LEMBEH By Juanita Pienaar
Muck Diving for the Luxury Traveler
S
ulawesi is an odd-shaped island found at the juncture of the Celebes, Java, and Banda seas, and with Manado as its main airport Northern Sulawesi is a growing destination for intrepid divers who want off the normal tourist trail. From here travelers can explore natural beauty above and below the water of Bunaken, the black sand beaches of Malalayang, and the volcanoes of Tomohon, Mount Mahawu, and Mount Lokon. For diving enthusiasts who like to get down in the muck, Lembeh is just a short drive away.
Hairy frogfish
Manado it is the gateway to Lembeh Resort and the Lembeh Strait, the so-called “Capital of Muck Diving.” Muck diving really is just that: diving in the muck. Why in heaven’s name would anyone want to do that when there are world-famous coral reefs and clear, blue water not too far away? Because each and every dive is like a bit of a treasure hunt – a possibility to see something you haven’t seen before. Muck diving is usually conducted in areas with sandy, often volcanic bottoms. At first glance these dive sites might look deceptively desolate and uninhabited, but with the right eye, travelers will find an area that teems with as much life as a reef.
While diving in Lembeh divers can spot rare and unique critters in one convenient muck diving location. What makes Lembeh different for muck diving is that many of these rare creatures are concentrated in one area. To add to the uniqueness of the dives in Lembeh, divers will find themselves drifting over a dark, nearly black bottom. The sand in Lembeh, like Malalayang Beach, is pitch black. “The dives aren’t deep, on average around 20 meters, giving the chance […] to have long and relax[ed] dives,” says Florent Horn, a diving instructor who worked in Lembeh for two years, describing the dives as, “mostly made of gentle black sand slopes.”
Blue-ringed octopus
