KERRI BINGHAM & HERGEN SPALINK - managers of critters@lembeh

Kerri graduated from Portland State University with a degree in Social Sciences and pursued a Restaurant career, opening franchise restaurants and training managers across the US. After years in the restaurant industry, she decided to make her passion for diving a career, earning her PADI Instructor certification and moving to the Caribbean. Kerri loves to share her passion for diving, having certified everyone from movie stars to an olympic gold-medalist swimmer. Hergen graduated with a BS in Biology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also received his PADI Instructor certification.

RONALD SARANTE
19 November 1973
Born in village of Madidir in city of Bitung
Married, one daughter

Senior Dive Guide

Before learning to dive, Ronald worked at a local hardware store and on a fishing boat. Ronald was in Larry Smith's second class of dive guide trainees in 1995 where he achieved Rescue Diver level of certification. Ronald was trained to dive NITROX in 2005 with us at critters@lembeh.

Paman has more than 6,500 dives in Lembeh Strait and his favorite dive site is HairBall. Most of all, Ronald loves to show guests Hairy Frog Fish. He enjoys learning more about different fish and critters; their habitat and symbiotic relationships with other critters.

Favorite Dive Story:
I was diving at Madidir with two guests. At 18 meters I saw a pair of Frog fish. After 10 years diving in Lembeh Strait, I never saw this type of Frog fish. When I first saw them I was 'kaget' (totally excited). I stayed for 30 minutes looking at the frog fish with the guests and we were yelling and screaming! The guests knew I was very happy. When I got back on the dive boat I called Andy (my fellow guide) and asked him to check the book for this type of Frog fish in the books. Andy said yes, it is in the book. However, when I returned to the dive shop, I check myself and said that it maybe different. Then we went again the next day to check. Now we are waiting to see if it is a new species. I would love to have a Frog fish named after me!"

ANDI ABDAL
Born 12 March 1980 in village of Pinrang, South Sulawesi

Senior Dive Guide / Guest Relations

Andi started his diving career in NE Kalimantan as a compressor attendant at Derawan Dive Resort. He started diving for fun in between filling cylinders and was trained to Rescue Diver by Tetsuya Kobayashi. Because he wanted to learn English and Japanese, Andi gravitated toward the dive guides. He became a full time dive guide mid way through 2000 and now has nearly 5,000 total dives!

In May 2004, Andi worked for a short stint aboard the Ciska diving Bali and Komodo. He then turned his sights toward North Sulawesi and began working for Lembeh Divers in September of that year. Andi knows his critters and has a passion for showing guests the wonderful treasures of Lembeh Strait. Most evenings Andi joins guests for dinner as his enthusiasm for talking about diving is unparalleled.

What Andi enjoys most about being a dive guide in Lembeh Strait is finding critters! He also enjoys the team work with all the dive crew and being able to provide guests with flexible dive schedules so divers see what they want to see when they want to see it. Goby's and Bleny's are what Andi likes to find most…especially unusual characters. He feels helping u/w photographers shoot these critters is most challenging. Hair Ball II is his favorite site.

Favorite Dive Story
Andi's favorite dive was actually his very first open water dive. He did a discover dive with Derawan's senior dive master to 4 or 5 meters in front of the resort jetty. He couldn't believe his eyes…turtles, school of jack fish, beautiful coral. Andi was hooked from that moment!

Also on Andi's all time favorite dives is a pre sunrise dive at Derawan witness to Gold Specs Jaw fish releasing eggs from it's mouth. " It was wonderful…waking up early, excitement building with anticipation, and I would feel great all day." Jaw fish typically release their eggs twice per year during full moon. Andi would do this dive every morning during full moon checking to see if his timing was right. Andi has become an "expert" at finding jawfish with eggs and loves to show our guests here at Lembeh Resort this incredible marine behavior.

PAULUS NAUMANG
Born 5 October 1971 in Tandurusa – North Sulawesi.
Married with 4 children

Senior Dive Guide / Supervisor Dive Technician

Before Paulus started to explore the waters around northern Sulawesi and the Raja Ampat area he worked on his dad’s tuna-fishing boat.

In 1996 Larry Smith came to Lembeh Strait with a live aboard. Paulus approach Larry and asked if he was willing to teach him how to dive and Larry agreed. Paulus had seen divers on TV and for him it was a dream to be able to breathe underwater. He has been diving Lembeh Strait since then, with the only exceptions of one year in Bunaken, 6 months working on a surfing boat cruising between Bitung and Ambon and 6 months working for Bali Adventure in Bali where Larry Smith Trained him as a divemaster in 2002. He has worked for critters@lembeh since 2003.
Paulus loves to dive in Lembeh because of the great diversity of critters and the variety of dive sites. When asked for a favorite dive site, Paulus has no straight answer. “Some sites are special because of the critters, whereas others have very nice corals, it really depends on what you see that particular day”, he answers after a while. “The best is to guide photographers and to survey new dives sites” he adds with a smile. He is particularly fond of night dives and his favorite fish is the really tiny cow fish. He has logged over 10,000 dives!

Paulus says that the exiting thing with his job, apart from finding new and exciting species, is that he gets to meet and talk to people from all over the world.

ABNER MANGOLE
Born April 1977 in Alo, Talaud - North Sulawesi
Married with one daughter.

Senior Dive Guide / Guide Supervisor

In 1998, Larry Smith trained Abner as Open Water and Advanced Diver where he was previously one of Larry's boat boys. He earned Rescue Diver status in April 2004 from Adam Caris and NITROX certification from Bruce Moore in February 2005. Now with over 7,000 total dives (all but 300 in Lembeh Strait), Abner is keen to show divers the critters they desire most.

