Recently in Lembeh Strait Category

Want to learn all about underwater photography? Then there's no better place to be than at award-winning Eco Divers Resort Lembeh this September.

Wolfgang Pölzer, respected underwater photo journalist, book author and double gold medallist at the CMAS World Championship of Underwater Photography, will be running a FREE week-long underwater photography workshop: plenty of diving, discovery and underwater fun, plus nightly presentations. Dates run from 28th September to 5th October.

Wolfgang has won numerous top international prizes including gold medals at the CMAS world championship on two separate occasions: 1998 (category "Macro") and 2002 (category "wide angle") and at Antibes in 2000 (category "software image"). Born in a small town in Austria, he studied marine biology at university and over the past fifteen years has published many books and worked as freelance journalist and photographer for several diving, travel and nature magazines.

In this workshop everybody – from beginner to professional – can learn from his extensive knowledge, through nightly slide shows and also one-on-one critique sessions with individual guests. Taking part is absolutely free when guests book a 7-night package, as Wolfgang is offering his workshop purely out of his aspiration to share a love of underwater photography.

To book your stay at Eco Divers Resort Lembeh: info@eco-divers.com

The Indonesian Ministry of Tourism is sponsoring an event for the first time which, in just its first year, has instantly become the largest, longest and most prestigious photo contest in the world, with a staggering total prize value of over US$200,000!

This contest is open to anyone with a camera, with prizes in 6 underwater categories and 1 conservation category, plus a Best of Show category.

Enrolment is free – to enter the competition all you have to do is dive with a Participating Dive Operator before 30 November and then submit up to 5 images in each category. Your images will then be judged by a panel of respected judges. It’s as simple as that!

Eco Divers is a Participating Dive Operator, so if you’d like to enter IWUPC 2013 please book a stay with us in Manado or Lembeh, or a combination of both if you wish to take both macro and wide-angle photos.

If you’re interested in entering IWUPC 2013, please visit the Indonesia World Underwater Photo Contest website to learn more about this amazing contest.

Meet Tarkan Sever & Kathrin Heussner, our new managers in Lembeh:


Tarkan, CMAS 3 Star Dive Leader, EFR Instructor and PADI IDC Staff Instructor with more than 300 certifications under his belt, is a British citizen who has managed a dive centre in his native Turkey.

Kathrin, a German citizen, is PADI MSDT Instructor and EFR Instructor, who previously worked as a Holiday Representative for tourism giant TUI over several years through the Caribbean and Mediterranean. She was also the manager of a safari lodge in Namibia, where she was able to prove her ability in resort management. Between them they can teach many specialty courses such as Digital Underwater Photography, Nitrox and the brand new PADI Self Reliant Diver.

This charming, smiling couple came to Indonesia last year on their honeymoon. They loved it so much that they decided to stay on, well….a bit longer than originally planned! They now manage Eco Divers Lembeh, also providing photo & video services through our Digital Centre and adding their professional yet personal special touch to Eco Divers’ award-winning services. We invite you to return to Lembeh, to enjoy for yourself T&K’s friendly service.
 

In addition to the TripAdvisor awards given to Eco Divers Resort Lembeh in 2012, TripAdvisor has again decided to award us two major recognition awards in 2013. Whilst last year our awards were in the service and bargain categories, this year we’ve taken a step up, with a new award simply as Top 25 Small Hotels in Indonesia and also as Top 25 Bargain Hotels in Indonesia.

We’re very proud of this achievement, given the huge number of small hotels in Indonesia and the incredible competition they provide. But we couldn’t have achieved it without the constant effort and customer care provided by our incredible, dedicated team and management, so this is their award. We are also extremely grateful to the many satisfied guests who took time to post a positive review for us on TripAdvisor – without it, we would simply not have been able to achieve this recognition.

Thank you!

Last month we had the pleasure of the first ever visit to Eco Divers by a team from the only dive magazine published exclusively in Indonesia, for Indonesians – DiveMag Indonesia!

Underwater photographer Muljadi Pinneng and reporter Gemala Hanafiah were with us for just two short (but sweet) days of diving, whilst on assignment to put together a destination piece on Lembeh Strait.

We’d like to thanks Muljadi and Gemala – and not forgetting the Editor in Chief, Riyanni, for organising the visit – and we hope they enjoyed our service and will come back again and again.

We also hope to see many more local guests from across this huge archipelago coming through our doors in the future, as they enjoy the beautiful and diverse natural wonders of this amazing country - Indonesia!

Dr. Mark Erdmann & Dr. Gerry Allen, who were visiting us in Manado as Guest Lecturers for the free biology workshop “Fish Geek Week”, conducted a survey of fish species between 1st and 12th September.

This is the first time that a scientific fish survey has ever been done in North Sulawesi.

It was done over a week out of Minahasa Lagoon Resort Manado plus five informal days in Lembeh and it threw up some most absolutely amazing unexpected results.We always knew North Sulawesi had wonderful marine biodiversity, given that it sits at the heart of the Coral Triangle, but... these results we definitely did NOT expect!

