Pre-Trip advice for Wetpixel Lembeh 2023

Dear All,

I hope that you are looking forward to being in Lembeh in March for the WETPIXEL Macro Workshop! This email is to pre-empt some of your questions and to get your prepared for the trip. It is quite a long mail, so I guess it might be worth printing it and reading it at your leisure. This email is intended to help – it is not compulsory for you to read it (all)! I know that many of you have been to Lembeh lots before, so feel free to skim. But I wanted to send this out now to ensure people have time to buy any new gear they fancy etc.

This is the fun email, Adam will be in touch with the admin and organisation. The only thing I will highlight, is that when I was in Indonesia in December there was Visa on arrival for 500,000 Rupiah (not as much as it sounds) and you had to upload your Covid vaccination certificates into an Indonesia covid app (https://www.pedulilindungi.id) – which didn’t work well and most of us just showed the paper copies on arrival.

Alex

Lembeh Resort: https://www.lembehresort.com/about/

 

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All living animals are classified in 34 phyla, the 34 very different ways to be an animal on this planet. So it follows that the more of these phyla that live somewhere, the more impressive its most fundamental biodiversity. If you search through all the tropical rainforests of the world you can find representatives of nine of these groups. The waters of the Lembeh Strait are home to animals from 32 of the 34 animal groups found on Earth. This is just a small measure of what a truly remarkable place it is.

Looking at this another way, in Lembeh you won’t be struggling for subject matter. And that is a decent jumping off point into the philosophy behind this workshop. Time again photographers go to Lembeh and come back with hundred of shots of different creatures, but almost all are simply record style pictures. They are memories of what was seen, they are not memorable images.

This Critter wish-list approach turns photographers into stamp collectors. The main aim of this workshop is to see you coming home with some truly special photographs of the weird macro critters of Lembeh. So take it as read that you will see lots of amazing creatures on this workshop and make your focus on photography. A great photo from Lembeh does not need to be of a rare critter. Instead, rest assured that you will have loads of subjects to shoot and focus instead on producing eye-catching images, whatever the subject. If you only shoot anemonefish and gobies, but get great images, I will be very happy!

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I am getting ahead of myself. The aim of this email is to help you get ready to make the most from the forthcoming workshop, with me, Adam and the might of Wetpixel and Lembeh Resort (LR) and, their dive operation, Critters@Lembeh and their Backscatter run Camera Center.

Many people who join my workshops for the first time are nervous, worried that they won’t be able to measure up. Which those who have been before always find amusing (as they had the same reservation and now people are saying this about their shots). We certainly take the photography seriously, but not ourselves. Egos are definitely left at home. Yes, there will be some excellent photographers on this workshop, but like all my workshops there is a range of abilities and experience. If you are one of the less experienced, you will have a resort full of people to learn from – which is pretty exciting.

Arriving

Lembeh Resort should be meeting everyone at Manado Airport (usually directly outside the airport, they will be in the Resort uniforms and will have a small LR sign, with your name on). Manado Airport is a small and friendly place. Do make sure you have communicated your arrival and departure details to Lembeh Resort. Make sure you keep hold of your baggage tag receipts at check-in, because security usually ask to see them as you leave the airport to ensure you have the right bags (even on internal flights).

The resort is not a long distance from the airport, and there is now a new toll road, which allows us to miss North Sulawesi’s notoriously bad traffic. The transfer used to take 2 hours, now apparently you can be at the dock on the shores of the Lembeh Strait in 45 minutes. I’ll happily believe it when I see it. It is a good idea to go to the toilet before leaving the airport, just in case of delays. The transfer ends with a short boat ride across the Strait to the Resort, which is in a secluded bay on Lembeh Island. And now you can relax.

I am not arriving in Lembeh early and will arrive on the same day as group 1 and leave with group 2. I am not sure if Adam is arriving early, he usually does. There is usually quite a bit of admin for me when I arrive, but we will communicate an official meet up time for the workshop to begin.

In general, we will ask the restaurant to set up one or two big tables for our group, so that we can eat meals together, but nobody will be offended if you prefer to dine away from the photo-talk of the group! Most people join these trips for the group camaraderie, but it isn’t compulsory.

