If you have been to Lembeh Resort in the past few weeks you will have seen that we are busy doing some work in the Restaurant, in fact we are building a new bar!

We are planning to make the bar area a great place to come and chill out after a day of diving or relax with an after lunch coffee.

Stage one is the construction of the new bar and storage area as you can see from the photos. We now have plenty of space and will be able to display our selection of wines and spirits so it is easy for you to order what you want!

There is still a little more work to go on Stage One and so we will keep you updated on our progress but we look forward to welcoming you to Lembeh Resort soon and being able to enjoy a nice drink with you at our stylish new bar! Any ideas for a name?!

This week the house reef project saw the installation of several new biodiversity habitats constructed of lava rocks. Our new volunteers, husband and wife team Hugh and Lisa Smith, worked with our in-house marine biologist to design a new kind of artificial reef habitat made from materials found locally--black lava rocks. These lava rocks are the source of the famed blacks sands and rich marine biodiversity in the Lembeh Strait. The artificial habitats are structurally complex and create protective environments for juvenile fish and other species. The lava rock substrate is also rough and porous which is ideal for colonization by encrusting corals and sponges. The Smiths, who are accompanied by their 12-year old son Parker, are from Rochester, Minnesota where Hugh works as an anesthesiologist at the Mayo Clinic and Lisa is a graduate student. Parker, who is actively assisting his parents, completed his PADI Nitrox certification this week with Critters@Lembeh dive center. In addition to the lava rock habitats, our volunteers are also studying growth rates of an invasive purple sponge found on the Bio-rock habitats, developing a new buoy marker trail system, and identifying coral and sponge species on the house reef.

In recent months we have been starting some new initiaitves here at Lembeh Resort and one of them was to start our own vegetable and herb garden.

Most of the food that we serve here at Lembeh Resort is local produce from the North Sulawesi area such as delicious fresh fruit, kangkung (water spinach), labu siam (local 'zuccini') and cassava. We decided to take it one step further and serve produce that we have grown right here at the Resort!

Currently just past Cottage 12 ( there is a little climb to get there!) we have a large area which we are using to grow eggplant, tomatoes and cassava. We currently have a large banana tree, lime tree, and several papaya trees! We are also building a frame so we can grow labu siam and are also going to try growing pumpkins so we can make even more of that yummy pumpkin soup we serve!

Next stage is going to be an herb and spices garden with basil, chili and lemongrass to name a few and then a watermelon patch!

If anyone has any advice on other vegetables that we could grow in this climate then drop us a line on helen@lembehresort.com, any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Critters don't always cooperate to help us get a great picture, but sometimes we are lucky and get to capture some really great behavior. Thomas Osswald managed to get some great pictures from some very cooperative critters like his closeup of a common lionfish and an octopus walking on two "legs". On another dive, some of his fellow guests were shooting a fang blenny, who then came to rest inside the rear monitor shade. the fang blenny remained there for almost ten minutes, allowing Thomas and his wife Birgit Schertler to get some excellent shots of this comic behavior. Thanks to Thomas and Birgit for sharing!

It was a fantastic night for Markus & Sandra Tarchsel! They always love to night dive, and they had requested a Bobbit Worm on their "wish list" during their recent stay with us. Turns out they got their wish -- they had 7 bobbit worms on their night dives with Opo!!! And one of their best shots was one feeding on a cardinal fish. It was amazing night dive, they also spotted a Porcelain Crab with eggs, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Cuttlefish, Sponge Crabs and many more great critters that only come out at night, only with Critters@Lembeh!

Jose & Christina Lachat have been coming to Lembeh Resort for several years and have always taken advantage of our available Private Guiding Service. As in previous years, they dove with Senior Dive Guide Ronald Sarante for their entire stay (almost 3 weeks). Jose is a is videographer and also a member of the Research Group for Integrative Biology at the University Of Basel in Switzerland. Jose makes documentaries depicting the behavior of invertebrates and vertebrates in marine and freshwater habitats. He has won 3 awards at the Festival Mondial de l´image sous-marine (a.k.a Antibes) for best shorts and clips, here is one of his clip of Octopus - Clever and Clean: www.youtube.com/watch?v=4t6L2_jtDvo.
We also like to present a sampling of still images from Christina of some interesting behavior she witnessed on their most recent trip. Special thanks to Jose & Christina for sharing some of their best images!

Our Dive Staff have become quite the underwater photographers. Our Photo-Pro Steve Fish has been teaching photo courses to all those interested (our Office Staff have been joining in as well!). We believe that having a Dive Guide that understands what is needed to make a good image is priceless. This week they had the chance to shoot Harlequin shrimps, Robust Ghost Pipefish, Wonderpus Octopus and other cool critters that made for some great shots! Here are some of the pictures taken by the staff, enjoy!