Gerry & Mark recorded 967 species from 329 genera and 84 families. That's without even surveying many habitats. They were nowhere near reaching a plateau, every day adding 25-40 new records to the list!

Gerry predicts that further surveys would show somewhere around 1020 species in total for North Sulawesi (Bunaken to Lembeh). To put these numbers in perspective, Komodo National Park has 750 species recorded to date, the Togian and Banggai islands have 819 species recorded to date, Berau in East Kalimantan (including Derawan and Sangalaki) has 875 species recorded to date, and Western Thailand has 775 species recorded to date.

Another very interesting point was the extremely high per-site diversity. In general any count of over 200 species on a single dive is considered a very high diversity site. Of the 9 sites surveyed, 6 were higher than 200 species and two of them broke 300 species (Tanjung Kelapa/Malcolm had 310 species and Satchiko's had 301 species)!

To put this in perspective, in over 40 years' of survey work around the Coral Triangle region, Gerry Allen has only documented three sites that have broken 300 species: Kayoa Island, Halmahera (303 species), Tanjung Papisoi in Kaimana, West Papua (330 species) and Cape Kri in Raja Ampat (374 species). So Tanjung Kelapa/Malcolm is now the 3rd richest fish site ever recorded, and Satchiko's the 5th.

For the full report, click here.

If you're looking for an amazing value holiday this summer, an All Inclusive dive package at award-winning Eco Divers Resort Lembeh could be just what you've been waiting for.

Our prices start at just EUR 67/night*.

The package prices below are valid on stays before the end of August 2012.


* Room rate per person, based on sharing a double room

Package Prices

4 days/3 nights (2 days of diving) EUR 341 in double room, EUR 425 in single room


5 days/4 nights (3 days of diving) EUR 478 in double room, EUR 590 in single room


6 days/5 nights (4 days of diving) EUR 615 in double room, EUR 755 in single room


7 days/6 nights (5 days of diving) EUR 752 in double room, EUR 920 in single room


8 days/7 nights (6 days of diving) EUR 889 in double room, EUR 1085 in single room

(Additional night Full Board: Double EUR 67, Single EUR 95. Additional day of diving: EUR 70)

Prices include: Accommodation in air-conditioned room, up to 3 day-dives per day, cylinders and weights, meals, airport transfers, internet access and all taxes

(American and Canadian divers: please enquire about our US $ prices)

Group Offer: 
6 stay, 5 pay


To book, please send your enquiry to info@eco-divers.com

About Our Service

Managed by Cary Yanny, Eco Divers Resort Lembeh is the only resort in Sulawesi to achieve Tripadvisor's Traveller's Choice Award for Service in Indonesia 2012. Our unique service, combining the convenience of diving from our Day Liveaboard with the comfort of staying in a resort, provides total relaxation. With a capacity of just 16 guests, we are the most exclusive upscale resort in Lembeh. Immaculate accommodation, exceptional cuisine and a highly personalized service makes Eco Divers Resort Lembeh a top choice for discerning divers.

Guest-to-Guide ratio of 4 to 1 / 9 air-conditioned rooms / Private bathroom / Flat property (no hills to climb) / Restaurant, lounge bar with satellite TV, boutique / Professional Indonesian Spa / The Digital Centre photo & video service/ Free WiFi internet access

The season is upon us and we’ve been preparing for it.

Both speedboats in Lembeh have recently undergone full dry-docks and returned to the water sporting a striking new livery. Last week our Lembeh Day Liveaboard had been docked too.

In Manado our boats are also being docked, repaired where necessary and re-painted in readiness to welcome many guests this summer.

We hope you’ll be amongst them and enjoy diving from the best dive boats in North Sulawesi.

Farewell, thanks and good luck in the future, Christian. Welcome, Sam Lewis! They say that time flies and that all good things must come to an end. Well, it’s true. In the past 1.5 years Christian Loader has become an integral member of the Eco Divers Family and a popular photo instructor, having helped many of our guests improve their photo skills. Those of you who follow our FB page will also have witnessed Christian’s considerable talent in photography, through his regular postings of strikingly artistic underwater images.

Now Christian’s time at Eco Divers has sadly come to an end, as ScubaZoo takes him back-to-base (in Kota Kinabalu) to take on a new role as photographer/videographer on film and book projects. 

We’d like to thank Christian for his efforts. We will miss him being here, but still expect him to be a regular visitor to Eco Divers. We wish him success and happiness and look forward to seeing many of his great images and films in the future.

Replacing Christian from ScubaZoo is Sam Lewis. Sam arrived at Eco Divers this week from the Maldives, where he provided photo and video services on-board The Four Seasons Explorer Liveaboard. From the UK, Sam has a Master’s Degree in Animal Behaviour and a Bachelor’s Degree in Zoology, so his knowledge is not limited to taking photos or videos. He specialises in film-making and is proficient with Adobe Premier CS5 and Final Cut Pro to edit videos. Sam has a great passion for all water sports, in particular water polo. He provides photo & video services for The Digital Centre (www.digitalcentreindonesia.com) at Eco Divers Manado & Lembeh. Welcome, Sam!