Lembeh dive trip

This was one of the long awaited dive trip that I was looking forward to, especially since my last dive trip was in December 2008. Because of exams, working commitments and other stuffs, diving just didn't happen for me last year. Which was why I was very determined to go for this trip, especially after hearing so many nice and exciting things from my friends who have been there before.

After the shit that AA gave us, ending up with us trying to find alternatives to fly to Manado, after months and months of waiting, after shitty February, after a string of oncalls in March, after submitting my leave forms and pray very hard that it'll be approve and nobody sabotaging my trip....after so long, the day finally arrived. I knew it was going to be a long journey, but I didn't it was going to be THIS long, THIS tiring...just to get to our resort. To think that we would probably get there in 3-4 hours if we flew direct via KK to Manado plus about an hr land transfer, we actually had to fly KK-KL (2.5 hrs flight), transit for 4 hrs, then fly KL-Jakarta (2 hrs flight), transit for 4 hrs, fly to Manado (3 hrs flight), 1 hr land transfer to Bintung and (plus-minus) 0.5hrs boat ride to the resort. That's 18 hours of travelling!!! Arrived at Bastianos Resort wayyyyyyy past midnight, very tired and hungry.

That definately didn't stop me from doing all 13 dives for the trip (the others sat our for some dives), including night dives. Discovered and saw many interesting a new creatures such as the weird Melibe fimbriata nudibranch, tiny Flamboyant cuttlefish, Ponthoni pygmy seahorse, Lembeh seadragon, mimic octopus (hiding in the coconut shell), Blue Ring Octopus, Flying Gurnard, various types of Lionfish and Scorpionfish, Ambon Scorpionfish, Spiny Devilfish, Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish, HairyFrogfish, Spiny Waspfish, Leaf fish, juvenile Sweetlips, Juvenile Barramundi, Juvenile Batfish, Gold Spec Jawfish, Stargazers, Crocodilefish, Cowfish, Goatfish, many different types of nudibranches, shrimps and many more. Sadly did not had the opportunity to see Mandarinfish, but maybe next time...

This trip definately taught me that although there is practically no reef, there are still a lot of marine life (tiny ones especially) provided you're patient, keep your eyes wide open and know where to look for them. I don't think I have the eye for it but it was really fun when we found something exciting...especially that Blue Ring Octopus that my dive guide practically pull me to see that deadly little thing.... :)