Recently in News about Eco Divers Category

As Gary and Louise come to the end of their year's management contract at Eco Divers Resort Lembeh (formerly Lembeh Cottages) this month, they leave us in great shape. Under their management, Eco Divers Resort Lembeh developed from a collection of humble cottages into a top quality dive resort.

Whilst our customers have enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and smooth, consistent personalised service, we know that this has been achieved by many hours of hard work, a constant focus and huge commitment by Gary and Lou as well as their senior staff, Rustam and Berty, and the excellence of the entire team.

Gary and Lou have been the finest of ambassadors for Eco Divers, setting a very high standard of service, which has taken Eco Divers Resort Lembeh to new heights. The vast majority of guests who have dived with them have told us how extremely satisfied they were - a level of satisfaction that has been reflected consistently with a high ranking on TripAdvisor. We are extremely grateful to Gary and Lou and wish the very best for their future. We know that they will continue to be model professionals and will be successful and happy. Goodbye and thanks!

And so it's a warm welcome to someone you have known over the years and who has been a major player in the success of Eco Divers generally. The next phase of management for Eco Divers Resort Lembeh will be in the highly experienced hands of...Cary Yanny! From September, Cary will run our Resort and dive operation and, if you've dived with her before, you'll know this means that our great service will continue and grow. It also means that there'll be much fun to be had as Cary brings her own, unique personality to the Resort. Now is the time to come and dive with her and enjoy Cary's immense knowledge of the area's dive sites and marine life, as well as her underwater photography skills.

Having enjoyed a top spot on TripAdvisor as No 1 Hotel in Bitung, Lembeh Cottages has now confidently moved to top notch spot as best Hotel in all of Sulawesi.

What an achievement for the Eco Divers' team, having worked so proudly to give guests a first-class service with the diving, the cuisine and the accommodation. And it's paid off.

Just read the feedback from recent clients who have enjoyed the attention to detail, the seam-free diving and the top-notch cuisine (sourced locally on a daily basis with custom orders being taken each and every morning!).

Sounds like it's time you experienced it for yourself.

Contact us today or visit our website Lembeh pages to find out more.

A warm welcome to Saaya Sorrells-Weatherford and Karl ter Vehn Lexell as they join us at Eco Divers, Manado in Kima Bajo Resort.

Saaya & Karl are both PADI MSDT Instructors and Emergency First Response Instructors. They also teach PADI specialties including Nitrox, Night, Deep and Digital Underwater Photography. Saaya and Karl previously managed a dive operation in Thailand.

Get to know them better...

Saaya, although an American citizen, was born and raised in Tokyo and speaks fluent Japanese. She is an Emergency First Response Instructor and Care for Children with AED Instructor. After graduating from the University of Southern California's School of Cinematic Arts with a bachelor's degree in Film Production, she spent a year back in Japan before rediscovering her passion for diving. She decided to drop everything and move to Palau to work on her Divemaster and kept going from there, completing her IDC in Phuket and then moving to Thailand.

Karl worked as a Construction & Product Manager at the Swedish exhibition centre in Gothenburg before starting his diving career. He also worked as a teacher at the University of Central America, in Nicaragua. In his first season as an instructor he worked in Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras before moving on to work in Nicaragua for two years as a dive centre manager/instructor. Karl then moved on to the Perenthian Islands, Malaysia, and on to Thailand before joining us here in North Sulawesi.

We wish them both an enjoyable and fulfilling time working with Eco Divers and they look forward to meeting you just as soon as you can make it.

This great picture of not one but TWO Pigmy Seahorses take the 'Photo of the week winner' this week.

Well done Debbie Moffit for taking such a great picture, go on be honest did you even see the second one? :o)

Having closely monitored the situation here over the past days, we can tell you that travelling to and diving with Eco Divers is safe and the diving and resorts have not been affected in any way whatsoever.

Our dive centre at Lembeh is almost 40 kilometres from the volcano and our centre at Kima Bajo, Manado, is about 30 kilometres away.

The airport at Manado is open and neither of our dive centres have had any problems at all. In fact our Managers at Lembeh Cottages, Gary and Lou, only found out about it via the UK press!

Mount Lokon is still growling but mainly with ash and smoke and, as this is a mountainous region, any lava flows cannot affect our centres.

As you can see from this photo by Christian Loader, The Digital Centre Manager, Mount Lokon is well away in the distance with Bunaken Island and Manado Tua on the right.

Thanks to the popularity and high levels of service and diving at Eco Divers Lembeh Cottages, the team has consistently been awarded excellent ratings on the popular travel website, TripAdvisor. This has resulted in TripAdvisor recognising the Resort and awarding a Certificate of Excellence, 2011.
 
"We regularly receive 4.5 out of 5 and it's rewarding to know that so many guests have such a great time staying and diving here," explains Gary Ball, who managers Lembeh Cottages Resort & Spa along with Louise Kraechter. "The fact that we are the only dive centre in Indonesia to offer a unique experience of diving from a liveaboard by day followed by eating, relaxing and sleeping in a resort each night is where we really score well."
 