Abner likes being a dive guide in Lembeh because of the variety of diving. He loves muck diving and critter hunting, "but there is also beautiful reefs and coral in this area as well. The behavior we see in Lembeh Strait is amazing!" Abner most enjoys taking divers to the dive site TK II. "It's great muck diving, always calm and good for photographers. Because it has a large shallow area and gentle slope to deep water, there is always great things to find including the Wonderpus!"

VADLY MAKASIGHE, Nick name "OPO SEDANG"
Born 12 July 1982 in Pintu Kota, Lembeh Island

Senior Dive Guide

Opo started work for Lembeh divers in 2003 as a deckhand. He progressed quickly and was soon working as a boat captain. In 2004 he started to dive and he quickly received the advanced diver qualification. Three years and almost 2000 dives later he became a rescue diver. Opo now has over 5,000 dives!
Opo loves to dive in the strait and he is very curious of where the different fish and critters live. By observing fish behavior during dives and by speaking to more experienced friends he has learned where the different critter and fish lives. He is amazed by the diversity of “homes” that the different organisms are occupying.
His favorite dive sites are Aw Shucks, Hairball, TK2, TK3, Jahir, Nudifalls and Pantai Parigi because on these dive sites he always finds small and large critters such as sea horses, cuttlefish, various octopus species, crustaceans, frogfish, ghost pipefish and many others.

JONI MALINTOI
Born 15 Feb, 1980 in the village of Baturirir on Lembeh Island
Married with one son

Senior Dive Guide

Joni started diving and guiding in 2001. After almost 4 years of diving Lembeh strait he begun working for Lembeh divers in January 2005. Joni is an experienced dive guide with more than 4000 dives in Lembeh Strait.

The reason Joni loves to dive in Lembeh Strait is because it is a beautiful place where one can find many unique critters but also beautiful hard and soft corals. Joni’s favourite kind of diving is muck diving because then he can find rare and unusual critters not found anywhere else. He says, “I have been diving in Bunaken National park and all I saw were big fish like sharks or barracudas, turtles and corals. But diving in Lembeh is “wow” amazing. There are fantastic fish here like the frogfish, stargazer, finger dragonet, ghost pipefish, cockatoo wasp fish, velvet fish, banggai cardinal fish and many more.” Joni also likes all the octopus species here in Lembeh: the mimic, brown mimic, wonderpus, coconut octopus, blue ringed, mototi, hairy octopus… he says: “Lembeh Strait is a paradise for me, I feel so fortunate that I was borned and raised here”.

GAYUS PIODO
Born at Tandurusa, 5 May 1987
Married with one son

Dive Guide

One of our newer dive team members, Gayus started his journey as a dive guide, with Paulus as his tutor, in 2003 while working for a neighboring resort. He as worked at various dive centers trying to find the right match. Because Paulus agreed to be his sponsor, Gayus was hired by critters@lembeh in June of 2007. He’s completed more advanced dive courses and has steadily upgraded his skills and under water knowledge. Gayus consistently receives compliments from guests who are amazed as his spotting ability. “I learn a lot from the senior guides and always keep learning from them.” He now has more then 2,100 Lembeh Strait dives and loves to show guests these waters. Gayus is very interested in finding seahorses, nudibranchs and frogfish.

OXIN LONDO
Born at Pintukota, 7 Oktober 1980
Married and have one son

Dive Guide

Before Oxin joined us , he was a local fisherman and electrician. He joined the team to help install the Bio Rock and concrete blocks on our house reef. He fell in love with diving and started training with our staff. He quickly became an excellent diver and critter spotter with the critters@lembeh team. He says he appreciates the support from all the guides here, and Oxin now has over 1,000 dives in the Strait! He is also certified in Nitrox and is working on his Rescue Diver certification.

JERRY NELWAN
Born at Kumu, 27 February 1986
Married and have one son

Dive Guide

Jerry began his first career with the critters@lembeh team in 2005. He worked as one of the boat crew as an assistant boat captain for two years. He began getting more and more interested in diving after hearing so many great stories from the dive guides and seeing how impressed the guests were with the diving in the Strait. Jerry was certified as an open water diver and began his training by helping out on the house reef by cleaning the biorock, helping with coral transplantation, and guiding guests around the house reef. Jerry has now been a guide with us for over three years and is an excellent spotter, with over 2,000 dives under his belt. He has also improved his English skills and helps to teach others.

JULIA SANGI "JULS"
Born at Tomohon, 27 July 1983
Married with one son

Dive Center Office Supervisor

In 2001, Julia started working in the tourism industry at a dive resort on Bunaken Island as a waitress and guest services. She then worked for Murex Manado as office staff for two years. Julia joined Lembeh Divers in 2005 as office supervisor.
“I love this work because can learn how to service guest and can organized everything for them. I also can meet new people from all over the world and learn new languages and cultures. Oh yes, and I love diving!”.

Sometimes Julia also guides the Mandarin dive or House Reef and she is a terrific spotter. Juls earned her OW certification in 2006 and now already has 462 dives. She is currently working on her Advanced Certification & Nitrox Certification. Also, for the past two years, Julia passed Lembeh Divers version of a Rescue Course.

Juls’s Favorite Dive Story: I was diving the house reef with guests trying to find some cool critters for the photographers. Then I saw a pair of eyes from a distance and swam slowly. It was a wonderpus! I was so excited and started to scream in the water and called for everyone to come and see what I found!”

YANTI RANGINGISAN
Born at Manado, 4 September 1981
Married –with one baby boy

Dive Center Accounting

Yanti is a 2003 Accounting Graduated at UNKLAB University in Armadidi. After her job training, she began work with in Bitung for PT. Sulawesi Fishing Venture. Yanti joined critters@lembeh in July 2007; she is very professional on her job and sometimes covers dive center administration work. She‘s tried diving for couple times and really loves it!