Eco Divers News

Luxurious Lembeh Cottages - all inclusive one night + 3 dives just $165

Wed, 10 Mar 2010 15:32:21 +0600

Eco Divers' new Lembeh Cottages are the best for both a luxury stay and fabulous Lembeh diving.

One night all inclusive with up to 3 day dives is just $165! Truly amazing value.

Find out all you need to know, including the mouthwatering menus from your own personal chef right here.

Email Eco Divers today and book your diving break. info@eco-divers.com

New Lembeh boutique Cottages - amazing value

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 18:08:35 +0600

NEW FOR 2010 - Book a fantastic value-for-money 6-night All-Inclusive Dive Package and enjoy five nights in Kima Bajo (3 days diving) and one night in our Lembeh Cottages (2 days diving) and up to six Lembeh day-dives plus a FREE night dive! All for just US$1060 per person, based on twin share.

Each of our two boutique cottages accommodates just six guests in comfort and is the best value available anywhere in Lembeh. Elegantly furnished and air-conditioned throughout, each double bedroom has an ensuite bathroom with western-style toilet, shower and hot and cold running water. The cottage has a cosy living room with large TV and DVD player, a separate dining room and an indoor camera room for photographers. In August we are adding a third Cottage. This will take us to a maximum capacity of 16 guests. The last room is for the live-in Lembeh Cottages Manager, Tania van Aert.

We know how important food is on your holiday. That's why we've spared no expense in ensuring that our cooks provide you with a delicious and varied menu of western and Indonesian specialities. Each Cottage has its own personal chef serving guests with delicious a la carte breakfast and dinner from an extensive menu. A hot buffet lunch will be served on-board the dive boat each day. The 7-day lunch menu is also attached.

When it comes to your diving, it gets even better! Our highly experienced Lembeh guides know every inch of the Strait and will show you where the best critter action can be found. You'll dive off the most comfortable dive boat anywhere in North Sulawesi - Eco Divers own purpose-built vessel fitted with seated dive deck, dive tender/skiff, two toilets, showers, charging racks, sundeck and full safety features. We even serve a hot buffet lunch on your dive boat! Although the boat is able to carry many more divers, the limit will be just twelve guests with a guaranteed maximum guest-to-guide ratio of 4:1. Nitrox is available and we also offer full photo & video support services.

Lembeh Combo Dive Package includes:

5 nights' accommodation at Kima Bajo Resort & Spa in a Longhouse Room
1 night's accommodation at Eco Divers Lembeh Cottages
3 days' boat day-diving in Bunaken National Park (max. 3 dives/day)
2 days' boat day-diving in Lembeh Strait (max. 3 dives/day)
1 FREE night dive in Lembeh Strait
Airport transfers and round trip Lembeh road transfer Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Tax & service

Click here for the full price guide.

Start the ball rolling and book today. Email info@eco-divers.com

Meet the new Manager of Lembeh Cottages - Tania van Aert

Thu, 18 Feb 2010 22:56:26 +0600

A warm welcome to the newest member of Eco Divers' management team, Tania van Aert. Tania joins us in mid-April as Manager of Lembeh Cottages, taking over that responsibility from Cary. A PADI Instructor (MSDT) with almost 3000 dives under her belt, Tania recently managed the dive centre at Lembeh Resort. Previously she gained work experience in several places around the world from Egypt to the Maldives, Thailand to the Philippines. Belgian by birth, she speaks Dutch/Flemish as her mother tongue but is also fluent in English, German and French.

Before getting into her diving career she worked for eleven years in banking in Luxembourg. Tania's role will be to ensure that the diving service is smooth, safe and organized; that your meals are mouth-watering and that your accommodation is immaculate and comfortable. Most of all, she'll be your host to welcome you to the famous Lembeh Strait and to manage the team so your holiday with Eco Divers is memorable for all the right reasons.

Lovely new boutique accommodation at Lembeh Cottages

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:16:56 +0600

Our first two Lembeh Cottages are now fully furnished and ready to accept our first guests. Our third Cottage will be available from August, bringing our capacity from 12 to 16 guests.

As you can see, we've appointed them in 'Indonesia Contemporary' style. Each Cottage accommodates just six guests in great comfort. Air-conditioned throughout but if you don't like air-con in your bedroom, then switch to the ceiling fan. All rooms are en-suite shower, toilet and sink with hot and cold running water.

Each Cottage also has a dining and living room where guests come together for breakfast and dinner and to relax at the end of a great day's diving. The 32" LCD TV has many sport and movie channels and there's free wireless internet for all guests. There is also a dedicated camera room withcharging racks and PC for downloading (PhotoShop installed).

These boutique cottages are something of a first for Lembeh and we look forward to welcoming you to a unique and memorable experience.

Supervising the housekeeping and food service in the Cottages is Merlyn who previously worked as Restaurant Supervisor at Kungkungan Bay Resort.

» Click here for a floor plan of the cottages

» Click here for more information and more fabulous photos

Kima Bajo & Lembeh Cottages: 6-night All-Inclusive Dive Package

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:48:47 +0600

Merry Christmas from Eco Divers

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 16:20:27 +0600

Everyone at Eco Divers wishes you a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2010.

Next year we'll be offering you a great Lembeh Strait diving experience for an amazing price and we're also delighted to announce the opening of North Sulawesi's only dedicated digital photo and video facility at Kima Bajo Resort.

So, when you plan your 2010 dive holiday, look no further than Eco Divers.

And remember, we'd love to hear from you if you have ideas about anything you'd like us to include in future editions. Email us at info@eco-divers.com.

