husband and I was blown away. Diving Lembeh Strait was not just what I expected, it was more magnificent than I could ever dream! During every single dive, our dive master, Opo would keep a list of the critters we saw on our dive. On our first dive alone, I saw 20 critters that I had never seen and, quite frankly, most of them I had never even heard of! The diving continued, and after 14 days our list still contained amazing critters that I still had not seen! Oh, and THE NIGHT DIVING!!!! WOW!!
We loved diving LS so much that we returned again this year for another two weeks. Amazingly, we saw just as many new and interesting critters this time around! I have to say this is my very favorite diving destination. I cannot imagine that I could love another place more!
The majority of diving in Lembeh Strait is muck diving. When I first jumped in and reached the bottom, I thought, “What can I possibly see in this black sand with hardly any coral?” I was absolutely amazed at what seemed to pop out of plain nothingness! Frogfish, clownfish, scorpionfish, blue ring octopus, mimic octopus, wonderpus, flamboyant cuttlefish, nudibranchs, and more varieties of crazy shrimp and crabs than you could ever imagine! Most of the critters in Lembeh Strait are tiny. Possibly the largest creature you would see would be a small cuttlefish, a giant frogfish about the size of a small child’s baseball mitt, or a small blue spotted stingray. If you love macro photography, love the thrill of discovering new critters, or love observing AMAZING marine life behavior, then you will absolutely adore Lembeh Strait.
I would not necessarily recommend visiting Lembeh for the non-diver. There is not a lot to do on the island itself, but many visitors travel to the mainland and visit Tangkoko National Park, where visitors can see the smallest primate in the world, the Tarsier, and also the dramatic Black Crested Macaques. A short boat ride, and 1.5 hours by van can get you to the park. You must be able to hike quite a way to find the Tarsiers.
Lembeh Island is located off of the North East tip of Sulawesi in Indonesia. It is not always easy to find flights to Lembeh. From the US, you may need to fly into Singapore, Denpasar, or Jakarta and then chose an Indonesian airline to get you to Manado. A two hour shuttle ride and a short boat ride will bring you to the island of Lembeh. Indonesian Airline tickets cannot be purchased in the United States. Your tour operator or resort will often be able to arrange your flight for you. Because of the multiple flights that are necessary, airfare to Lembeh can be a little pricey, but SOOO WORTH IT!!!
Here are a couple of tips if you are interested in diving Lembeh Strait. Make sure you have good buoyancy control. Black sand is easy to stir up and it is difficult for other divers to see the amazing critters! BRING A CAMERA!!! You will be glad you did! Do your research and plan your trip well in advance. Make a budget for all expenses including inter-island flights and shuttles. Pack sparingly!!! The inter-island flights have a VERY small luggage allowance and charge high prices for overage.
