North Sulawesi: A Diver and Photographer’s Paradise

A Travel Blog by Morgan Riggs – Underwater Photographer

As an experienced travelling photographer, I am quite familiar with the physical and mental exhaustion that becomes a bi-product of safely transporting your precious camera cargo from A to B. Throw your own personal scuba diving equipment into the equation and it can feel like you’ve unwillingly signed up to some sort of SAS training camp. If you are like me, you will feel a little uneasy until you are reunited with your ‘baby’ after all those flights, transfers, and security checks. This is why arriving at Murex Resorts offers such a relief, with all those travel worries instantly forgotten.

Touching Down…

Soon after arriving at the Murex Resort in Manado, it’s time to prepare for those initial dives! Carefully packing camera equipment in the UK before leaving is one of my least favorite activities. However, unpacking in your new exotic location, with all that imminent dive excitement, is an absolute joy.

If you’ve had your resort briefing by this point, you’ll now be aware of the dedicated camera room and its facilities. This offers a number of stations for storing your camera rig and accessories, charging points and pressurized air-drying area post dive. Camera rooms are always a good spot to engage with other photographers, carry out maintenance, change setup, or simply try and pretend you aren’t overwhelmed with camera envy when you see that latest strobe or lens you were saving for!

The anticipation…

They like to dive in small groups here (usually four max) which bodes well for those wielding extra hardware, while private guides can be requested at extra cost for those who truly want to do their own thing. It’s a good idea to find out in advance the ‘where and what’ as I like to call it. The ‘where’ being the intended dive site or area, and the ‘what’ being the things we can expect to see; for me, this translates to ‘which lens to take’ (wide-angle vs macro, etc.).

Once prepped and ready to go, the next decision is how ‘hands on’ you want to be with your camera rig. If you’d like to spend those extra few minutes in bed or bask a while longer in the morning sun with a fresh coffee, you totally can. After that, you can make your way to the boat to find your beloved digital friend is there waiting for you. While you may well be wondering if this was some ‘camera fairy’ magic, it was, in fact, your trustworthy dive guide. That’s right, if you’d like to give your camera a holiday too, the guides and crew will gladly ensure your equipment is carefully transported to and from the boat, rinsed in freshwater post dive and finally returned to the camera room or to you when it’s convenient. This means all you have to worry about is enjoying the time between dives and getting yourself to the boat, knowing your dive and camera gear will be there waiting for you, and you won’t have to lift a finger.

The diving…

The Manado resort offers diving within the famous Bunaken National Marine Park and nearby islands, as well as many spots along the coast. If wall diving is your thing, Bunaken is most certainly for you, with a number of great spots around the island boasting beautiful corals, reef fish, passing pelagic fish or sharks, as well as the seemingly constant cloud of red-toothed triggerfish. or me, Bunaken dives are usually wide angle-oriented – not that there aren’t plenty of smaller species to find, because there most certainly are, but fish portraits can also be fun to shoot with a longer lens. The stand-out subjects here are turtles, so prepare to duck, swerve, and pivot as they appear from all angles. If your portfolio is in need of a turtle imagery boost, some sites here will offer endless opportunities. I’m not kidding, there are some spots where it is quite common to count hawksbill and green turtles into the dozens – the hardest part is deciding which turtle to aim for when several are posing at once!

The other dive locations around Manado offer some fruitful muck diving/macro options, including the house reef. Various sandy bottoms allow you to get up close and personal with your newly found subject. You can find many photographer favorites in Manado Bay, including seahorses, frogfish, shrimp, and a number of nudibranch species. One of the main highlights from my last trip was my first time seeing the Cyerce nigra, or tiger butterfly nudibranch, within a stone’s throw of the shore on the house reef. If you have anything in particular you’re dying to see, speak with your dive guide and they will do their best to maximize your chances.

Next stop, Bangka Island!

If you’re fortunate enough to have booked a stay at Murex Resort in Bangka as well, particularly by boat, the transition is seamless. No need to break down the camera rig; instead, it’ll be loaded on the boat ready for the next destination, with two dives enroute to keep you entertained. It couldn’t be easier.

Bangka Island has had some renovations since my first visit, one very welcome change being the new and improved camera room and facilities, similar to Manado – just bigger! A well-lit, spacious station area, two rinse tanks, and a drying area, all adjacent to the restaurant, if a coffee or refreshment is in order.

I like to think of Bangka diving as a mixture of Lembeh and Bunaken, with some equally excellent locations for both the muck and coral reef enthusiast, and many sites offering a bit of both. While Bangka doesn’t have the barrage of turtles or deep wall dives found at Bunaken, it has mini walls and some spectacular coral sites. Some of the soft corals around Sahaung or Batu Pendeta are particularly stunning and give plenty of options for wide-angle photography. The colors are extraordinary and there are plenty of compositions to work with, along with many resident schooling fish. Bangka is also a great location for octopus fans. I’ve been fortunate enough to see many species here, including blue ringed, mosaic, coconut and mimic. The location also hosts an array of exotic nudibranch, including the sought-after ‘ghost nudi’ and ‘Shaun the sheep’, as well as many frogfish of all shapes and sizes.

For less experienced photographers, or perhaps those with new and unfamiliar equipment, the guides have some useful knowledge on the topic; many of them are keen photographers themselves and more than happy to share any tips or pointers they think may improve your results, or offer solutions to any issues that may occur. It’s also great fun sharing your pictures with them later on – even more so if you want some help identifying what strange creature you managed to capture.

Muck Diving Capital

If you’re an underwater photographer in North Sulawesi, it would be difficult to say no to a few extra days to spend in Lembeh before heading home. The Lembeh Strait is all about muck diving. With black volcanic sand, rubble areas, and zig-zag diving with your eyes fixated on the bottom in search of macro and super macro subjects, you never know what to expect here! This is probably your best chance to see a hairy frogfish, bBlue ringed octopus or bobbit worm. It doesn’t end there – what many people don’t realize about Lembeh is that it is also definitely worth packing the wide-angle lens for! There are some beautiful coral sites here and if you get a chance to go outside the strait you may get treated to some schooling fish and shark action during a pinnacle dive.

While Lembeh has similar camera equipment services as the other resorts, it does also feature a full-on Backscatter-authorized photo center. The resident photo pro will be able to offer advice, suggest equipment, teach courses and much more. This is an excellent opportunity to try before you buy using the rental gear service, strobes, video lights, snoots etc. are available to hire per dive. It also has a stock of accessories for those handy smaller parts like clamps and floats.

So, there you have it, three unique destinations offering different diving while maintaining consistent camera care and peace of mind from start to finish. After returning home after such a great trip, sorting and editing all the footage and images, I know I’ll already be thinking about when I can go back for more!

Passport to Paradise: A trip that will take you to discover three iconic Indonesian destinations in one incredible holiday. Dive, snorkel, trek, immerse yourself in culture, or simply relax and unwind. Learn more about the Passport to Paradise trip here: https://murexresorts.com/passport-to-paradise/

Check out the three resorts in the links below:

Murex Manado Resort | Murex Bangka Resort | Lembeh Resort

For more information, contact reservations@murexresorts.com