Lembeh
A narrow channel of black volcanic sand between Sulawesi and Lembeh Island, widely held to be the muck diving capital of the world. You do not come here for big blue water. You come for the strangest animals in the ocean.
What the diving is like
Most sites are gentle slopes of dark volcanic sand, rubble and sponge. Visibility is not the point and conditions are generally easy, which leaves you free to hover in one spot and actually look.
There are more than 70 sites in the strait, and they are not all muck. Several are proper coral reef, and a good number mix the two, so a week here does not feel repetitive.
What you are likely to see
Flamboyant cuttlefish, hairy frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, mimic octopus, harlequin shrimp, pygmy seahorses and more nudibranchs than you can photograph.
Over 2,000 species have been recorded in the strait. Guides here are specialists at spotting animals the size of a fingernail.
Who it suits
Macro photographers, and patient divers who would rather spend twenty minutes with one animal than cover ground.
If what you want is sharks, walls and schooling fish, Sipadan is the better trip.
Where we stay
Lembeh Resort, on the strait itself, with a dedicated camera room and guides trained for photography.
Photographs courtesy of Lembeh Resort.