Lembeh Cottages is a boutique resort and spa offering personalised dive services, immaculate accommodation and exceptional cuisine. With a price of just US$90 per person per night, including all meals, tax & service, free wireless internet and airport transfers, Lembeh Cottages is also the best value for money in Lembeh.
 
All 12 rooms are en-suite, air-conditioned and comfortably furnished. There is an outside restaurant, bar and lounge, indoor 'quiet' lounges, professional Indonesian spa, full photo and video centre and camera rooms.
 
Visit Lembeh Cottages for the full picture on diving the warm waters of the Lembeh Strait or Bunaken Marine Park or email info@eco-divers.com 

 

April 2011 is a great date in our calendar as it marks exactly 10 years since we opened our doors to welcome divers to North Sulawesi, Indonesia.

The first thing we want to do on our birthday is to thank every single one of you who has dived with us over those ten wonderful years. We trust we gave you some great holiday memories and hope you'll be back to help us see in the next 10 years.

Your Eco Divers' Team

The global world of scuba diving has a huge choice of dive centres; either for dive courses, day diving or liveaboard safaris. So disparate is the choice that a group of like-minded companies, Eco Divers being one of them, have banded together to offer a service that stands out above the crowd and offers a consistent standard of teaching, guiding, equipment and customer fulfilment.

Global Dive Network (GDN) was formed on the back of the frustrations that not all dive businesses are the same. Some appeal to a mass tourism, some appeal to a 'qualify me quick and don't mind how you do it' customer and others appeal to those who want to feel valued, have a high quality experience and be sure their chosen dive centre is well-respected and accredited.

GDN links a number of businesses with no other connection except a strong reputation for training excellence, value for money and delivering consistent customer service.

There are seven members of GDN (see below), the majority of which are PADI Career Development Centres with world class reputations, headed by PADI Course Directors. Their shared business practices set strict regulations that allow membership of GDN. All members are in agreement on the level of service required and anyone failing to meet this will have their membership revoked.

Diving guests also benefit from a discount reward scheme run throughout all the member centres. This rewards guests if they've dived with any of the GDN centres as well as giving peace of mind that when they choose a GDN centre anywhere in the world, they know it operates to dependable high standards.

GDN's mission is "to provide excellent customer service by putting the client first, ensuring safety, and providing education and experiences that go beyond their expectations."

www.globaldivenetwork.com

GDN members are:
Blue Season Bali, Indonesia
Buddha View Resort, Thailand
Eco Divers, Indonesia
Emperor Divers, Red Sea
Poseidon Divers, Red Sea
Prodive Cairns, Australia
Utila Dive Center, Honduras

For more information, please contact info@eco-divers.com

With over ten years of experience in managing a dive centre and resort business in North Sulawesi, a pure passion for diving and a myriad of marketing experience, it is with delight that Jim and Cary Yanny, owners of Eco Divers, announce the appointment of Andrea Bensi to their management team as co-owner and Managing Director.

Eco Divers is renowned for its popular diving services in Bunaken and Lembeh, Manado, North Sulawesi.  With Andrea on board, the company will be taking the diving services at Eco Divers Manado and Eco Divers Resort Lembeh to an even higher level.

These include Eco Divers' 'green credentials'; a focus very much at the heart of the company's ethos, which addresses environmentally responsible tourism and sustained livelihoods to improve the lives of staff and their families.

Jim and Cary explained, "We are delighted to be partners with Andrea. Having been friends for several years we have always had great respect for him on both a personal and professional level. We have one of the most admired people in North Sulawesi as part of our Eco Divers' team and are looking forward to sharing his extensive knowledge and to seeing our staff and customers benefit from his management skills. This is a new era for us and we believe that we make one of the strongest management teams to be found anywhere in Indonesia, not just North Sulawesi. The benefit to our guests will be an even higher level of customer service and satisfaction than before. And that's saying something as we receive such positive reviews, as endorsed on TripAdvisor."

"I am thrilled to be part of Eco Divers' family," said Andreas, "as this is one of the leading dive businesses in Indonesia. I have always prized the high level of service offered to its guests and I believe that, together, we'll achieve even higher results in terms of customer satisfaction, which is our first goal."

Andrea was previously a partner in Celebes Divers and, until recently, Sales & Marketing Manager for Liveaboard Ocean Rover and knows what to offer the discerning diver and guest. He speaks several languages and is an avid diver and underwater photographer.

Eco Divers will be at the ADEX show in Singapore on 22 - 24 April; an ideal opportunity to meet the team and find out about exciting new plans for diving in Manado.

If you would like more information on the show, email info@eco-divers.com

Well they were for this night anyway... the bar welcomed its first guest. As the first guest into the new bar it's a big thanks to Christian for drinking our beer, watching satellite TV and relaxing on a comfy sofa.