North Sulawesi (Lembeh) - Late Sept

Hi Folks,

I'm trying to get to North Sulawesi (Lembeh) in late September, early Oct. Could anyone please share their knowledge of:

Water temps that time of year, suit thickness recommended?

Visibiity?

Typical weather that time, and possible concerns?

What not to miss?

What will be missed (not the time of year for....)?

I plan to arrive through Singapore.

My goal is to stay at KBR, then onto the Aggressor hoping they move farther north to get a nice variety of the area.

I plan to use the macro set up a lot, but I can't seem to locate a lot of information if I should lpack for any of the big stuff or in-between?

Thank you all so much for your help, I sincerely appreciate any experience, recommendations and concerns you can share.

Paquito

Hi Paquito,

I'm lucky enough to go there twice a year (my next trip's in June), so I can help with some questions:

1) Water temperature should be around 26º to 28ºC. For me, that means a 3mm full wetsuit is enough...

2) Visibility varies, but is typically limited at the common dive sites (nearer KBR). This is generally not an issue, as you'll be shooting mostly macro, and will therefore be moving slowly and getting close to your subjects.

3) Weather's generally fine. Nothing special to report here.

4) What not to miss is a big question. All dive sites are awesome and offer something slightly different. Do as many as you can. Make sure you try the KBR house reef, and do some night dives...

5) There are very nice wide angle shot opportunities as well, but it all depends how long you'll be staying, since the main attraction is definitely macro life.

Cheers,

Mat

Cooler water, not great viz, but awesome macro.

I and other MarineBio.org staff will be there in late Aug and early Sept. and we are also interested in any pointers. I'm very interested in cephalopods. Also, I'd like to know if you can snorkel off the beach (plus dive) or if diving is the only option - I hope to be there for two weeks or longer.

All of the above is correct relative to Lembeh Straits itself. If/when you DO move to the Aggressor, they do the first day and a 1/2 in the Straits (TK I & II, etc) and then move up north to the Bangka area for 2-1/2 days and that's where you're more likely to see the bigger stuff. I did the Aggressor boat in January and they are running a great operation. We did several dives up there off Bangka and off the tip of Lembeh Island....there's a good proliferation of soft corals up there as well as some beautiful hard corals and mini walls with some incredible wide-angle opportunities and lots of fish life...We did NOT see many pelagics the week we were there, but manta, numerous sharks, etc have been sighted up there. It makes a very nice contrast to the muck of Lembeh itself. Then at the end of the week, you go back to the Straits on Thursday afternoon, do 3 dives there and end the week with an early morning dive at Nudi Falls and then a small shipwreck (after all, they say, they used to be the Truk Aggressor so they have to throw a shipwreck in there!) Several of us opted to do Nudi Falls again instead of the shipwreck since we're macro nuts!

Have a great trip!

You can find a lot of info on http://www.starfisch.ch

rob