Week 2 of Eco Divemaster Internship in Lembeh

My last week here in Lembeh has gone too fast, but I feel that we have accomplished a lot. I started the week with a day off, where I chose to do some fun dives in the morning, and Ivone at reception arranged for me to visit Tangkoko National Park in the afternoon. It was nice to see what wildlife North Sulawesi has to offer above the surface. After being disappointed at not seeing any in Borneo, I have now seen 4 Tarsiers.

With my structure for the artificial reef complete, Monday was the day that we were going to try and put it into position. With Matt, Aso, and Sandy taking the concrete feet down with their lift bags, it was up to Dani, Fenly, Rein and me to somehow carry the structure. After some heavy lifting, then some hard pulling, and almost losing my camera (good search and recovery practice) we managed to get the structure to sink in the exact position I had planned. Fingers crossed that next time I’m here it will be bustling with marine life.

As part of my Eco Divemaster Internship I needed to arrange a Project Aware Dive Clean-up. Every single guest at the resort put their hand up to volunteer, so on Tuesday we were all off to clean up the ocean in front of the village Kareko Pasir. I think we were all shocked to see the amount of rubbish under the water, as the ocean is the villages’ only location for rubbish disposal. We picked up some pretty horrible things including nappies and sanitary pads, and some strange things such as the base of a blender, a power plug socket, and enough clothes to fill a wardrobe. All together we collected 168.5kg of rubbish which included 881 pieces of plastic food packaging. It’s a shame to think that that was not even half of the rubbish that was there.

The dives this week were as amazing as last week. One site I will never forget was the “smelly fish dive site,” Madidir. We were all gaging at the pungent smell of fish coming from the Tuna cannery opposite and the slimy substance on the surface. I think it’s safe to say we all didn’t expect much from this dive site. To our surprise everyone surfaced with a huge smile on their face after seeing, 2 Shaggy Frogfish, a Wunderpus, 2 Robust Ghost Pipefish, and a Cockatoo Waspfish.

I’m ecstatic to say that I have now completed my Divemaster Manual after a long day of trying to get through chapter 9. I’m off to Bunaken tomorrow, and although I am very sad to leave Lembeh and all the amazing people and diving here, I know that I will definitely come here again. But for now I am excited to see if all the amazing things I have heard about Bunaken are true.

Find out more about doing your PADI Divemaster Course with us in Lembeh.