After our Damai II liveaboard trip was over, we spent 4 more days in Lembeh and Manado. These are on the northeast tip of Sulawesi. We were first at the Lembeh Resort on Lembeh Island with the diving in the strait between Lembeh and Sulawesi. The Lembeh Strait is noted for "muck diving," lots of small and unusual creatures on a mostly sandy bottom. Upon arrival you are shown an intro video, emphasizing no gloves and avoiding stirring up the sand with your fins. We rented metal pointers, which you could slowly stab into the sand to help maintain your position and keep your feet elevated. There were two other couples at Lembeh Resort who had been on other dive liveaboards, the Waow and the Mermaid I, to see the March 9 eclipse. Richard and I had been on Mermaid I in 2012: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10304

Some Lembeh critters, crocodile snake eel here:


2 leaf scorpionfish:


longhorn cowfish:


spiky starfish


crab on night dive


On Palau and Yap I had been unsuccessful in seeing mandarinfish, but we saw lots of them on a dusk dive in the Lembeh Strait. They are gorgeous but small and difficult to get clear pictures in the debris where they like to hang out.


The males are larger and mostly blue while the females are smaller and mostly orange.

This site also had many Benggian cardinalfish.

These are endemic to a very small area in central Sulawesi, but they were introduced to Lembeh and we saw them on a few other dives too.

After 2 dives on March 16 we transferred from Lembeh to the Murex Resort in Manado, but spent a few hours in Tongkoko National Park. Our guide had no problem finding lots of macaques.


Three in a tree:


Close up of mother with baby:


Juvenile in another tree:


As dusk approached we moved to a different area, passing some banyan trees.


We were waiting for sunset to see the small and elusive tarsier, which lives in tree hollows.



The guide put a grasshopper on a branch to encourage the tarsier to come out for a snack.


On March 17 we had 3 dives, first two in the Bunaken marine preserve. Bunaken is known for its coral walls.



We also saw some nudibranchs.



Here's a resting turtle.

Liz got some GoPro video of another turtle swimming nearby.

The third dive was a good muck dive not far from Murex, but our camera ran out of battery.

There was no diving March 18 as we were flying out, but we had an interesting tour around the Manado area. There are some taste treats alongside the road, like the cinnamon bark of this tree.


The white mangosteen fruit is delicious and refreshing.


We went to a local market, where there are food items available you would not see most places.



Unlike most of Indonesia, northeast Sulawesi is predominantly Christian. A few years ago they built the second largest Christ statue in the world.

More dynamic than the famous one overlooking Rio de Janiero.