NAD Lembeh Resort
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Booking by Tour Leader Club
2 room types · The Lembeh Strait; day trips to Bangka and East Lembeh at extra cost dive sites · house reef
NAD Lembeh Resort sits on the shore of the Lembeh Strait, the best-known muck diving destination on the planet. The resort opened in 2006; Simon and Zee have owned it since 2010, after Simon had spent two years managing it. His underwater work has been published by ScubaDiver, Asian Geographic and Alert Diver, and used by WWF, NHK, LG, the BBC and Netflix.
The place is built around underwater photography. The core promise is two guests to one guide — guaranteed, at no extra cost, and nobody else in Lembeh does it. The dive team is 15 full-time guides with more than a hundred years of combined experience.
The photo centre has run since 2009, founded by Simon and Mike Veitch. The rebuilt camera room has 30 individual workstations, each with LED lights, a rubber mat, a camera towel and sockets with USB. There is also a drying cabinet, colour-corrected Eizo monitors, an edit suite, tools and spares, and Nauticam housing servicing — Simon was factory-trained in China.
Blackwater diving has run here since 2013, longer than anywhere else in the area. Simon has over a thousand blackwater dives and wrote the only published guide to blackwater diving in the strait; the resort database holds 70-plus surveyed locations and the boats carry more than 250,000 lumens of dedicated lighting. Three styles are on offer: bonfire, blackwater drift and black ops.
Accommodation is 15 rooms in two categories: ten Beachfront Rooms built directly on the waterfront, steps from the jetty, rinse tanks and restaurant, and five standalone Seaview Bungalows with a private deck over the strait and an extra dayroom.
On site there is an open-air restaurant seating forty, a bar with a pool table, a small pool and jacuzzi, and an aquaponic greenhouse — around 125 square metres of growing space in a closed loop with tilapia, supplying the kitchen with salad, eight varieties of tomato and more than twenty kinds of chilli. The internet is Starlink and works across the whole property.
No markup
You pay exactly the rate the resort publishes. On top of that, only the actual bank costs of currency conversion and the international transfer — no commission of ours.
We run the deal
Correspondence with the resort, holding the room, the contract, booking confirmation and all paperwork are on our side. There is nothing for you to arrange yourself.
Card payment
We accept payment by card through Stripe and issue an invoice. The transfer to the resort is our job — you do not have to find a way to pay abroad.
Support all the way
We help you choose the room and dates, work out the dive package, answer questions about flights and gear, and stay in touch until you are home.
The exact amount is confirmed when we hold your booking: it includes the resort's rate at the day's exchange rate plus the actual transfer costs. No hidden fees.
About the resort
- Country
- Indonesia
- Location
- Lembeh Strait, North Sulawesi
- Nearest airport
- Manado (MDC) — 45–60 minutes by car and boat
- Transfer
- $25 per person each way
- House reef
Yes — house reef dives are free and do not count against the package
- Dive sites
The Lembeh Strait; day trips to Bangka and East Lembeh at extra cost
- Dive centre
In-house dive centre, 15 full-time guides with over 100 years of combined experience
- Nitrox
Available and included free in packages
trimix available, rebreather friendly
- Rooms
- 15 rooms, 2 categories
- Internet
- Starlink, free across the property
- Languages
- English, Indonesian
At the resort
Diving
All package dives are daytime boat dives, up to three a day. House reef dives are free and do not count against the package. Night dives, mandarin dives and blackwater dives are charged separately. A standard blackwater evening is a single dive before a late dinner and is open to every guest; during Blackwater Week they run two dives a night, after the third day dive. Simon describes three styles: bonfire — lights on a down line, blackwater drift, and black ops. Subjects include the blanket octopus, argonauts, diamond squid and larval ribbonfish. Gloves are allowed on blackwater dives only — on day dives they are banned. The boats carry no anchors and never anchor on dive sites; on board there are numbered towels, water, tea, coffee, snacks, a first aid kit, oxygen, GPS, camera rinse tanks and a toilet. All boat crew and dive guides are trained in first aid and refreshed annually, and the resort keeps two resuscitation dolls.
Food
Supplies are bought daily and the food is prepared fresh on site. Meals are served at a long communal table, which makes it easy to meet the other guests, but a private table is available on request. The bar opened in 2017: plenty of power sockets, a large widescreen TV, a pool table, international spirits, wines, beers and cocktails made with fresh herbs from the greenhouse. The resort runs an aquaponic greenhouse of around 125 square metres — a closed loop with tilapia and no chemical pesticides; by their own account it is the first dive resort in the world growing its produce this way. Seafood is not served unless a guest asks for it.
Beyond diving
A one-to-one photo class costs $200 a day. A day trip to Bangka or East Lembeh is $50 per person with a minimum of four participants. The garden holds a small pool with a jacuzzi and rattan furniture, with free kayaks next to it.
Rooms
Waterfront room
$115
View: Ocean
Beds: Double or twin
Ten rooms built directly on the waterfront, steps from the jetty, the rinse tanks, the camera room and the restaurant. Direct view over the strait, air conditioning and hot water, and room for gear. Adjacent rooms can be requested for groups.
