Lembeh Island, or Pulau Lembeh in Indonesian Language is situated off the Eastern Tip of North Sulawesi Province (Propinsi Sulawesi Utara), on Sulawesi Island (formerly Celebes Island), Indonesia.

Lembeh Island itself is not of much interest to tourists, almost every tourist who visits here is interested in  SCUBA Diving, more specifically almost everyone is interested in macro underwater photography.

People travel here to shoot photographs of amazing underwater creatures such as Mimic Octopus, Blue Ringed Octopus and Hairy Frogfish.  The Lembeh Straits are also very famous for Pygmy Seahorses and 4 different species have been spotted here in the past (H. bargibanti, H. denise,  H. pontohi, H. severensi).

Dives in Lembeh are typically nice long dives in the (usually) calm waters of the straits.  Here the substrate is usually Black Sand, especially in the bays.  On the headlands you also find rocky/coral divesites which provide wideangle opportunities for those interested.  Angels Window and California Dreaming are some of the more interesting sites to visit for non-mucky things.

Lembeh is also famous for people carrying pointing sticks, pokey sticks, Lembeh Sticks or whatever else you want to call them.  In the right hands these are invaluable tools for trained guides to coax unusual critters out of their hiding place for the divers to take photographs.  It is imperative that the animals are put back to where they came from to avoid stress (and the running off).  Animals that have been stressed move, so it is difficult to find them again on your next dive (People often want to revisit a site to get better pictures). Whichever Operator you dive with, in any muck dive environment; please remind the guides to ensure the critters are well looked after. :)

Photographic Etiquette is also an important thing on Muck Dives.  Often First Timers are so over-whelmed that they end up taking 200 photos on a single dive. A better way would be to take less photos, but better quality ones.  During your stay if you feel you are 'machine gunning' the critters with your flash please feel free to ask some of the staff / management for advise on how to get some better shots.  Excessive flashing has not been proven to kill critters, but it certainly cannot do them any good - with upto 9 boats a day hitting some sites, for sure the fish get a headache! So remember:  Stop, Look, Think, Shoot!  No one needs 10+ photos of the same frogfish in the same position using the same settings. :)

Here are a few more tips: