Garuda Indonesia Colours Magazine March 2018 | Page 110

108
Travel | Lembeh
“When you go diving in a place like Raja Ampat,
you’ll pick a section of reef and just explore
– most of the time you aren’t really sure what
you’ll find. Here we’ll target a particular species
for each dive site – like the Rhinopias or
mandarin fish. The big advantage is that
photographers know exactly what lens and
equipment to use, giving them the chance to
capture exactly the photo they want,” he adds.
1
“Divers who come to Lembeh are more like
bird watchers – extremely knowledgeable
about the different animal species and often
come with a detailed list of exactly the ones
they want to find,” Simon concludes.
The dedication of these ‘underwater bird
watchers’ has turned Lembeh into the
world’s top destination for ‘critter diving’, but
what exactly makes the area so different from
other areas of Indonesia?
The lives of the people
of the Lembeh Strait are
focused on the sea, as
fisherfolk or working
in and around the port
city of Bitung...
A group of colourful anemonefish dance
within the tentacles of their underwater
home in the Lembeh Strait.
The Lembeh Strait stretches more than 20km,
a narrow body of water between mainland
Sulawesi and the island of Lembeh itself.
Tidal currents from the open Celebes Sea
flush the channel with clean seawater, while
the nutrient-rich inland waters feed the tiny
shrimp and fish at the bottom of the food
chain all the way up to larger migratory
species like whale sharks, whales and dolphins,
which can also be found here sometimes.
The lives of the people of the Lembeh Strait
are focused on the sea, as fisherfolk or
working in and around the port city of
Bitung – the arrival point for all shipments
bound for Manado and Greater Sulawesi.
Perhaps it is the intimate connection of the
local people with the Celebes Sea that has made
their divemasters some of the best in the world.
Through their deep knowledge of the marine
life of Lembeh and sharp eyes, photographers
across the world have been able to find and
photograph some of the most elusive critters
ever captured on film or memory card.
Three days of exploring Lembeh with Paulus
and his fellow guides passes quickly, and by the
end I’ve shot more than 2,000 photos of the
underwater menagerie we’ve explored here. It’s
easy to see why many divers stay here as long
as a month – and easy to say that I’m looking
forward to experiencing this wonderful and
unusual hidden gem of Indonesia again.
1 Veteran scuba guide Paulus Nomang scans the hidden
crevices of a large barrel sponge for the tiny invertebrates
(critters) that have made Lembeh world-famous among
scuba divers and underwater photographers.