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| North Sulawesi, Indonesia
19/11/06 – 2/12/06
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| This was a two-centre trip. The first being 7 nights with 6 days diving at Manado staying at Tasik Ria and the second part of the trip being 4 nights with 3 days diving in Lembeh Straits staying at Kungkungan Bay Resort.
It takes a long time to get to the Manado, but don’t let it put you off. Once you get there and are in the water, it is worth every minute of the journey.
Tasik Ria is an excellent hotel; the food, the service and particularly the spa are second to none. A must have is a 1 hour massage at the spa; for 15 dollars it is value for money.
Anyway, to the most important aspect of the trip, the diving. The diving is with ECO DIVERS who are based at the hotel. Once you have had a safety brief you put your kit in the basket provided and it is then taken to the boat and set up for you. At the end of the day you place it back in the basket and it is removed by the staff, and guess what, the following day it is back on the boat set up waiting for your next dive, having been rinsed off after the last dive the day before. They do advise you to check your kit once it has been set up. I would advocate this as well.
The diving involves three dives a day with lunch being taken on the boat. They cater for all your needs. If you are like me and a vegetarian, you do not need to worry as the vegetarian food is excellent and from the way everyone else devoured the meat and fish dishes I can only assume their food was equally as good.
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The majority of the diving at Tasik Ria is wall diving. It ranges from walls that go to 20m to walls that go from literally just below the surface straight down to deeper than you can see and with the visibility being 30m plus it is deep. The walls are full of life, particularly if you are into the micro life: Nudibraches, Pygmy Sea Horses, Shrimps and Crabs. This along with fantastic various Hard and Soft Corals, Sponges and I nearly forgot the odd few Sharks, Turtles, Eels and fish life; the list is endless. It all makes for superb diving.
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The area is prone to strange currents, don’t be surprised if all of a sudden you go down a few metres or are suddenly taken up a few metres. On occasions the current goes one way then all of a sudden changes and then can change back again, so it may require some finning against the current, this was not a problem as the current was not too strong. If it does get strong then you go with the flow. It is nothing to worry about, however I would advise you to have good buoyancy control before going on this trip.
A little about the boats at Tasik Ria. They are day boats with ample area to kit up, a sun deck and a large dry cabin and importantly an area to store your camera equipment. If you decide to do this trip I would strongly advise taking a camera. You will regret it if you don’t!
Entry to the water is a stride entry from the dive deck. You get back on board via the two ladders, which are very easy to climb.
For those of you who are into looking at large rusty old bits of metal (sorry I mean shipwrecks), I would recommend diving the wreck called the ‘MOLAS.’ It is about 40-45m to the prop; most of the wreck is around the 25-30m mark. It was absolutely full of life. You can either spend the full time on the wreck and return up the shot-line, or go off and explore the reef; this gives you a longer dive and a good combination of wreck and reef diving. This was probably my best dive at Tasik Ria.
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If you fancy doing any night dives, these are at an extra cost of about 25 dollars per person per dive. They are usually done on the house reef. Although we never dived the house reef as a night dive we did during the day. Again full of life, nothing big but plenty to see such as FrogFish, Nudibranches, Ornate Ghostpipe Fish and Leaf Fish to name but a few. We did however do one night dive and that was at a site called ‘PooPoh.’ A shelving shore dive, which we did from the boat as it was some distance away from our resort. During the dive we saw Sea Horses, Scorpion Fish, LionFish, a couple of Banded Sea Snakes and a few Moray Eels free swimming. Well worth doing if you go.
After 19 dives it was time for a day off as we travelled over to Kungkungan Bay Resort, which took us about 1.5 hours. Everything was taken care of. No need to worry about packing your kit, it stays in the basket and travels with you.
Upon arrival at Kungkungan Bay Resort, more friendly and helpful staff greets you. Nothing is too much fuss to ensure that you have a good trip. We stayed in a traditional style cottage, which was more than adequate for our needs, however when I go back again I will upgrade to a more modern cottage with air conditioning.
The food is as good if not slightly better than at Tasik Ria, with the similar high quality of service.
The diving however is totally different. It is commonly known as ‘Muck’ diving. Sandy bottoms with the strangest critters you will ever see. There are a few walls as well, but most of the diving is done on the sandy bottoms. This is definitely a photographer’s paradise. Strange critters everywhere as well as Frog Fish, Leaf Fish, Ornate Ghostpipe Fish, Scorpion Fish, Nudibrances, Sea Horses, Eels, Snakes and a Mimic Octopus twice, the list is really endless.
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The boats are a lot smaller than at Tasik Ria, this is due to the short time it takes you to get to the dive sites. I think the longest journey we did during our stay there was 14 minutes. There is still ample room to kit up and the roll back entry is not very high. The ladder to get back on the boat is a little too short for my liking, however it is not a problem.
Because of the short journey times to the dive sites, you always return back to the resort. No need to remove your kit as this is done for your, while you enjoy a nice cup of hot chocolate while the staffs prepare for the next trip.
A bonus for those of you who are into photography is the camera room where you can store, charge, clean and prepare your camera.
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After the nine dives at Kungkungan Bay Resort, it was time to head back home. Would I do this trip again? With out any doubt at all. I would however change a couple of things. Firstly, try and persuade more people from the club to go, as it was a fantastic trip. Secondly, I would probably reverse the trip and spend more time diving at Kungkungan Bay. Thirdly, pay for a room upgrade at Kungkungan Bay and finally do not take any American dollar traveller’s cheques, they won’t accept them. Cash is fine as are debit/visa cards.
Before I finish I forgot to mention we went during the rainy season. Did it rain? Most days it did for about half an hour or so and then the sun came back out. It was very warm, but not too hot. The water temperature ranged between 27°-29° C. for me that was a 3mm shortie. The worst visibility we experienced was about 7-9m. The best was easily 30-40m.
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| Terry Hooper |
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