We have been seeing lot's of great critters on our Houes Reef recently. Starting with the Lembeh pygmy sea dragon, board club cuttlefish, twinspot gobies, from the crustacean side: xeno crab, candy crab, bubble coral shrimp, porcelain crabs and many more. We also had lots of different Nudibranchs including Hypselodoris bullockii, Halgerda batangas and various Chromodoris species everywhere. Our House Reef is a really easy shore dive with the buoy system making finding your way a real cinch. It's also a great place for night diving; you can see lot's of Cephalopods like Bobtail Squid, Bigfin Squid which are often active at night in addition to many Crustaceans. Here are some images of these house-reef critters taken by the Critters@Lembeh Team while diving the house reef these past two weeks.

Our dive guide Ronald was diving ar Air Bajo 1 with guests Marcel & Marion Tanke when they came across an interesting "event" around 10 meters deep. A grouping of Grey Bonnet snails, commonly referred to as an eggs shell snail (Phalium glaucum). This kind of snail that commonly found in Lembeh around sea grass or on sandy bottoms. When they came across these snails, they were gathering and laying their eggs together. The eggs were pink and looked like a spiral lump with the egg capsules forming an irregular mass, the result of several females spawning together.

Here is a more detailed description of these snails from www.wildsingapore.com": the length of the body shell is around 8-12cm long. Shell typical helmet shape with a large body whorl and tiny spire, thus resembling a bonnet. The shell is smooth and grey without any markings. It has a notch in its shell so that its siphon can be extended vertically upwards like a snorkel, probably allowing it to breathe while it stays beneath the sand to hunt or eat its prey. It has a white body and large yellowish foot which is edged in brown, the operculum is fan-shaped and bright yellow.

It feeds on sea urchins and sand dollars. One was seen on top of a Cake sand dollar (Arachnoides placenta) at Cyrene Reef. For more gruesome feeding details, see Family Cassidae.

The snails have separate genders and practice internal fertilisation. The shell of the female is often larger. Eggs laid in large masses of numerous, small horny capsules, forming irregular or cylindrical, tower-like structures. Each capsule contains several hundred eggs, most of which often serve as food for the developing embryos. The eggs hatch into planktonic larvae or crawling juveniles, depending upon the species.

We would like to thank Marcel & Marion Tanke for sharing their great moment images for us.

Christian and Julia had a great stay here at Lembeh Resort. Christian in particular was happy to pick up some photography hints from our Resident Photo Pro, Steve Fish.

During his week with us, Christian dove both the Kapal Indah (Indonesian for "Beautiful Boat") and Mawali Wrecks and both were great dives - the wrecks were covered in critters and in particular Nudibranchs. Putting into practice some of the things he learned from Steve, Christian perfected his Macro Photography skills using the Nudis as his models, they are great subjects to practice on! You can see some of his shots here including a great one of a Pygmy Seahorse.

Summing up his stay Christian said - "We have been traveling Asia for 10 years now and we were exceptionally impressed by the comfort, the spirit and un-compared hospitality we experienced at Lembeh Resort. Saying this the best I can is to add 'We will be back!'"

Sako Hara recently stayed and dived with us here at Lembeh Resort & Critters@Lembeh as part of the Backscatter and Underexposures Group. It was her first time in Lembeh and she had a fantastic time seeing some of the crazy and weird critters we have here and also getting to practice more with her new point & shoot camera. She sent us a few shots of some of her Favorite Lembeh Critters - Coconut Octopus, Hairy Frogfish and Giant Frogfish.

We believe Sako is in the process of getting a new camera set-up, after a consultation with Martin Edge in the UK, and she looks forward to return to practice her Macro photography more next year!

Vance Taitano and his wife Jessica spent a week here at Lembeh Resort diving with Critters@Lembeh. Thanks to Vance for sharing some of his great shots!

Berkley White of Backscatter and Dan Baldocchi of Underexposures.com arrived at Lembeh Resort on Monday with their group of avid photographers and videographers. With a mixture of first timers to Lembeh, including Berkley and Dan themselves, and return guests everyone thoroughly enjoyed the first day of diving.

Jennifer Penner and her husband Joel Penner from NewMediaSoup.com have been diving with Oxin, Dimpy & Fandy, and Jen was kind enough to share some of her photos from her first day. Thanks Jen, and we'll keep the critters coming!

Patrick Vuilleme is crustacean-crazy. He loves to shoot crabs, shrimp and other crustaceans, as well as the occasional Octopus.

