Oh my god! Indonesia is incredible! Well certainly the small area that I have seen is. With the end of the 2nd Asia Pacific Coral Reef Symposium I flew from Phuket down to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia then over to Banda Aceh, Indonesia. From there it was a short ferry ride over to the island of Pulau Weh where I was to be spending the next week diving with the remote diving operation, the Lumba Lumba dive center, sitting on the doorstep of the idyllic Gapang Beach. The owners of Lumba Lumba are the husband and wife team Ton Egbers and Marjan van der Burg who have been so kind in hosting me during my stay. I arrived to a very warm welcome from the team, meeting all the individuals I was soon to be out diving with. The dive center is very well set up, with a huge dive store that has all that you need while out diving the remote Indonesian reefs. The diving there is deep with strong currents. They don’t offer Nitrox dives as a lot of the diving undertaken is outside the limits of most recreational Nitrox diving. It’s deep air dives all the way! Out the back of the dive store there are a number of bungalows, and a larger building with individuals rooms with verandas. I stayed in one of the individual rooms, they are really well set up, with a double bed that can be pulled apart if desired, you have a fan, a little table and cheers and can spend the evening relaxing overlooking the beach.
Part of the view from Gapang Beach
Gapang beach is nestled in a secluded bay surrounded by thick jungle, you feel very remote, hidden away from the rest of the world. I awoke the next day, excitedly setting up my gear and loading it onto our vessel for the day. With strong currents and deep long dives, it’s a thrill every time you don your tank and roll of the boat. The chosen dive site on my first morning was called The Canyon and is one of the top dive sites on the island. Splashing into the water and descending down to 35m I was taken aback by what I was seeing. Huge gorgonians, seafans, and seawhips covered the wall that we fell down beside. The visibility was a crystalline 50m, and schools of snapper and the occasional giant trevaly would zoom past as we dropped down into the deep. Upon reaching the bottom I barely had time to take it all in as my divemaster was excitedly pointing right below me. I looked down to see a blue ribbon eel poking it’s head out of it’s hole. The first I had ever seen and a great start to the dive. As the dive continued we saw the biggest napoleon wrasse I had ever seen, turtles, and huge schools of convict tangs in the shallows. I came to the surface so excited to be where I was, during my stay I did 10 dives, all of them were fantastic. A huge school of jacks, easily over 2000 strong circled just beyond our reach during on deep wall dive, black tip reef sharks would often come in for a closer look as we floated along. The diving at Pulau Weh has been some of the best and most exciting that I have ever done.
Coming up from the deep, swimming with the fishes.
A whip coral deep down at The Canyon
One of the many nudibranch species that can be found around Pulau Weh if you look close enough. Steve L called it a slug but I still like it.
During my stay I found out about a German cargo shipwreck called the Sophie Rickmers wreck that had been sunk during WWII only minutes by boat from Gapang beach. I enquired about diving it and found out Lumba Lumba does a decompression dive to the site with the right divers. The wrecks lies with the decks at around 45 m and the straight bow resting on the bottom at over 55 m deep. Aris the dive instructor that runs the dive has dived the site over 600 times and has explored every inch of the wreck. Darius another diver staying with Lumba Lumba was keen to come along, along with Trish a Lumba Lumba instructor. With Aris and myself included we had our team of four ready to dive the wreck. On the day of the dive we met at 11:30am and had a dive briefing before heading out to the site. As we descended into the deep my mouth dropped as the wreck appeared before us. The visibility was fantastic for a deep wreck at around 20m, schools of trevaly looked alarmed at our presence as they swam by. I was dwarfed by the sheer size of the wreck; at a massive 134m we had no chance to see it all. The dive went by all to quick and before I new it we were ascending together back up to the surface. I took my video down with me and have made a sort clip of the dive for you to have a look at. After the dive I was elated to have done it, I was full of energy for the rest of the day.
Aris, he has dived the Sophie Rickmers wreck over 600 times and was our guide for the dive.
To view the Spohie Rickmers wreck dive click HERE
When I wasn’t diving I was editing photos or video or wandering down the beach to one of the many restaurants that lined it. A few places would do a BBQ of fish or chicken. It was only a few dollars and you would be served with rice, vege curry, more veges, some other dish that I can’t remember what it’s called, and half a chicken! It was insane. I would do my best to eat my way through it all but was often hard pressed to finish.
Tiny coral heads coving the floor on the deeper side of the Lumba Lumba house reef. One just has to walk off out the door and onto the beach and can be diving with ornate ghost pipefish, frog fish, seawasps, many species of lionfish, and dozens of others fish and coral species. It’s truly fantastic.
My stay at Pulau Weh flew past far too quickly. I was very sad to leave all the friendly people and the amazing diving. It was the perfect look into what Indonesia has to offer and I will always remember it. I want to say thank you so much to Ton Egbers for your generosity in hosting me during my stay. Thanks to everyone at Lumba Lumba for showing me such a good time diving with you all, I really hope to return someday!
Blue spotted ray
