The first dive trip in two years, due to covid lockdowns. Lambeh resort was booked on our travel window, so we booked with Solitude Lambeh Resort, which turned out to be a very piece of luck for us. By coincidence, we were the only divers during our stay, so it was like a private resort for us. Spent dinners chatting with the manager(s) Patrick and Anna. The resort rooms are great; the resort itself is very well managed, and food was excellent, especially for us spice and Asian food loving foodies. The resort is on the waterfront; has a nice infinity pool, and also a beautifully maintained garden. The restaurant is 20m from the room, and the jetty for the dive boats is another 20m away. An excellent feature of the dive gear room is that they have hot water showers - so we could get great warm water showers after every dive. Most dive sites were 3-5 min by boat. It really was the most relaxed setup we have experienced. When we return to Lambeh (and we will), we'll be happy to return to Solitude, for sure.
The Food
Since we were the only diving guests, all food was a la carte . We would get a tea and cookies at 7:30, followed by the first dive. Returned for the full breakfast; I mostly had toast, eggs, and bacon, whicle Kitty experimented with more stuff, like noodles. The second dive was around 11am. Then we returned, showered, and had lunch. The menu is a mix of Asian (Indonesian, Chinese noodles, and Western spaghetti, burgers etc., and they have some good soups and salads). I especially loved the two or three ways they cooked the fresh fish (Mahi Mahi, Tuna, Snapper) - grilled, or wrapped in banana leaf with local spices and baked. Dinner was from the same menu.
Diving:
We made a total of 20 dives, over eight days. Only made one night dive - since we were slightly cold at times, and I had some trouble clearing at times. It's odd since the water was typically 27-29C. For a muck diving destination, the actual sites we dived probably don't matter -- but let me list them for the record.
Day 1: (check dive) Jahir I
Day 2: Nudi Falls, Pante Parigi, Jahir II
Day 3: Makawidey II, Kareko Batu, Nudi retreat II
Day 4: Nudi retreat I, Aer Bajo III, Tanjung Kusu Kusu, Retak Larry (Night dive)
Day 5: Sarena patah, Teluk Kambahu III, Aer prang
Day 6: Goby a crab, Critter hunt, Rojos
Day 7: Bianca, Aer Bajo
Day 8: Makawidey II
About the photos
Gear: This time, I had bought the Sony A7 IV with the Nauticam housing, with the 28-60 lens and the adaptor for my Subsea + 10 wet lens. However, after I tentatively put it all together, there was a problem with the lens lock lever, possibly a broken gear. So I reverted to using my trusty old Sony Nex7 with stock 18-55 lens with the Subsea +10. I used a single Inon Z220 strobe. Due to the relatively low viz and dark conditions, I mostly shot ISO400, which is not ideal for the old Nex-7.
