Lembeh Diving II

   I no longer scoff at the saying, 'The good things in life come in small packages'. Though you will not see the big stuff here like sharks, stingrays or pretty colourful corals, I promise that even the smallest thing you see here will also be the most unique.

     There is truly no place as original as Lembeh, and you can either love it or completely hate it.

     This kind of diving is called muck diving where the focus is on macro diving.  Even if I sat with a dictionary, I couldn’t find words to explain the oddity of the marine creatures, or the sheer joy I felt  at discovering a new whole species that I never knew existed! The weirder they got, the more excited I was! The highlight of my trip was doing an underwater photography course with the owner of the resort. He was a fantastic teacher who accompanied me on every dive and taught me UW photo skills with the patience of a nudibranch. Lionfishes, hairy frogfishes, pipefish, octopuses, we saw them all!

      It was this unique experience that motivated me to go for 4 dives every single day, a feat which I had been unable to achieve earlier. There was no dearth of dive guides,  so every diver was lent a pair of exceedingly sharp eyes and plenty of time. Also, there was a separate room for our UW camera equipment and battery charging.

     The food was healthy, tasty, and we were fully sated after every meal. Every night, all the divers would sit at the dining table and animatedly share rare sightings, wild experiences and photo tips. There would be exclamations of astonishment and remorse, and every species I missed would be on my check list for the next dive. 

      After two great weeks of unrelenting sunshine and lots of luck, I dragged myself to the jetty and bade goodbye to NAD.

    I had never been more wrong about first impressions. Lembeh is the kind of place that sneaks up on you while you’re standing there judging it, with a smack on your head and a shout of “Surprise!” 
    It fooled me all the way through. 

Lizardfish

Ghost pipefish

Scorpionfish

Starry night Octopus