Welcome to Lembeh, a hidden paradise, piece of heaven for every world’s divers.
Lembeh Strait is a strait in Indonesia, separating the islands of Sulawesi and Lembeh. The town of Bitung and Tongkoko volcano are located on the western side of the strait.
The strait is known for its abundant and colorful marine life, in particular sea slugs, and is a popular diving spot.
The Togian (or Togean) Islands are an archipelago of 56 islands and islets, in the Gulf of Tomini, off the coast of Central Sulawesi, in Indonesia. The three largest islands are Batudaka, Togian, and Talatakoh. There are 37 villages on the islands, with one settled by the Bajau people, more commonly known as the sea gypsies.
Lembeh Strait in North Sulawesi
Critter heaven! Bring your macro lens and shoot flamboyant cuttlefish, harlequin shrimp, skeleton shrimps, innumerable nudibranchs, and amazing fish such as stargazers, snake eels, stonefish, sea robins, devilfish, weedy scorpion fish, pygmy seahorses, Pegasus sea robins, cardinal fish, ghost pipe fish, and the queen of small tropicals, the kaleidoscopic mandarin fish. Moreover, while much of Indonesian diving requires dealing with currents, Lembeh features easy diving in calm lake-like water. This place has earned its reputation as the muck diving capital of the world. And it makes for part of a great combination trip with Togian National Park (see the next listing).
Togian National Park in Central Sulawesi
We know of nowhere else where you can dive on barrier reefs, atolls and fringing reefs all in the same area. Togian’s coral reefs offer beauty and diversity with visibility of 15 – 30 m. Eye-popping density of fish life includes schools of jacks and barracudas, bumphead parrotfish, Napoleon wrasses, snappers, fusiliers and more. The underwater landscape matches the beauty of the fish life. Explore drop offs with crevasse and overheads, canyons, rock formations, pinnacles, steep slopes and walls. You’ll see abundant gorgonians and healthy soft corals. Plus you can see a remarkably intact WWII B-24 Liberator plane wreck at 18m.