Our first week has finished at KBR, and what a wonderful week. Over the last decade I have been lucky enough to have dived full time in many beautiful tropical locations – East and West Caribbean, Malaysia and Fiji..and Lembeh Straits has blown me away. The location is exotic, the resort has an amazing view across Lembeh Straits and is nestled in it’s own private bay, surrounded by lush tropical rain forest. The facilities are fantastic, with great and varied menu, lovely spa and, of course, incredible friendly and helpful staff……and then there is the diving…

The dive sites, for those who haven’t been here before, are stretched along the shores of the mainland (where the resort is) and the shores of Lembeh Island, as well as the many little islands that are scattered throughout the Straits. The mainland dive sites are typically ‘muck’ site, with black volcanic sand and an astounding array of marine life. The Lembeh Island shore dive sites are whiter sands, softer corals and again an amazing array of fish and critters. The small islands in the channel are generally mixture of both. And then we also have our House Reef which, if I was forced right at this moment to choose one dive site in the world that would be the only dive site I was allow to dive for the next year, it would be the House Reef. It has everything..a bit of much, some sand, hard coral, soft coral, a dock to dive under and it’s right in front of the resort. And it’s only open to divers at KBR. Sightings this week include Ornate and Robust Ghost Pipefish, Wonderpus, 8 pink Pygmy Seahorses, 3 yellow Pygmy Seahorses,  Cockatoo Waspfish, Painted Frogfish, Cuttlefish, Imperial Shrimp, many many nudi’s, Ribbon and Moray Eels, Barramundi Cod, Smashing Mantis Shrimp and much more. I would highly recommend diving it.

The boat diving has been fantastic too. We’ve had some lovely guests here from all over the world; two Japanese photographers, a group of Turks on a photography workshop, an American living in Afghanistan, a lovely German lady who is diving while her husband is riding a motorcycle across Asia, guest from Dubai, the UK and many other places. The dive sites have produced Mimic Octopus and Wonderpus, Tiger and Skeleton Shrimp, Hairy Frogfish, Zebra Crab, Flamboyant Cuttlefish, Pygmy Seahorses, Seahorses, Pipefish, Crocodile Fish, so many Nudibranches, many different Flounder, Sole, Lionfish…

My personal highlight of the week – I was filming a wonderful Hairy Frogfish, quite happily watching it and it’s weird and wonderful lure, when out of the corner of my eye I saw some movement and another Hairy Frogfish came over to the one I was filming. They kind of looked at each other, must of thought it was a bit to public, too many people watching them, and off they both trundled, into the distance..Magic!!

So our first week finished and many critters boxes ticked off. Many more boxes to go…

Below is a selection of Barb’s photos from this week.

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After our long journeys from the UK and Australia, where Barb and I had been visiting family, we finally made it to KBR. We feel very lucky to be here, especially in light of all the travel chaos caused by the volcano in Iceland..and we thought we were coming to the ring of fire!!

Our first impression are, of course, what a wonderful resort. Nestled in Kungkungan Bay it is a wonderfully beautiful place, looking directly across the Lembeh Straights. All the staff are fantastic and it’s lovely to have TIm here for a few days.

So, the all important stuff..our first dives!! We’ve been looking forward to diving here many years, so there was a lot of expectation as well as anticipation. We started from the shore, as we felt that the House Reef should be the first place to try…..wow!!! Simply stunning. So much variety, lovely hard corals..I don’t’ think we travelled more than 10 meters from the dock in an hour. We saw Peacock Mantis Shrimps, Razorfish, Barramundi Cod, Juvenile and Adult Harlequin Sweetlips, Ringed Pipefish, Reef Top Pipefish, Zebra and Spotfin Lionfish, a Spiny Devilfish, various Nudis, a female Ribbon Eel and a host of reef fish, anemones, tube worms and hermit crabs…truely beautiful and all from the the dock.

In the afternoon I went on my first boat dive , to Nudi Retreat II. Here we saw a Pygmy Seahorse, Skeleton Shrimp, Caledonian Devilfish, Reticulated Puffers, more Lionfish, more Nudis, more juvenile Sweetlips, Crinoid Shrimp…marvelous

KBR and the Lembeh Straights have definitely more than exceeded our expectation and we are looking forward to diving everyday and discovering as many cool critters as we can. We look forward to sharing this all with you…

As I’m sure you have guessed from Kaj’s blog, it’s time for me to leave. Unless you thought that Kaj, Barb and I might be doing a treble-header. Now there’s a thought eh

I think we all recognize when we reach a point where it is time to move on; to look back at what you achieved – and to think of adventures new. And to spend time with friends and family who are a long way away.

Being the KBR Dive Manager has been hugely enjoyable. Most of the time. The KBR team are terrific. The diving has been fantastic. My photography has come on in leaps and bounds (pictures will be on www.timsimages.co.uk soon). It’s been a great experience. I’d like to thank the owner, Mark, and Kathryn for hiring me; and my colleagues here for being so supportive and kind; the many hundreds of excellent guests who have passed by – some of whom have become firm friends; my family for supporting me in coming to KBR; and the wonderful friends who have come and visited and who, too, have developed a strong affection for the resort. It may sound corny, but thanks too to the ocean for looking after me – for keeping me warm (most of the time) and keeping me safe. This risks turning into a Hollywood Thank You production. So I’ll stop there.

What next? God knows. Some of you who know me well knew I was hoping to go back to Afghanistan but that has not worked out. For the moment. So let’s see what new adventures appear.

Meanwhile, if you are looking to visit – or are thinking of visiting the incredible diving that is Lembeh, do take a serious look at KBR. You are assured of a warm welcome, to be looked after by a caring, smiling staff. And diving that is, frankly, just outrageous.

Thanks KBR. You’ve been great. And I will miss you.