Lembeh Resort

Lembeh Resort is nestled away in a private cove with a wealth of exotic flora and fauna in a central part of Lembeh Island. The secluded location of the resort ensures a quiet and tranquil experience, while the warmhearted team offers service with a smile to make certain that your experience of Lembeh will be the best that it possibly can be. The cottages are charming, spacious, and comfortable with a wealth of modern amenities. Lembeh Resort is committed to delivering North Sulawesi hospitality at its best and making guests' stay enjoyable and memorable both above and below the water.

How To Get There

To get to North Sulawesi, fly into Manado International airport which is serviced four times per week by Silk Air, (Mon, Wed, Fri, Sat) direct from Singapore. There are also several daily non-stop flights from Jakarta and services from Bali. Once arrived, guests are picked up and transferred to Lembeh Resort are carried out using the resorts comfortable air-conditioned vehicles. Transfers from Manado Airport take approximately 90 minutes by road, followed by a short 10-minute boat journey to the resort. For guests staying at another location in North Sulawesi before visiting Lembeh Resort, a point-to-point transfer will be arranged by the resort.

Dive Overview

The Lembeh Strait is widely recognized by marine biologists as having the Worlds highest concentration of rare and unusual marine life. The practice of Muck-Diving, also known as Critter-Diving, began in Lembeh Strait in the mid-nineties when marine biologists started to explore the black sand slopes of Lembeh Strait to identify the amazing diversity of animals that inhabit the underwater realm of Lembeh Strait. Today, 20 years later, divers who enjoy both macro as well as wide-angle underwater photography travel from all over the world to experience this magical place in North Sulawesi.

[Read More: Lembeh Dive Travel Guide]

Accommodation Overview

Guests of Lembeh Resort have a choice of 3 different categories of accommodations, Deluxe Ocean View Cottages, Garden View Rooms, and Cliffside Villa. Due to Lembeh Resorts' remote tropical island location, accommodations come with a full board meal plan 3 sumptuous meals daily, along with snacks, coffee, & tea. Rooms are equipped with:

• 24 hours electricity
• Minibar
• Air-condition
• Complimentary tea, coffee & mineral water
• Complimentary refillable aluminum water bottle
• Complimentary Wi-Fi
• Hairdryer
• Safe
• King Size bed (all rooms can be set as a double or twin)
• Resort information folder

Food & Drinks

All-inclusive meals featuring international and local cuisine. 

Dive Information

The resort follows a policy of Dive as You Like. Guests can take three boat dives one day, and two morning dives on the house reef plus a night dive the next. Lembeh offers a flexible dive schedule determined by their guests. The dive center has an optimal location in the middle of Lembeh Strait and there are about 35 sites are accessible by boat in 15 minutes or less. Lembeh Resorts dive center offers a variety of dive opportunities every day:

• Guided house reef dives any time early morning until late night
• Guided boat dives at 08:00 / 10:45 / 14:30
• Guided Mandarin Fish boat dive at 16:45
• Guided night dive at 18:30
• A guided late-night dive (after 20:00)
• Self-guided house reef dives are available any time

Muck Diving In Lembeh

The Critter Capital of the World, a Muck Diving Mecca, and the Twilight Zone are just a few of the names that have been given to Lembeh over the years but is it really that good? Absolutely. Lembeh is famous for having the worlds best macro and critter diving for good reason and Lembeh muck is probably the most famous muck in the world!

Lembeh isnt just home to frogfish, its home to 8 different species of frogfish, 12 species of octopus, numerous crustacean species that cannot be found anywhere else on earth, 3 species of pygmy seahorse, countless numbers of nudibranch species, and new finds and discoveries are continuously being made. Some of Lembehs most iconic species include the Hairy Frogfish, Pontohi Pygmy Seahorse, Wunderpus, Mandarin Fish, Mimic Octopus, Rhinopias Scorpionfish, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Blue Ring Octopus, and the list goes on take a look at our Critter Log to see the weird, wonderful, and bizarre species that await you.

Muck diving is at its best in Lembeh, where the sheer abundance of biodiversity and unique critters is greater than it is anywhere else; every dive reveals countless special finds! The particular excitement in muck diving lies in finding rare, camouflaged, and breathtakingly beautiful critters in the strangest of places. For beginners, the marine life found by your guide is simply intriguing, unique, and downright weird all at once. For more experienced divers, the exhilaration of making special finds for yourself gives a rush of adrenaline that cant be matched. And for underwater photographers, a great photograph speaks many millions of words.

Muck diving offers something for everyone and it develops unparalleled attention to detail like no other style of diving can: With nothing to distract, the smallest of details begin to surface. Thats why when we muck dive we go at a slow pace and look to find the most camouflaged and often smallest of critters. Slow and relaxed diving also offers you the opportunity to observe and photograph the wondrous marine life that our expert-trained dive guides are so adept at finding.

Going slowly also allows us to witness fascinating and often quite hilarious behavior, such as an irate blue-ring octopus flashing its rings at a sand-perch that has just landed on an octopus head or a flamboyant cuttlefish stalking, catching, and eating its shrimp prey.

