Muck diving is not a derogatory term describing a type of adventure one would experience in filthy, cold, dark waters, but it is rather an exciting emerging warm water dive trend that many get excited about, especially photographers. 

I have been diving for 18 years, logged close to 5000 dives, traveled around the world a few times, but only recently heard about muck diving. It is hard to define what muck diving really is about, but those who tried it, became addicted to the rather unusual type of scuba experience.

After spending a week diving the wealthy and diverse coral reefs of Wakatobi Island early November 2008, I had an opportunity to continue my travels through Asia and visit a friend who runs a dive center on Lembeh Island. Even though Lembeh Island’s location is not far from Wakatobi, we (my husband accompanied me) had to return to Bali first in order to catch a flight through Ujung Pandang to Manado.

Flying with Garuda Indonesia is quite an experience on its own. At the check in desk all travelers can see the warning: “Don’t put valuable items into your check-in luggage!” The small transfer airport in Balipapa really gave me a reality check. There were no bars, no food courts, and the smoking room’s door was wide open, so the smoking man (woman don’t smoke) can  get fresh air. To our remedy, we discovered a foot massage place where we could relax and get a  half-an-hour massage for five dollars.

Finally, we arrived in Manado, where we were greeted by a guy from the resort. Heading to the Western part of North Sulawesi, we drove trough well kept, blossoming villages. To my surprise, we saw a great number of catholic churches. For some reason, I always pictured Indonesia to be a Muslim country.

After a short boat ride from the mainland, Les Williams, the resort manager, welcomed us. He stood on the last step of the stairs, and appeared from the shadow on that misty night. He personally greets every guest, regardless of what time they arrive. Just like in Fantasy Island.

Lembeh Resort has 14 cottages, all of which were built on cliffs overlooking the pool, the dive center, and the Strait. Viewing the sunrises and sunsets from comfortable armchairs on the spacious verandas never seems to get boring.

At dinner we reunited with my friend, Johan. We worked together many years ago in Thailand as dive instructors. Johan and his girlfriend Kat are the managers of the dive center. While sharing our meal they briefed me about the dives for the next day.

I was super excited to try something new. I looked forward to muck diving like a kid looks forward to opening Christmas presents. At last, the sun rose waking us up. I was anxious to board the boat and finally get wet.

After descending into Lembeh Strait, my first impression was, “this is like a garbage dump. What am I going to do here for 60 minutes?” The next thing I knew, the 60 minutes were up.  I saw the most bizarre, unusual critters I had ever seen and was dying to get back into the water to find more.

The muck is the perfect habitat for unusual, exotic and juvenile organisms that make their homes in the sediment and trash at the bottom of the ocean. Creatures hiding in the muck are so interesting and different from the usual tropical marine life. I pictured a nutty professor pouring some potion into the water creating these bizarre looking animals that even the most imaginative fiction writers could not have made up.

Odd and beautiful critters were pointed-out for me by the enthusiastic divemasters. The local dive guides knew where everybody lived underwater and were proud to show me one thing after another. We encountered seven different types of frog fish. My favorites were the hairy frogfish, and the one that looks like it was the offspring of a frog and a clownfish.

The colors of the nudibranchs we saw are indescribable. It was just too great of a variety to know where to begin. I probably have seen every possible color combination of purple, orange, blue, black, yellow, and pink… There were big ones and small ones, then bigger ones and smaller.  There were fast ones and slow ones, brave and shy ones.

Part 2: Muck Diving in Lembeh Strait, By Szilvia Gogh

About The Author

For pictures visit my web site at http://www.miss-scuba.com, and for info about the resort visit http://www.lembehresort.com