Lembeh Strait: Last Day Diving + Resort Review

Wow! Has it really been ten days? It feels almost surreal to be going in for my last dive. Diving all day every day makes it seem almost like it would never end. It's like a routine you've gotten used to. I didn't even know I could dive this much in such a short period of time. I probably logged the most dives here than I ever had anywhere else!

Plus, time underwater goes by super fast when you're focused on doing something, especially trying to take candid shots of marine life. I never once found myself bored in any of the dives no matter how long we were down there for. And believe me when I say we were always under for quite some time.

Here are the creatures I found today:

Shrimpy!

Peekaboo, little eel.

A hairy orangutan crab.
I wish I have flowing hair like that.

Spikey hermit crab.

Two emperor shrimps on a sea cucumber.

And this crab making his escape and protecting himself by carrying a fire urchin.

This huge, ugly sea worm. Blegh!

An agitated pufferfish.
He's in the process of deflating.

A fishy disguising himself with the floor.

This. This psychedelic hermit crab.

Did you know that sea cucumber's poop is white and SUPER sticky?
Our guide "tickled" this guy with a pointer, and he totally all out pooped!

This seahorse has the audacity to glance at me over his shoulder.

A napoleon snake eel poking his head out.

Little green box fish with blue dots.

Mimic octopus!
We saw so many of these, especially during the night dives.

"Me lives in a bucket!"

Finally, a wonderpus!
They have funky looking eyes!

Dive Site:
1.  Madidir

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Resort Review

Kungkungan Bay Resort, Lembeh Strait, Indonesia

Overall:  4 / 5

Accommodations:  4 / 5

Food:  4 / 5

Diving:  5 / 5

Spa:  3 / 5

A view of the houses along the beach.

The restaurant and bar on the water.

The jetty.

I was very happy with my experience here at Kungkungan. The staff are very friendly and caring. They give their best efforts in making your stay the most pleasant it can be. The house/room is clean, beautifully decorated, and comfortable (refer to the first blog post on this trip for pictures). The dive: excellent (as you can see from all the pictures).

Although the food didn't particularly agree with my mom's taste buds, I thought they were pretty good. On top of that, their menu offers a variety of option from eastern to western cuisine. I enjoyed and would recommend Soto Ayam and Spaghetti with Basil Sauce.

Soto Ayam is a local dish that can probably be described as Indonesia's version of chicken noodle soup. It is a noodle dish in chicken broth with chicken meat and some vegetables. I always substitute the egg noodle that the dish originally comes with with glass noodle.

And I would assume you would, or at least be able to imagine, what Spaghetti with Basil Sauce looks like.

One criticism I have for the resort concerns the spa. The massages were all good and relaxing. However, one day I signed up for a package that includes getting a massage, a facial, and a hair treatment that ended up being quite horrible. The massage and facial went wonderfully. For the hair portion, we had to switch from the massage room to a room with a hair-washing bed. By golly! That room has never been used in forever!

The masseuse clearly didn't prep the room before I went in. The room is not air conditioned, which made it unpleasantly humid and warm. Moreover, there were mosquitoes EVERYWHERE! Geckos on the ceiling and some flying beetles unable to find their way out. I was anxious about getting mosquito bites the whole time I lay on the bed getting my hair treated. Finally, after a few times that I had to swat away what felt like mosquitoes landing on my skin, the masseuse finally sprayed some mosquito repellent. But even that didn't drive away all of them. I celebrated silently every time I saw a gecko devour the little fiends, all the while worried that the flying beetle will eventually fall onto my face/body the next time it flies into one of the lights instead of going out the door.

Bottom line is avoid the use of that room at all costs!

The whole spa itself just gives off this feeling that it hasn't been used in a while. And a spa should never feel that way, neither should its facility reflect this in its condition even if that is the truth and the spa hasn't seen a single customer in months. If a spa is to be kept, it must always be in the best of condition, ready for any unexpected clients.

Other than that, Kungkungan Bay Resort is an excellent spot for diving and relaxing. I would definitely recommend this resort to friends and family who enjoy diving.

Lembeh Strait: Eighth Day

Oh, it's the second to last day of diving. Can't believe I had been diving for seven days straight! It feels both like I've been here for forever and I've only just gotten here.

Even though it is the second to last day, I only did two dives today. I feel like it would be best to taper my consumption of nitrogen-rich air just to be safe. But I still got pretty candid shots! I think. :)

A brown frogfish. And he has his friend, a decorator crab, with him.

Here's a better picture of him with the crab.
See those orange eyes?

"Nooo... Crab, don't leave me!!!"

A freakishly giant crab that almost attacked my mom.
I stayed away and just zoomed in, hence, the horrible color quality.

Another flamboyant cuttlefish.

This cute yellow frogfish.

"Look at me beard!"

A moss (?) covered hermit crab.

A hairy yellow-orangish frogfish.

Purple shrimp on a giant black sea cucumber.

Two harlequin shrimps that look like they're strolling through a grassy meadow.

This awesome nudibranch that looks like some virus from a sci-fi movie.

Box crab.

A nudibranch that's pretty confused with his hairdo.

A peeping orange stonefish. I think it's a stonefish.

And the greatest find of all: a baby frogfish!
We could barely make it out when our guide pointed him out to us.
As you can see from the tip of the pointer, this guy's very tiny.

The local kids playing by the water when we surfaced.
Apparently one of them's related to a guy that helps around on the boat.
They're pretty happy with life. :D

Dive Sites:
1.  Hair Ball 1
2.  Tandarusa

Lembeh Strait: Decompression Day Seven

So we went down too deep for too long on the second dive. My max depth was 27.7 m (90.9 ft), and I was stuck decompressing at around 5 m (15 ft) for at least 15 minutes. Our dive guide had to pop up to get us an extra tank to breath on because I was at 30 bar (430 psi) when we had to stop to decompress.

It was all for a good reason though! Well, kind of. We were following a mating blue ringed octopus. My mom stayed down taking pictures for longer than I did, so she had to decompress for longer, including our guide who stayed with her.

That was an interesting experience. I've never been stuck decompressing before. Gotta say, I wasn't as bored waiting as I had thought I would be. Being under water is fun!

Here are today's highlights:

This zebra striped crab.

A bumpy/rocky nudibranch.

Tiny shrimp with a dairy cow color pattern.

An adorably blue nudibranch.

This super cute orange nudibranch with gills that look like a flower on its back.

Two small shrimps with cool pinkish color and sparkly shell on their bodies.

A harlequin shrimp.

The greatest find! A mating blue ringed octopus.
Can you see the other octopus holding on tightly to the blue ringed's head?

Because my dive computer was already telling me to ascend when our dive guide found this blue ringed octopus, I only took a couple pictures (then was outta there!). Thank goodness they came out quite decent!

This funky, mysterious looking creature in a shell with only eyes popping out and a trunk that gropes around the ocean floor.

This is what it looks like after I turned it up.
I suspect it's some kind of sea snail(?).

Yellow nudibranch with what looks like an umbrella over his gills.

This shrimp that decided he loves my mom and kept running around on her.

A red-eyed tiny crab.

Adorable orange frogfish hiding by a similar colored sponge coral.

By the orange frogfish is this larger frogfish that's making himself out to look like a sponge coral altogether.

A peacock mantis shrimp eyeing me angrily at the entrance to his lair!

"Ima fly with these wings!" said the nudibranch.

Another nudibranch that is inspired by the dairy cow, even in plumpness.

Dive Sites Today:
1)  Makawide 3
2)  Goby a Crab
3)  Aer Prang 1