Lembeh Strait
The Muck Diving Capital Of The World A Narrow Channel Of Black Volcanic Sand Holding The Densest Concentration Of Rare Small Marine Life Recorded Anywhere · Bitung, North Sulawesi
Lembeh is a narrow channel between Sulawesi and Lembeh island, and it looks, underwater, LIKE A RUBBISH DUMP. Black volcanic sand, almost no coral, silt, and the occasional beer bottle. THAT IS EXACTLY WHY IT IS FAMOUS. With nowhere to hide, the animals that live in bare sediment have evolved into the strangest things in the ocean, and Lembeh holds THE DENSEST CONCENTRATION OF THEM RECORDED ANYWHERE: mimic octopus that impersonate flatfish and sea snakes, FLAMBOYANT CUTTLEFISH, hairy frogfish, BLUE-RINGED OCTOPUS, Ambon scorpionfish, pygmy seahorses, Pegasus sea moths. THIS IS CALLED MUCK DIVING and it is a specialist taste - people who want reefs and turtles are frequently disappointed, and people who want to spend fifty minutes photographing a two-centimetre animal on grey sand come back for a decade. IT SITS AN HOUR FROM BUNAKEN AND IS ITS EXACT OPPOSITE - coral wall and blue water there, bare grey sediment here - and doing both is the whole reason to come to North Sulawesi.
Lembeh Strait, between Bitung and Lembeh Island, North Sulawesi, Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia
THERE IS NO SITE AND NO GATE - Lembeh is a working strait with a commercial port at one end, and access is entirely through DIVE RESORTS along its shores. REACHED VIA MANADO, which has flights from Jakarta, Makassar and Singapore, then ONE TO TWO HOURS BY ROAD TO BITUNG and a short boat transfer. RESORTS RUN THREE TO FOUR DIVES A DAY on their own schedules including night dives, which are among the best here. STAYS ARE BOOKED AS PACKAGES rather than walk-in. THE STRAIT IS DIVEABLE YEAR-ROUND with no closed season, though the wettest months bring more runoff and silt. BITUNG IS A BUSY COMMERCIAL AND FISHING PORT and there is visible pollution and plastic in parts of the strait - this is not a pristine destination and nobody sensible claims otherwise.