Lembehs classic muck sites feature gentle slopes of volcanic sand scattered with bits of debris, sponge, algae or rubble. If you arent already in the know, Lembeh will convince you that the most beautiful animals are sometimes seen in the strangest habitats!

We also have many combination dive sites within minutes of the resort that offer the best of muck diving together with lovely corals in the shallows, perfect for enjoying a leisurely safety stop

We spend quite a lot of time between 18-22 meters (60-75 feet), so Nitrox is ideal, and Enriched Air Nitrox courses are also available on-site.

Due to Lembehs protected location, diving is good year-round, seas are always calm and most dives have little to no current. Lembeh diving is suitable for all levels; from beginner to the most experienced diver, you will certainly see something you have never seen before!

Wide-Angle Diving

Although we often return to the dive center in between the two-morning dives to offer maximum flexibility and convenience for our divers, we also offer some double-dive morning excursions that depart at 8:00 and return at lunchtime. These excursions allow us to explore a little further afield and sample some of Lembehs stunning coral reefs. The Lembeh Strait sits in the heart of the Coral Triangle this area boasts the widest range of marine species and coral diversity of anywhere else on Earth. It is no wonder that some of our favorite reef sites such as California Dreaming, Angels Window, and Batu Kapal are just as famous as our muck diving slopes! Lembehs reef dive sites boast healthy coral, blue water, and a host of different critters to those found on the black sand sites.

Pygmy seahorses decorate the fans, allied cowries are nestled on the soft corals and youll find a host of different nudibranchs and flatworms.

If you want to focus on bigger fish and reef scapes, then these sites also offer excellent wide-angle photography opportunities. During surface intervals, depending on the location chosen, you can enjoy cruising through mangroves or just relaxing with a hot beverage, fresh fruit, and snacks.

Passport To Paradise

Passport to Paradise is a unique diving experience that allows you to explore three distinct diving destinations in one trip. Youll have 150 dive sites to choose from and with seamless boat diving transfers from resort to resort theres no gear packing, no wasted transfer days, just relax, enjoy and dive, dive, dive. North Sulawesi is a divers paradise situated in the heart of the coral triangle. Imagine 500 species of coral, more than 3,000 species of fish, 6 out of the 7 world turtle species, a migratory route for over 30 species of marine mammals, and home to more than one-third of all whale and dolphin species.

Youll explore Bunaken Marine Park which is home to some of Indonesias best wall diving sites, Bangka Island which offers such an explosion of color it will leave you spellbound and the Lembeh Strait which has the undisputed best muck diving in the world.

Dive Center Information

The resorts dive center Critters@LembehResort is a fully operating facility. Each diver has its own spacious, personal locker area with drying pegs for boots and hangers for suits and BCs. There are long benches for kitting-up and a briefing area with big whiteboards to help you plan your diving program and keep an eye on the days events.

Dive Center Features

Before your first dive of the day, your gear will be loaded onto the boat and assembled ready to use. After your last dive of the day, dive valets will see that your equipment is carried, rinsed with fresh water, and properly stored. Wetsuits are washed in special soap every two or three days or on request, and after the last dive of your trip. There are dedicated rinse tanks for cameras, dive gear, and wetsuits.

A full range of high-quality dive equipment (AquaLung, Suunto, Intova, and others) is available for rent. Additionally, you can rent a torch/flashlight for a night dive, or a special U/V light for viewing luminescent critters and coral a must-try if you have never seen this before!

The Genus Bar is located just next to the Dive Center where you can relax in or out of your wetsuit, enjoy a complimentary tea or coffee, and peruse our library of dive magazines and identification books. A great place to chat with fellow divers as well as Lembehs professional guides and marine biologists who can help identify those critters captured in pixels.

All resort dive boats are custom-built with divers comfort and convenience in mind. There are amply padded areas for your camera and hooks and storage areas for dive accessories. All boats are covered for protection from the sun and have a toilet, emergency oxygen, first-aid kits, and lifejackets. Lembeh staff is trained every year in CPR, first aid, and emergency rescue procedures.

All boats are fully equipped with spare tanks and spare dive equipment as well as towels, drinking water, fresh fruit, and candies. Dive boats are also equipped with hot water for coffee or tea as well as snacks and biscuits.

Lembeh Strait is the premier muck diving destination in Indonesia for divers who love not only critter diving, but also underwater photography, macro photography, and wide-angle photography. Cameras@Lembeh Resort is the first and only dedicated photo & video center in Lembeh Strait with full-time on-site photo professionals.

The photo center was started in 2010 by renowned Photo Pro Steve Fish and is currently operated by Sascha Janson. An expert in all types of underwater photography, Sascha has years of experience and can provide instruction and equipment repairs in all areas. He is originally from Germany but has worked and lived in Indonesia for nearly 10 years. Sascha is available for critiques, photo coaching to help you solve problems with your photo equipment or improve your technique to capture unforgettable images from your macro diving adventures in Lembeh Strait.

A wide range of underwater photography and video equipment is available for rent at the photo center. If you have a problem with a balky piece of gear, repairs are available onsite. Small parts can even be fabricated with our 3D printer to replace broken, lost, or forgotten pieces.