Having had a wonderful trip last time at the Solitude resort in Lambeh couple of years ago, it was a no-brainer to book again with them. Happy to report that the resort is just as good.. if anything, in even better shape than the last time (which was maybe too soon after the Covid downturn). Rooms are excellent and comfortable, gardens are very well maintained and bursting with colorful flowers, the swimming pool adds a beautiful touch, even though we didn't use it, except to look at the tiny swifts that dart in periodically to grab a beak-ful of water and vanish. All electrical sockets in the rooms are multi-format, which makes it convenient for me, since I don't use the camera room (which is also very nice, considering that most other folks with fancy camera systems were using it). The resort is still managed by the wonderful german couple (Patrick and Anna), and many of the local staff are stil the same over the few years. All good.
The Food
The resort wasn't full on most of the days we were there: so even though the usual full-board plan should be buffet style meals, we were just ordering from the menu:
which is very extensive with plenty of western, local, and other asian dishes. So the typical pattern for us was to grab a coffee and go for the
morning dive. Return and get a solid breakfast (typically English/American style, with eggs, bacon, toast and fruits). The second dive was late morning,
and lunch after we returned. I particularly enjoyed the local seafood dishes (prepared local style), beef rendang, and the Pizza, Burger type of fare was also pretty good.
I could get a plate of excellent papaya after almost each meal, and the other fruit was pretty good also.
Diving:
We made a total of 14 dives (well, Kitty skipped one) over 5 days, including one dusk dive at Bianca, and a night dive at Retak Larry.
There was almost no current on any dive (this is Lambeh after all), and water temp was around 28-29C. We were on nitrox for all dives, since most dives were long,
well over an hour - they could have been longer, but I was using more air than others. We had requested for, and got Hiros as our dive guide - he had also guided us on the last trip
and really is excellent. Most of the diving is wiht one guide for each buddy pair. Solitude has super fast and comfortable speedboats, so each site in only 5-10 min away from the resort.
DATE (PLACE): DIVESITES
3 Aug: Angel's window, Aer Bajo 1, Makawidey 2
4 Aug: Nudi Falls, Jahir 1, Bianca (dusk: mandarinfish)
5 Aug: Pintu kolada, Tanjung kubur, Retak Larry
6 Aug: Kareko batu, Serena pata, Makewidey 3
7 Aug: Pante Parigi, TK 3 [afternoon: Tangkoko nature reserve]
About the photos
Gear: Sony A7 IV with the 28-55 lens, with a Subsea +10 and an Inon +165 stacked on for really tiny nudibranchs; I think the next macro trip I will get a Sony 90mm. I was using a single strobe (either my trusty old Inon Z220S, or the Sea n Sea YS-01. Kitty was doing some videos with GoPro Hero 12 with a backscatter macro add-on, and an X-Adventurer 1200 lumen video light.
