Welcome to Lembeh Straits, Manado!

We are a PADI 5 Star Dive Center on Lembeh Island offering dive trips, PADI courses and snorkelling trips to the best sites of Lembeh, the muck diving capital of the world.

Welcome to Lembeh Straits, Manado

Plan your Lembeh Island Diving Adventure Today

Two Fish Divers Lembeh is an award winning PADI 5 Star Center located on Lembeh Island offering dive trips, PADI courses, snorkelling trips and professional diving internships around Lembeh Straits. We are based at our own beach-side resort right by our own private beach with the dive sites on your door-step and the sites only 5-minutes away.

We pride ourselves on being committed to a first-class dive service, having excellent dive staff & managers, having great dive equipment and providing safe, top quality PADI courses.

Join us today to experience the best of what Lembeh has to offer in the muck diving capital of the world.

Best for:Muck diving capitalGood buoyancy controlUnderwater photographyRare marine speciesPrivate beach resort

The Muck Diving Capital of the World

Lembeh Straits is known as the muck diving capital of the world. The straits is a narrow channel between mainland Sulawesi and Lembeh Island, and is one of the few places in the world where you will see the elusive hairy frog fish, pygmy sea horses, larger sea horses like the thorny seahorse, mimic octopus, wunderpus and flamboyant cuttlefish to name just a few.

Muck diving means diving on the sandy black slopes that may look unremarkable at first glance, but they are teeming with fascinating critters found in very few other places, and our dive guides are experts at spotting the critters despite their amazing camouflage.

The black sand creates clean, dark backgrounds that make subjects pop — it’s a macro photographer’s dream. For many muck diving is addictive and we have many divers return to us time and time again.

But you don’t need a camera to love it here. Lembeh also has some sites with small walls and slopes full of soft corals. Lembeh diving truly does have something for everyone.

 

This Location is Perfect For

Critter Hunters

Mimic octopus, hairy frogfish, blue-ringed octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, pygmy seahorses, wonderpus, rhinopias — the species list reads like a marine biology wish list. Our guides have thousands of dives in this strait and are experts at spotting the critters.

Underwater Photographers

Cooperative subjects that sit still for your shot. Black sand backgrounds that make subjects pop. Multiple highlight species on a single dive. Macro lens essential, external lighting recommended. This is where portfolios are built.

Buoyancy Control

Muck diving needs good buoyancy — hovering above sand near fragile creatures. If you can hold good buoyancy without touching the bottom, you're ready.

Consider Elsewhere If…

In the Heart of the Strait

Two Fish Lembeh sits on a private beach on Lembeh Island, right in the middle of the strait. Some dive sites are close, only 5 minutes by boat in either direction, and our guides have thousands of dives in this strait and are critter specialists.

What being here means for your diving:

  • Close dive sites that can be 5 minutes away. No long boat rides. More time underwater, more critters found.
  • Guides who are experts at spotting the critters. Our Lembeh guides are critter specialists. They don’t just find the headliners — they find the things other guides swim past, despite their amazing camouflage.
  • 4 dives a day. Morning pair plus an afternoon or dusk dive. Night dives for mandarinfish, fluorescence, and the nocturnal cast.
  • Full board, no distractions. Three meals a day, private beach, no logistics. Your only job is diving and reviewing photos.

25 years in Indonesia. PADI 5-Star. Max 4 divers per guide.

Your First 3 Days in Lembeh

Below is a sample schedule, we choose sites based on conditions, dive experience  and guest wish-lists.

Day 1

Arrive & Check Dive

Fly into Manado, 2-hour car transfer to Bitung, 15-minute boat to our resort on Lembeh Island. Settle in, gear up, and have an optional afternoon afternoon dive on our house reef.

Day 2

Critter Hunting

Two morning dives targeting the signature species — mimic octopus on the sandy flats, hairy frogfish on sponges, pygmy seahorses on gorgonian fans. Surface interval swapping finds with other divers. Add an afternoon dive for more critters or a night dive for the nocturnal life, or even both.

Day 3

Finding More

By day 3 your eyes are getting adjusted to muck diving, and you start to discover your own critters — nudibranchs, shrimps on anemones, juvenile fish hiding in coral rubble. Another afternoon dive or a dusk dive for mating mandarinfish. Review photos with the guides and other guests, and plan tomorrow's diving.

The Essentials

Where You'll Stay

Our own resort on a private beach on Lembeh Island. Full board — 3 meals a day, communal dining, beach terrace. Comfortable, remote, and built for diving.

See accommodation options →

What It Costs

Full board stay+dive packages with everything included. Nitrox available.

From IDR 805,000 pp /night (full board)

From IDR 1,650,000 for 2 Dives

See full pricing →

When to Come

Year-round diving. Water 26–30°C. Critter populations are resident in the straits, and will appear on different dive sites. Calmest conditions Mar–Jun and Sep–Nov.

See more about diving →

Explore More

Dive Sites

Muck sites across the strait — sandy slopes, rubble zones, and coral debris fields. Other sites with small walls and slopes full of soft corals.

