NORTH SULAWESI
Live Aboard Underwater Photography Trips
(Please note: Our North Sulawesi Trips for 2012 are all now fully booked
Please contact us for details of trips in 2013)



Bangka Archipelago

Located just a few kilometres north of the coastline of North Sulawesi, the five islands that make-up the Bangka Archipelago are home to a few villages. The hills of Bangka Island have extensive farming for cashew nuts.
Sahuang Island North Sulawesi - Photo Copyright Jeff Mullins 2011


Lembeh Strait

Located close to the port of Bitung (our port of departure), Lembeh Strait is famous for its muck diving.  You name a tropical critter and you can almost guarantee it can be found here. The Strait is a narrow strip of sea squeezed between Lembeh Island & the North Sulawesi mainland.
Frogfish Lembeh Strait North Sulawesi - Copyright Jeff Mullins 2011


The Mainland

The mainland of North Sulawesi has spectacular above water scenery with varied landscapes. While underwater are muck diving sites, pinnacles, a jetty and walls. Dolphins are often sighted from the bow of the boat.
North Sulawesi Live Aboard Photo Trip
Dolphins Manado North Sulawesi - Photo Copyright Jeff Mullins 2011
Bangka Island Live Aboard Dive Trip
Top Deck
Indonesia Live Aboard Double Cabin
Double Cabin
North Sulawesi Live Aboard Twin Cabin
Twin Cabin
Some photos that we have taken on our trips to Nth Sulawesi are on our Flickr site (click on any image below to view them)
www.flickr.com
Reefimages' North Sulawesi photoset Reefimages' North Sulawesi photoset

North Sulawesi Underwater Photography Trip
Our 11 night extended underwater photo trip is a combination of the Bangka Archipelago, Lembeh Strait and the coastline of North Sulawesi.
We begin our journey in Bali, where we fly in the afternoon to Manado, the capital of North Sulawesi. Here we overnight  in a hotel and transfer to the Live-aboard vessel the next morning in the port of Bitung.
We begin our diving in Lembeh Strait, where we spend a couple of days exploring the world class muck diving sites along with a WWII wreck in this sheltered passage between Lembeh Island and mainland Sulawesi.
We then cruise and dive along the coast north of Lembeh Island, heading towards the Bangka Archipelago, this area has some beautiful reefs alive with colour and stunning marine life.
After a few days diving around Bangka and the nearby coast of North Sulawesi, we cruise west towards Manado, stopping along the way at reefs, wrecks and muck diving sites. This area has some of the most varied diving we have seen; Jetties,  black sand muck sites, vertical coral encrusted walls, wrecks and coral gardens.
On each of these trips we are often surprised by some new rare critter discovery or some magic moments underwater that has everyone emerging from a dive with only one word to describe the dive...... "Awesome".
The adventure of the unexpected is one of the great draw cards of these trips. But the things that we can guarantee are: No long boat journeys. No overnight motoring. No-one rushed to finish  their dives. No-one watching you still have 50bar when you board the dive boat.
We only invite experienced divers, so you won't be treated like a beginner. These trips are all about fun, photography, plain relaxing, diving and cruising around the islands of North Sulawesi.

Click here to view a Gallery of Photos from our North Sulawesi trips
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The Diving

Soft Corals Bangka Island - Live Aboard Photo Cruise - Copyright Jeff Mullins 2011

North Sulawesi  has something to offer every underwater photo enthusiast. From the world-famous critter sites of Lembeh Strait to the magnificent soft coral coated pinnacles of Bangka Island. The islands and coastline of North Sulawesi will not dissappoint you.
We will be cruising among the Bangka Archipelago, where we dive on volcanic pinnacles, steep walls and reefs with very rich marine life. We'll cruise through Lembeh Strait and visit the critter rich sites that constantly surprise marine biologists with the rare creatures that can be found on every dive. Bring your wish-list of creatures and we will do our best to find and help you photograph them.  We will also visit reefs, bommies and jetty's along the coast of North Sulawesi, where we can see both macro subjects and reefs coated with beautiful corals. We also have a couple of relatively new sites that are rarely visited by divers visiting this area.

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Cruise Details

The map below shows the areas we will visit.
We arrive in Manado Airport and leave from the port of Bitung.
North Sulawesi Live Abord Underwater Photo Trip
Click on Map to enlarge
We will have an accommodation vessel and a seperate dive boat accompany us on the entire cruise (more details below).
North Sulawesi Live Aboard

The Boat

Bangka Island and Lembeh Strait Live Aboard Vessel
Built in 2005 in South Sulawesi, this 24 metre-long accommodation vessel is a comfortable size for moderate sized dive groups.
There are 5 guests cabins onboard, all are on the main deck and have  their own toilet/shower. Plus a large spacious top deck .  We have a maximum of 10 guests onboard. So crowding is not a problem.  There is a dedicated camera preperation, battery charge station on the main deck.
The boat  is also equipped with GPS navigation, depth sounder and radar. All this along with a friendly local crew who know the islands and their waters intimately, will make these trips pure pleasure for experienced  divers and underwater photographers.
Please note this vessel does not have air-conditioned cabins, but the cabins all have opening doors to the main deck, plus ventilation louvres and fans. These provide adequate cooling.

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The Dive Boat

North Sulawesi Live Aboard Trip - Dive Vessel
Dive Vessel Deck
Accompanying us on the entire cruise is a 17 metre dive vessel. All of our diving is carried-out from the dive boat, along with all tank filling and gear storage. This eleviates all of the clutter normally associated with live-aboard diving. Plus the necessity to dive from smaller tenders. The dive boat is large enough for everyone to kit-up in comfort and also to handle choppy surface conditions should we experience them.

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Picture
Dive Vessel
Picture
Charging Station