Lembeh Land
of Rare, Unusual and Wacky Critters Lembeh Straits on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, is the most reliable and accessible site in the world for discovering an amazing diversity of muck critters. The legendary Kungkungan Bay Resort used to monopolise these straits of supremely rich waters between the Sulawesi mainland and the small island of Pulau Lembeh. There are now many more options of diving this small patch of ocean attracting a multitude of international divers. Around Lembeh The drive from Manado International airport to the Lembeh area takes around an hour. The main town on the east side of Sulawesi’s northern peninsula is Bitung, which is a bustling and unattractive port. Luckily, transfers will take you directly from the airport to the local dive centres, which are much more tranquil. We stayed at the Kungkungan Bay Resort during February and found it to be almost deserted. This worked well as we were able to take our pick of the dive sites but occasionally, once my buddies had left leaving me the only guest, the dive guides were a little reluctant to go out at all! Unfortunately for them I tend not to relax much on dive trips so they were dragged into the water at every opportunity. I was generally able to do three or four dives per day, including a night dive.
The relatively narrow 400-500m channel between the island and the mainland is the location for all dives in the strait. Virtually all sites are black volcanic sand, which is well known for accommodating some of the best critter action. The sand does make the dives seem rather gloomy and visibility is around 5-15m on most sites, which doesn’t make this the best area for divers who prefer pretty reef scapes. Due to the close proximity of the busy port there is also plenty of boat traffic that can become quite disconcerting as you surface following a dive. Having said all of that there is nowhere quite like Lembeh for the density and diversity of critter life. Our first dive was at Nudi Falls, which certainly lived up to its name. We found several species of Chromodoris, Glossodoris and Flabellina nudibranchs plus a large bend-stick pipefish, which measured about a foot in length. These highly cryptic pipefish often sit in barren patches of rubble with the back two thirds of their body on the bottom and the rest drifting above feeding on miniscule shrimps. They appear totally rigid and manage to convince most people that they are nothing but a twig. At this site we also encountered our first banggai cardinalfish. This striking species naturally exists around only a few islands in central Sulawesi but has fairly recently arrived in Lembeh straits. It is unknown if some individuals were purposefully released here or if their range has naturally extended to the area. Black sloping sand sites Black sloping sand can describe the topography of the majority of Lembeh dive sites. The divemasters have done these sites for years and know to turn right at the large tunicate, straight past the blue sponge and left when they hit the rubble patch. You could be forgiven for thinking that some of the critters have marker buoys on them, which can sometimes take a little of the fun from the hunt. I wasn’t about to complain when they managed to find me three hairy frogfish during my stay. First was a small pink individual among some equally pink soft corals, a slightly larger beige one on a site called Hairball and a much bigger beige one at a site named TK2. The hairy frogfish is not actually a distinct species but infact a hairy version of the striped frogfish. The hairy variation tends to be found in the presence of filamentous algae and soft corals as the extra skin appendages help the fish blend into its surroundings.
TK2 was one of my favourite black sloping sand sites with amazingly abundant critters. It was at this site I saw my first ever Rhinopias frondosa (weedy scorpionfish), in a huge patch of rubble and Halimeda algae at around 22m depth. It was a bright lime green to closely match the abundant algae. Whilst not common in the strait there is a much better chance of spotting one here than many other places. Unfortunately if discovered by an irresponsible guide who then takes hoards of eager photographers to see the fish they will soon disappear below safe diving limits where they are quite safe. Other similar sites include Jahir, Retak Larry and Aw Shucks where abundant demon stingers, shortfin lionfish, cockatoo waspfish and frogfish are likely to be found. Jahir and Critter Hunt actually have very unusual bright red demon stingers that are worth looking out for. Other highlights of these sites are pegasus seamoths, truly one of the oddest creatures I have ever seen. They are actually related to the seahorse family but look as though they have been assembled from different parts of a Lego set. Various species of snake eel are also common on the black sand sites including black-saddle, marbled, crocodile, sharpsnout, reptilian and stargazer to name a few! Also cockatoo flounder, flying gurnards, robust ghost pipefish and huge Common seahorses all made appearances on various black sand dives throughout the trip. High on my wish list for the trip to Lembeh was the flamboyant cuttlefish. I had asked the guides to keep their eyes peeled and we frequented sites where they are known to hang around. One afternoon we found a dozen or so eggs with well developed embryos on the inside of a coconut shell on the sea floor and moments later I saw my first flamboyant. It was all of 3cm long and hovering well off the bottom. It wasn’t quite what I had in mind but even at that age the bright colouration was evident. Night I had very high expectations for night dives in Lembeh straits and I am normally an avid night diver but they were actually a little disappointing. I think we spent so much time trawling the bottom for daytime critters that we saw a lot of the little frogfish and other creatures that are more often noticed by torchlight. Also species such as snake eels that tend to come out more by night were as easy to spot during the day. There were plenty of small octopi at night crawling across the open sand but not much stood out on the night dives for me.
Angel’s Window Angel’s Window is the main reef dive site in Lembeh straits with limited hard coral growth but plentiful soft corals and sponges. The reef raises as a small pinnacle off the bottom which begins at around 12m and slopes down to beyond 40m. There is a small swim through at around 25m, which contains a few Bargabant’s pygmy seahorses on a particularly vivid red fan. The much rarer Pontohi’s pygmy has also been seen at this site at around 30m. Reef associated critters are also found more commonly at this site such as ornate ghost pipefish, leaf scorpionfish and ribbon eels. Police Pier Police Pier is one of the few white sand critter dives in Lembeh and was one of my favorites. It is located towards Bitung town and the dive takes place off the active police pier. At this site I saw a personal best of seven frogfish on one dive; they were of various sizes, colours and species. This is also a great site for small commensal shrimp and nudibranchs. On my final dive in the straits the dive guide called me over to an amazing pair of shrimp that I had never seen before. After searching through several books on my return I found them to be Phyllognathia ceratophthalmus. They are quite similar in habit to their cousins, the harlequin shrimp, in that they also feed on sea stars, they are brightly coloured and the male is the smaller of the pair. Sulawesi Back and Beyond As well as being extraordinarily diverse underwater,
Indonesia is also one of the world’s most mega diverse nations
topside. In fact, Indonesia has only fractionally fewer species
than Brazil, which is the world’s biologically richest country.
Sulawesi is the pinnacle of this terrestrial diversity and has high
numbers of species that occur nowhere else. As a biologist I could
not miss the opportunity of seeing some of these creatures first
hand.
After an hours walk through the forest we reached a hollow tree where a strangler fig had killed off it’s host leaving only the figs interwoven stems to form a tree shaped cylinder. The guide gestured for us to stay down and sit quietly as he reached for his jam-jar and placed one of the crickets on a branch. A few minutes later a little furry beast silently leaped down and took the insect. After it had come and taken several of the crickets it became confident enough to sit on the edge of the branch while it ate. The creature was a Tarsier, a small nocturnal monkey. They are in fact among the oldest known ancestors of today’s monkeys, known as Prosimians. Both the cuddly Mogwai from Gremlins and Yoda from Star Wars are based on these distinctive creatures. Having seen so many of Sulawesi’s unique animals on only a short day excursion this was the perfect de-gas day for the more adventurous. Pre-Trip Training
Travel advice - Foreign and Commonwealth Office – 0870 6060290 – www.fco.gov.uk Land Based Diving: Liveaboards: |
