Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine March 2018 | Page 109

Travel | Lembeh
1 Described as the ‘Holy Grail of
underwater photography’, the ultra-rare
Rhinopias scorpionfish can be found at
Lembeh’s ‘Nudi Falls’ dive site.
Filmmakers from the BBC and Disney visited Lembeh to film
some of the most dramatic underwater sequences in the award-
winning documentary The Blue Planet...
We’ve been underwater for just 50 minutes and
have already seen more rare creatures than many
divers will see in a lifetime. As the air in our tanks
is getting low, Paulus turns towards shore
to finish our dive.
Here, the sloping sea floor ends abruptly in a
beautiful coral wall – sea fans waving gently in the
current, porcupinefish darting out of underwater
caves, and thousands of nudis accenting our view
with dots of brilliant colour. Paulus continues to
point out critter after critter, expertly guiding me
through this undersea dreamscape of marine life.
After 70 minutes underwater, Paulus gives the
‘thumbs up’, signalling that it’s time for us to return
to the boat. Even after just one dive, I realise that
Lembeh is quite unlike any experience I’ve had in
more than 14 years of diving – this morning was
really like three different dives in one.
5 Senses – Sight
SELAT LEMBEH
FESTIVAL
Held in October during the
anniversary of nearby Bitung
City, the Selat Lembeh Festival
celebrates the unique culture,
environment and people of
Lembeh and North Sulawesi.
Featuring activities ranging
from a 10km fun run and an
underwater photography
contest, to a tuna festival,
yacht parade and an ornamental
boat race, this event is every
bit as unique as the rare marine
species that first made this
area world-famous for diving.
Digelar bulan Oktober
guna merayakan hari jadi Kota
Bitung, Festival Selat Lembeh
mengangkat keunikan budaya,
lingkungan serta masyarakat
Lembeh dan Sulawesi Utara.
Beragam acara disajikan, mulai
dari lomba lari 10 km, fotografi
bawah air hingga festival tuna,
pawai kapal pesiar dan lomba
perahu hias. Isi acara ini cukup
unik, seunik biota laut Lembeh
yang telah menjadikan daerah ini
terkenal akan situs selamnya.
107
Back at the boat, Paulus tells me more about the
history of our morning dive site. “We call this place
‘Nudi Falls’ – because the first time we discovered
the dive, we noticed the nudibranchs kept falling
past us as we dived the wall,” Paulus says with a
laughing smile. “We were wondering why they kept
falling, and then we noticed our friend deep below
us – the bubbles from his tank were rising up the
wall and knocking the nudibranchs off. So we
called it Nudi Falls!”
In the decades since Paulus and his friends
discovered Nudi Falls, the site has become
legendary – experts have rated it the fourth best
dive spot in the entire world.
Even from the early days of diving in Lembeh,
Paulus and his fellow diving pioneers knew they
had discovered something special. Will, an
American diver/photographer on the boat with us,
and his wife have been coming to Lembeh for many
years to dive with Paulus and the NAD Lembeh
Resort – one of 19 dive operations now in the area.
Lembeh’s exposure in National Geographic in the
early 1990s turned the island into a magnet for
underwater photographers – today groups come
from around the world to photograph the rare and
unusual creatures found here. Filmmakers from
the BBC and Disney visited Lembeh to film some
of the most dramatic underwater sequences in the
award-winning documentary The Blue Planet and in
Disney Nature’s soon-to-be-released live-action
film Dolphins.
But what makes Lembeh so unusual, when
compared to Indonesia’s other legendary dive
destinations? “The difference here in Lembeh is
that we know exactly what we’re looking for when
we go out to a dive site,” explains Simon Buxton,
owner and manager of NAD Lembeh Resort.
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