For the Bunaken part, we spent three nights at the Kima Bajo Resort, which is a 15-20 min boat ride from the Bunaken area; after three days diving Bunaken, we moved to Lambeh Resort, which is a three hour drive away. Both operate in all-inclusive mode, and a single restaurant+bar caters all the food. Both resorts are fairly high end as far as dive resorts go, comfort level is high and service is good. The exclusive dive operator for Kima Bajo is EcoDivers, and for Lambeh is Critters@Lambeh -- both are very well run, and specially cater to pretty much all needs of photographers. In particular, Lambeh operates in one guide for every two divers mode, which is nice when you're spending too much time on a particular subject.
Food in both resorts is pretty good; lots of fresh fruit, good variation on lunch and dinner menus (typically Chef's menus, but they're happy to do custom menu if asked -- we never needed to!); the fare is a mix of local, asian and western; snacks available any time of day, love those fried bananas.
Diving: We did three dives a day at Bunaken, since it's all boat diving. The wall dives in Bunaken area are on three islands in close proximity -- Bunaken, Manado Tua and Siladen, all approx 30 min by boat from Kima Bajo. The reefs are fairly healthy, and most of the species that we see in other reef areas of Asia are there, plus, it seems every bubble coral has a resident gang of orangutan crabs -- a nice bonus. At Lambeh, we saw pretty much all the macro life that the place is famous for. Next trip, we'll probably spend all our time in Lambeh, perhaps taking a break to dive up in Bangka or perhaps Buyat Bay.
Camera woes
I was diving with my new Olympus E-PL1 this time, and it flooded on the third day of use.
There were a couple of teaspoons of water in the housing when I noticed the leak and immediately went up to
the boat, but it was too late. Strange, because the flood occured on dive 3, and the housing was untouched
after dive 2. Anyway, two days of dry box + hairdryer did not revive it. Adding insult to injury,
Olympus does not cover housing leaks (new Olympus housing!) under warranty. Anyway, I immediately commandeered
Kitty's Canon G7, only to flood that one two days later (couple of buttons on the 3-yr old housing were stuck..).
So we dived without a camera for the last three days.
The dives we made were:
Day 1. Bunaken: Alung Banua, Siladen, reef near Kima bajo
Day 2. Bunaken: Mike's point, Celah Celah, reef near Kima bajo
Day 1. Bunaken: Labasong, Gunther's point, Tg Bolung Note: My new Oly E-PL1 flooded on dive 3
Day 1. Lambeh: Retak Larry, Pante Parigi, Makawide 2
Day 1. Lambeh: Aer Bajo 3, Jahir 2, Critter hunt Note: G7 flooded on dive 3 :-(
Day 1. Lambeh: Tanjung taba TK 3, Tanjung Kubur
Day 1. Lambeh: Serena Besar, Jahir 1, House reef, Nudi falls (night)
Day 1. Lambeh: Rojos, Nudi retreat, Aer Prang, House reef