Jim & Cary Yanny

Two great new dive speedboats for Lembeh Cottages

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 15:56:11 +0600

Our diving service, as with all Eco Divers services, is about comfort and safety, which is why we've recently purchased two dive speedboats for our Lembeh Cottage service. Each speedboat can accommodate up to 8 divers in full comfort and is fitted with tank rack, seated dive deck, jump gate and stainless steel ladder. The size of dive groups will be limited to a maximum of 4 guests per guide (as we do at Kima Bajo). Our guides are highly experienced Lembeh guides, with many years experience on the local sites.

Between dives you will be taken by speedboat to Eco Divers' large, comfortable boat, MV Nautica where you can relax in a shaded salon. Facilities include two toilets, showers, tea and coffee facilities and a large sundeck. A hot buffet lunch will be served onboard each day. As we have generators on-board, you can also charge your cameras or bring laptops onto the boat. DAN Oxygen and first aid are also available, as is Nitrox. Since our two Cottages each sleep 6 guests, that means a maximum of just 12 guests on-board, giving each guest a huge amount of personal space and comfort between dives.

Nautica will move up and down the Lembeh Strait with the dive speedboats, so it's always close by when you finish your dive. Our dive program in Lembeh is three guided day-dives per day, on different sites and you can also opt to add a night dive as the fourth dive of the day.

Guests can combine a stay at Kima Bajo Resort & Spa, to dive Bunaken, with a stay at our Lembeh Cottages.

Dive Lembeh and stay in our NEW Lembeh Cottages

Wed, 21 Oct 2009 20:18:51 +0600

Lembeh Combo Dive Package includes:

5 nights' accommodation at Kima Bajo Resort & Spa in a Longhouse Room
1 night's accommodation at Eco Divers Lembeh Cottages
3 days' boat day-diving in Bunaken National Park (max. 3 dives/day)
2 days' boat day-diving in Lembeh Strait (max. 3 dives/day)
1 FREE night dive in Lembeh Strait
Airport transfers and round trip Lembeh road transfer Breakfast, lunch & dinner
Tax & service

Start the ball rolling and book today. Email info@eco-divers.com

Eco Divers knows its octopuses

Mon, 18 May 2009 13:56:44 +0600

Eagle-eyed Hilary Elder spotted an error when Emperor Divers' Red Sea centre in Nuweiba thought they had spotted a mimic octopus. Great excitement abounded and the news went far and wide in their newsletter. Where it was picked up by Hilary who pointed out that she had taken an actual photo of a mimic octopus when diving with Eco Divers a couple of years ago.

And so the oracle of Lembeh marine life was consulted...Cary Yanny. Cary confirmed that the Nuweiba octopus was not a mimic but a 'starry night' variety.

Here's Hilary's photo of the mimic octopus...

And here's the photo from Nuweiba of the, now known to be, starry night octopus

Critter of the month: Whale Shark (Rhincodon Typus)

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:38:00 +0600

Thank you to Katy Page for letting us use her photo from the dive

"Keep your wide angle in your bag, this is the Lembeh Strait!" We really can't remember how many times we have said that to our guests. However, on 3rd March we were forced to think again. On a dive to Angels Window a group diving with guide Robbie Manialup came across a whale shark. We fondly called it a pygmy whale shark as it was still young and only reached a length of 6 meters!

This is the biggest fish in the sea and there are only a few whale species that are larger. Thought to reach up to a possible 20 meters and 34 tonnes it seems difficult to believe that they feed on microscopic plankton rarely more than 3mm in size. The combination of its immense size and characteristic checkerboard pattern makes this creature almost unmistakable and completely unforgettable.

The whale shark belongs to the order Orectolobiformes, or carpet sharks, and comprises the only member of its family, Rhincodontidae. Most families of carpet sharks are small, benthic (sea-floor) species with a limited distribution through the tropical and temperate indo-pacific waters (e.g. wobbegongs and bamboo sharks). A few species such as the whale shark, Zebra shark and two out of the three species of nurse Shark are larger and more geographically widespread. (Info from the Shark Trust)

If you have a particular critter that you would like to learn more about, email steve.coverdale@eco-divers.com and we'll look into featuring it in a future article.

FREE tuition and advice from world-renowned Bill MacDonald

Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:58:02 +0600

It's not often we get something for free these day, and so the Eco Team are extremely happy to tell you that Bill MacDonald will be at Kungkungan Bay Resort for the first 3 weeks of November 2008. This is your big chance to learn from one of the most experienced underwater videographers in the world. And Bill's advice is completely free of charge.

Bill is an established environmental film producer and CEO of Bill Macdonald Productions and stock footage archive and is the producer of the popular Synthetic Sea series that chronicles the unfortunate impact of marine debris on the world ocean ecosystem.

He has a B.S in Political Science from CSULB as well as some forty years of filming and video experience including a six-year period as a member of the Cousteau Society's Calypso diving and filming team. You can learn more about Bill and his work by checking out these links – and when you've done that you will then want to click here and book your diving holiday to make sure you get some of the best free advice this side of Christmas!

Links: www.macdonaldproductions.com and www.youtube.com/007bmac

Book today! info@eco-divers.com

Give your underwater photography the WOW factor with the Ferraris

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:10:32 +0600

World-famous underwater photographers and marine life authors, Andrea & Antonella Ferrari, are holding an informal hands-on photo workshop at the newly refurbished Kungkungan Bay Resort (KBR) from June 13 to July 2, 2008.

Learn first hand about their unique tips on identifying and photographing the marine life of the Lembeh Strait.

The workshop is really informal and will look at the creativity and actual underwater action of capturing shots as well as in-depth chats about the subject. Share experiences and make the most of improving your underwater photography with their priceless tips and suggestions.

The Ferraris will also sign copies of their new book, A Diver's Guide to the Art of Underwater Photography - the ideal tutorial for all those diving at KBR.