Standalone bungalow
$175
View: Ocean
Beds: Double or twin
Five standalone bungalows set apart from the main building. A private deck over the strait and an additional dayroom that works as a second bedroom for a child, a workspace or simply extra living space. The dayroom has a Nespresso coffee maker.
Rates
Dive packages — per person, double occupancy
| Beachfront Room | Seaview Bungalow | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 nights, 11 dives | $1,369 | $1,657 |
| 6 nights, 14 dives | $1,700 | $2,046 |
| 7 nights, 17 dives | $1,992 | $2,435 |
| 8 nights, 20 dives | $2,282 | $2,789 |
| 9 nights, 23 dives | $2,601 | $3,173 |
| 10 nights, 26 dives | $2,921 | $3,557 |
| 11 nights, 29 dives | $3,209 | $3,941 |
| 12 nights, 32 dives | $3,490 | $4,325 |
| 13 nights, 35 dives | $3,803 | $4,709 |
| 14 nights, 38 dives | $4,117 | $5,093 |
| 15 nights, 41 dives | $4,385 | $5,477 |
| 16 nights, 44 dives | $4,696 | $5,861 |
| 17 nights, 47 dives | $5,006 | $6,245 |
| 18 nights, 50 dives | $5,316 | $6,629 |
| 19 nights, 53 dives | $5,626 | $7,013 |
| 20 nights, 56 dives | $5,876 | $7,397 |
| 21 nights, 59 dives | $6,183 | $7,781 |
2026 rates. The price covers accommodation, full board, the package dives, nitrox and all taxes. All package dives are daytime boat dives, up to three a day; house reef dives are free and do not count against the package. The standard ratio is two guests per guide. Unused dives are non-refundable and non-transferable. Equipment rental and transfers to and from the resort are not included. Single occupancy adds $55 a night for the first 14 nights and $15 a night thereafter; in peak season (Easter, September to December) the single supplement is $80 a night. Group travel gets 7 pay + 1 free of charge. Rates are subject to change without notice.
Stay without diving — per person per night
| Beachfront Room | Seaview Bungalow | |
|---|---|---|
| Full board, no diving | $115 | $175 |
For a non-diving buddy or a rest day: the price per night with three meals and no diving.
Rates and availability can change. Message us — we will confirm current dates and prices.
When to go
- Best time
Year-round; January–June brings calm seas and the best blackwater, July–December is drier with more critter diversity
- Water temperature
- 26–29 °C year-round
- Visibility
- Typically 5–15 metres
The Lembeh Strait dives well every month of the year — there is no bad time to come. The strait is sheltered from open water, so even in windier months the diving is barely affected. Visibility of 5–15 metres is lower than on open-ocean reefs but plenty for close-focus macro; most muck sites lie between 5 and 25 metres, and currents are generally mild, picking up only at channel entry and exit points. From January to June there is more rain and much less wind: flatter seas, less silt movement, and what is widely considered the best time for underwater photographers — blackwater is especially productive when plankton levels are higher. From July to December it is drier and windier, with some surface chop, but underwater this is the period of best critter diversity: flamboyant cuttlefish, dragonets, ghost pipefish and juveniles of every kind. The drier months are also better topside — more sunshine, lower humidity, and sunsets over the strait from the bar. A 3 mm wetsuit or shorty is enough.
Getting there
The gateway to Lembeh is Manado (MDC) in North Sulawesi. From the airport to the resort is 45–60 minutes by car and boat.
The easiest international route is SCOOT, which flies direct from Singapore four times a week; baggage can be checked through to Manado if you arrive in Singapore on Singapore Airlines. Garuda flies several times a day from Jakarta: the 2am flight puts you on Lembeh around 08:30, and the 9am suits an overnight in Jakarta; the sports baggage allowance is 20 kg. Batik Air and Lion Air also fly Jakarta–Manado, with a convenient departure around 11am, but they leave from Terminal 2 while Garuda and the international flights use Terminal 3. There are also connections via Sorong (SOQ), Makassar (UPG) and Bali (DPS). Jakarta is one hour behind Lembeh.
Your passport must be valid for at least six months from the date of entry, and you need an onward or return ticket. Malaria prophylaxis is not required in North Sulawesi.
Rental gear — full-foot fins, wetsuits, BCDs, regulators, masks and dive computers — has to be booked in advance: the resort only stocks the common sizes.
Included in the price
Not included
Optional extras
Extras are per person and paid on site.
from 115 USD per person per night, double occupancy, full board without diving
NAD Lembeh Resort
Availability for your dates will be confirmed before any payment. Estimated wait time — 24 hours
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Waterfront room
Ten rooms built directly on the waterfront, steps from the jetty, the rinse tanks, the camera room and the restaurant. Direct view over the strait, air conditioning and hot water, and room for gear. Adjacent rooms can be requested for groups.
- View
- Ocean
- Beds
- Double or twin
- Rooms of this type
- 10
- Rate
- $115
Standalone bungalow
Five standalone bungalows set apart from the main building. A private deck over the strait and an additional dayroom that works as a second bedroom for a child, a workspace or simply extra living space. The dayroom has a Nespresso coffee maker.
- View
- Ocean
- Beds
- Double or twin
- Rooms of this type
- 5
- Rate
- $175
NAD Lembeh Resort
from 115 USD
