North Sulawesi Diving
Denise Nielsen Tackett & Larry Tackett
North Sulawesi is one of Indonesia's best kept secrets. Manado, the capital, is easy to get to with direct connections from Singapore, Malaysia and major Indonesian cities. Land-based accommodation ranges from backpacker's hostels to sprawling beach resorts and everything in between. Manado is the jumping off point for some of the world's best diving at Bunaken Manado Tua National Marine Park , Lembeh Strait, Bangka Strait , and the Sangihe-Talaud Islands.
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Lembeh Strait
If you want to see ornate ghost pipefish, frogfishes, mandarin fish, seahorses, stargazers, Banggai Cardinalfish, mimic octopus, Wunderpus, flamboyant cuttlefish, nudibranches, and pygmy seahorses, this is the place for you..
The Strait has few coral vistas but divers come here for the extraordinary critters-it's muck diving at it's very best. The best diving is in small bays away from the current where many juvenile fishes and invertebrates are found. Most dives are under 30m (100ft) and good dive guides are essential. Water temperatures run 24-27ºC (78-84ºF). Diving is good all year but December-March is overcast while July-August is sunny and windy. Lembeh's best feature is unusual marine life. If you want to see ornate ghost pipefish, frogfishes, mandarin fish, seahorses, stargazers, Banggai Cardinalfish, mimic octopus, Wunderpus, flamboyant cuttlefish, nudibranches, and pygmy seahorses, this is the place for you.
Best Features & Dive Sites
The Banggai Cardinalfish is a beautiful fish previously known only from the remote Banggai Islands in eastern Sulawesi where they lived among the spines of sea urchins in 3m (10ft) of water. This fish is special because of its breeding habits. Other male cardinalfish are oral brooders, meaning the male holds the female's egg mass in his mouth until they hatch. The Banggai Cardinalfish is the only one that continues to harbor the young hatchlings in its mouth until they're old enough to survive on their own. Several years ago some Banggai Cardinalfish were accidentally introduced into Lembeh Strait. Since then, they've established thriving colonies. They've expanded their territory to include sea anemones and mushroom corals in addition to long-spined sea urchins.
Hairball is a featureless black sand slope occasionally overtaken with algae. Among the sand and rubble are animals that blend in incredibly well with their environment - hairy frogfish, ghost pipefish, flamboyant cuttlefish, sea slugs, etc. Angel's Window is a submerged pinnacle with a swim-thru at 25m (82ft), this site has good visibility and lots of fishes. Sergeant majors and butterflyfish inhabit the shallows. California Dreamin' boasts a crevice and a reef slope full of gorgonians, sea fans and orange tree corals that bloom in the current. Fish life is good. Visibility can exceed 25m (82ft). Nudi Falls is a wall that drops away to a field of rubble. Nudibranches, weedy scorpionfish, Cometfish, and pygmy seahorses are the highlights here. Nudi Retreat is a deep cutout in the reef provides a sheltered spot for a pair of resident sea moths. Expect to see nudibranches, pygmy seahorses, ornate ghost pipefish, and sea fans. The 100m (330ft) Mawali Wreck Japanese freighter lies on its side at 30m (100ft). Sunk during WWII, the ship is intact and heavily overgrown. The port side is at 16m (55ft). Cargo holds are open and empty. Marine life is excellent.
North Sulawesi Dive Site Map
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About the Authors
Larry and Denise Tackett are the authors of all of our Indonesian dive site and regional descriptions. They are professional photographers specializing in underwater and terrestrial natural history and travel subjects. They are represented by stock photo agencies in the US and United Kingdom and their photographs have been widely published in books and magazines worldwide. Their work has appeared in magazines such as National Wildlife, Islands, BBC Wildlife, Ocean Realm, Asian Diver, Unterwasser, Tauchen, Canadian Wildlife, Popular Science, Sport Diver, National Geographic Kids, Geo, and many others.
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