Scuba Diving Tours and Scuba Dive Vacations

   Critters of Lembeh Strait  

LEMBEH STRAIT SCUBA DIVING: North Sulawesi Indonesia

Lembeh Strait is a 12 km long stretch of water separating Lembeh Island and the mainland. Bitung is actually the half way point along the shores of Lembeh Strait. This pristine section of water in North Sulawesi is home to many unique sea animals which include the pygmy seahorse, mimic octopus, ghost pipefish, as well as other larger species. It is a fantastic area scuba diving and  for underwater photographers.  The diversity of smaller creatures ensures many memorable photo opportunities.

Lembeh has fast developed a reputation as being the place for "muck diving". The sheltered straits form a kind of bottleneck in the surrounding sea, which has led to an abundance of plankton. This siltybottomed strait therefore doesn’t have the same spectacular coral walls of Bunaken National Park (on the other side of N. Sulawesi) but it does mean that the conditions are just right for serious divers to see a menagery of weird and wonderful creatures up close that they rarely, if ever, get to see anywhere else. Creatures with weird descriptive names that conjure up all sorts of strange images are common here – the ornate ghost pipefish, neon coloured nudibranchs (a kind of seaslug), mimic octopuses and flamboyant cuttlefish, as well as the diminutive pygmy seahorse and the aptly named frogfish can all be seen hiding among the crevices of the Lembeh Strait.