"My special interest goes to octopuses, shrimps and crabs. The reason for the choice of octopuses lies on the hand: their behavior is fascinating, and they are always good for a surprise. Specializing with shrimps has much to do with their diversity: on almost any kind of host you have chances to find one or many species of shrimps. They are also often very shy and difficult to photograph, patience and gentle handling being the best. Many of them await a scientific description. This is pretty much the same with crabs, which are generally even more reactive. In all cases; octopus, shrimps and crabs identification is often not easy. For me as a biologist (even though not a marine biologist) it represents an additional challenge.

For this second trip to Lembeh, Patrick has the mission of finding a Bumblebee Shrimp...we have our best guides on it! Thanks for sharing Patrick!

"This is my second time diving at Lembeh Resort with Critters@Lembeh. At Lembeh there is always something new and amazing and unexpected to see and photograph!" said Tony

Tony got some great shots on this trip that he was kind enough to share with us. One of them is of Mating Wonderpus; you can see the male is on the top clasping the female in a mating posture.

Tony also shared with us 2 different seahorses adorned with algae, and a Puffer being eaten by a Lizard Fish.

"Thank you to all the staff of Lembeh Resort and Critters@Lembeh, I'll be back again next year!" said Tony

Thank you to Tony for sharing some of his images with us, see you next year!

This was Ohm & Maria Savanayana's second trip to Lembeh Resort. Unfortunately Maria picked up an ear infection prior to arrival and didn't want to go along on the boat dives, fearing she wouldn't be able to comfortably descend. Instead, she spent a 3 dives on the House Reef at Lembeh Resort diving with critters@lembeh's in-house Marine Biologist Dimpy Jacobs. “Feels like coming back to life; there is so many interesting critters to see on the House reef and i like it very much, We will be back next year!” Maria said. Maria shared some of the images she captured on those three great dives with Dimpy. Enjoy & thanks Maria for sharing!

This was Janet Czapski 2nd visit with us at Lembeh. At the beginning of her trip she had problem with her camera and fortunately Steve was here to save her. He helped fix Janet's camera and she was on her way! With repaired camera in hand, she managed to get some great shots that she's agreed to share with us here.
Janet says: "I'm always amazed, and I don't know why, but every time I bring a group it just gets better and better! Different time of the year, different weather but the amazing diving improves with age! The eyes and hearts of the staff cannot be topped anywhere in the world and we always hate to leave! Thanks for the Wonderpus Octopus, Flamboyant Cuttlefish,Tiger Shrimp, Hairy Frogfish and every other magnificent critter your staff found for us! We cant wait to come back.. Terimakasih Sepuluh Kali!"

This was one of Jack and Nancy's wish list: Yellow Barred Jaw fish with eggs! After almost 3 weeks searching for this critter, Ronald finally found it. "I always collect pictures of critters with eggs or mating activity, it's really challenging for me to take that moment, and I'm really happy I finally had my jawfish with eggs shots" Jack said. He also had a shot of Peacock Mantis Shrimp with eggs and many more to add to his great collection. "We will come back in September for more critter diving!"

Christina arrived at Lembeh Resort with a brand new Olympus G12 camera and housing. On her first few dives she wasn't getting quite the results she expected, so her solution was to take Steve's Basic UW Photo course. As you can see from her before and after photos, she is now getting the quality she was envisioning.

David & Tracy Allen were diving with Opo and Oxin and it was a new experience for them enjoying muck diving. After a couple of dives with them, David & Tracy found lots of critters that they haven't seen before. “It’s really amazing how Opo and Oxin can spot these tiny creatures, especially the Blue Ring Octopus, but they also able to spot other interesting critters like the Jonolus Nudibranch, Tiger Shrimp, Pigmy Cuttlefish eating a Shrimp and many more. Lembeh is really easy diving and relaxing for us, we love diving here!”

This was Yolanda Van Saet and Walter Dhaese's third visit to Lembeh Resort and diving with Critters@Lembeh. "It feels like coming home!" Yolanda said. They had a great time, especially diving with Opo, he showed them them lots of cool critters; Poison Ocelate Octopus (Amphioctopus siamensis). Golden Cuttlefish (Sepia esculenta) mating and also Walter had a cool shoot of the baby Panda Clownfish being eaten by a cleaner shrimp. Lembeh is a Photographer's Paradise with cool critters and photographic opportunities everywhere. Thanks for sharing Yolanda and Walter, we hope to see you again soon!

Brenda Blackburn and her husband Phil Goldsmith dove with Critters@Buyat for 5 days and they really enjoyed the diving. The reefs are fantastic with clear water, and healthy corals! It's really perfect for wide angle diving and photography. They continued their combo diving at Lembeh, diving with Critters@Lembeh, and Brenda decided to take a photography course with Steve Fish. She said the experience of working with Steve was great and that she learned a lot! At the end of their diving Brenda got a great shot of a Hairy Frogfish and a Wonderpus Octopus, on her very last dive of 2010! Thanks for sharing Brenda, we hope to see you and Phil again very soon!