Explore our dive sites →

The Species List

Mimic octopus, hairy frogfish, pygmy seahorses, blue-ringed octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, wonderpus, rhinopias, hairy shrimp, lembeh sea dragon and dozens more. What's been spotted this week? Ask our guides.

See what you'll find →

Getting Here

Fly to Manado (direct from Singapore, Jakarta, Makassar). 2-hour drive to Bitung, 15-minute boat to our island resort. We arrange everything.

Plan your journey →

Start with Bunaken — The Walls & Muck Safari

The classic combination: Bunaken’s pristine wall diving followed by Lembeh’s muck diving. Two completely different underwater worlds, 2 hours apart. Most divers do Bunaken first (4 nights) then Lembeh (3 nights) — the contrast is extraordinary.
See Walls & Muck Safari packages →

Add Bali — Fly Manado → Bali for manta rays on Nusa Penida, the Liberty wreck in Amed, or the full Bali Explorer itinerary.
Explore Bali diving →

The Ultimate Indonesia Trip — Amed → Nusa Penida → Bunaken → Lembeh. 13 nights, 4 locations, every type of diving Indonesia has to offer. One operator, one set of logistics.

Your loyalty points carry across all 5 locations. Every 10 dives across our centers earns you 10pts that you can redeem for a free dive at any Two Fish centre.

Everything you need to know about Lembeh to help you book

Muck diving requires strong buoyancy control — you'll be hovering centimetres above sand and rubble near small, fragile creatures. This isn't about depth or current — it's about precision and control. If you can hold perfect buoyancy and hover without touching the bottom, you're ready for Lembeh.
Lembeh is a year-round destination. Water temperature stays 26–30°C. Critter populations are resident, not migratory, so the species list doesn't change dramatically by season. Some divers prefer the calmer conditions of March–June and September–November.
No — but photographers do love it. Even without a camera, watching a mimic octopus change shape or a frogfish strike at prey is extraordinary. That said, if you've never been interested in macro life and prefer big-animal diving, Bunaken or Nusa Penida may be a better fit.
We also get alot off customers who bring the point-and-shoot type with an underwater housing - according to reports the Olympus TG7 is the best for quality of photos and affordability! If you have a bigger DSLR camera there a macro lens (60mm or 100mm) covers most Lembeh subjects. Add a diopter for the smallest critters. Bring your own strobes if possible.
They're opposites. Bunaken is wall diving — big vistas, turtles, pristine reef, clear blue water. Lembeh is muck diving — black sand, tiny critters, photography focus, a completely different skill set. Most experienced divers say you haven't properly dived North Sulawesi until you've done both. That's what our Walls & Muck Safari is for.
A small dive resort on a private beach on Lembeh Island. Full board (3 meals/day), communal dining, relaxing area & cafe. Wooden cottages and garden rooms, both with AC options. Comfortable but remote — this is an island getaway, not a city hotel. WiFi exists but is slow.
Yes. You will need precise buoyancy over sand, awareness of fragile creatures below you, ability to hover without kicking up silt — takes experience and/or skill. If you feel that your bouyancy is not good enough then our Amed and Bunaken centres are great places to develop your skills first.
Minimum 3 nights, but 5 nights is ideal. Every dive in Lembeh reveals new species — even after a week, guides are still showing you things you haven't seen. Most returning guests stay 5–7 nights.

Experience the best of what Lembeh Straits, Manado has to offer

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Dive Center on Lembeh Island
We have a PADI 5 Star Dive Center located on Lembeh Island, based at our own small, cosy boutique beach-side resort right by our own private beach, with the dive sites on your door-step and the sites only 5-minutes away. It offers world-class diving in the muck diving capital of the world with warm waters, and it also offers corals, walls and ship-wrecks.
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Non-divers & Snorkeling
We are based on Lembeh Island and the diving is world-class, with warm waters and great visibility. Non-divers can snorkel off the beach directly in front of our resort on our house reef, this is good for snorkelers who are comfortable in the water already. They can also join our dive boat.
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Dive Courses
As a PADI 5* Dive Operator, we provide the full range of PADI dive courses on Lembeh, including Discover Diving Experiences in the sea, Open Water Course, Advanced Open Water Course and Rescue Course.
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Resort & Rooms
We have our own tropical-island resort on Lembeh Island right by our own private beach, with cottages in beautiful garden surroundings that have a great sea view. It makes a relaxing dive holiday as most of the dive sites are only 5 minutes away. We only cater for a maximum of 16 divers, meaning personal attention is guaranteed. Lembeh Island is remote and there are not many nearby accommodation options, we therefore offer our own accommodation, have our own restaurant serving food, and can call upon local villagers to provide massages & child-minding services.
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Internships & Careers
We run Divemaster Internships in our Bunaken center only.
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Getting There
Manado is a 3-4 hour flight from Bali, Jakarta and Singapore. Lembeh is 15min boat ride from a city called Bitung, and this is 2hour car ride from the Manado. Find out all about getting there and away.