Unlike the first Wetpixel Lembeh workshops, where we took over the whole resort, we have since preferred to have smaller groups on these workshops, to give us more time for each of you. Do note that this means that there will be other guests at the resort who are not doing the workshop, even though they may be photographers.

Baggage & What To Bring

I’ll start with the non underwater stuff. This is a photo workshop trip, so nobody expects you to dress up for dinner or even wear a different t-shirt each day. But in these elegant surroundings, you may want to pack a couple more clean t-shirts than for a liveaboard. Light long trousers/skirts/sarongs are good in the evenings to ward off insects. It was very rainy during the recent workshops our friend Erin ran there in January, so a lightweight waterproof jacket is valuable (although the resort is replete with umbrellas). Some rooms are up quite a few steps and you might want to bring suitable shoes if you are in one of these.

In addition to normal toiletries and first aid stuff, I would suggest insect repellent and creams to ease bites and stings from hydroids etc underwater. There in no-malaria risk in North Sulawesi. Lembeh muck diving does lead to ear infections for some – so bring your normal precautions and treatment.

A big part of the workshop is showing, sharing and discussing pictures. A laptop is really an essential. Please also bring a USB memory stick to be able to be able to share your pictures, but we will have a couple of central ones at Front Desk for you to put your shots on for the group image review sessions.  The resort is on 220V, with European style (2 round pin) plugs, but they have plenty of other adaptors, and the camera room has just about every socket imaginable for power!

 

Dive Kit – normal tropical stuff. In Lembeh the water is usually tropical and warm 27/28˚C or 80/83˚F, note that it has been at the warmer end this season because of a La Nina climate period. That for me means a good 3mm wetsuit (not old) and hood. If you feel the cold, a 5mm is wiser as we will be diving a lot and not swimming much. It is all boat diving, so you can save weight with foot fins and no-boots. I know that Lembeh Resort can handle DIN regs, but I don’t remember if all their tanks can. As always I will use my travel regs which are A-clamp.

Some people like to use a Lembeh stick (metal pointer) for the sand/mud sites (these can be bought at the resort). I would suggest not bringing underwater rattles or tank-pingers, otherwise every diver in the area will descend on you, thinking you have mating wonderpus (or similar), when actually all you wanted to know was how much air your buddy has left.

 

Camera Stuff – This is a macro trip, so I won’t be bringing a dome port, or a wide angle lens, but you may want to bring a mini-dome and fisheye. Some people just shoot Lembeh with one macro lens and that is it. However, I would suggest bringing all the macro gear you have space for. Different lenses allow for different shots. Also if you have been thinking of buying a new wet dioptre lens – then now is the time! I bring and dive with 3 different ones, usually! Workshops are an ideal time to try something new – snoots, backgrounds, filters etc. Lembeh critters range from the tiny-tiny to some quite large beasts. Some octopus are as wide as dinner plates and giant frogfish like fruit bowl. So if you have a couple of macro lens bring them both, and consider a close focusing mid-range zoom too.

You may also want to bring a minidome and fisheye set up for Wide Angle Macro, or a specialist lens like the Nauticam EMWL. I have had the EMWL for three years and I have been desperate to get it to a muck diving destination – finally this trip is here.  Remember that Wide Angle Macro is very subject dependant, it is best done later in your trip when you know there are suitable subjects on the dive site. You will also need strobes and strobe arms, but smaller strobes are a better choice than really huge wide angle strobes, if you have both. I will use my Retra strobes, but I won’t bring the Superchargers on this trip. Most shooting will need short strobe arms, but some techniques require longer strobe arms, so if you have options, bring them. Snoots are a very valuable accessory, either (commercial or home-made).

Make sure you have appropriate memory cards, batteries for up to 4 dives a day. I find a set of good batteries will last 4 dives in my strobes, when shooting macro. But if you shoot a lot on high power (like when using a snoot), then maybe consider having two sets and swap after 2 dives on 4 dive days. I don’t use a focus light during the day, both some use them on every dive. You will certainly need one for night dives, if they are your thing.

The Resort

I am not going to repeat everything about the Resort here, but it really is a home away from home. You can read all about it on their website (and get excited):

https://www.lembehresort.com/about/

In short, I feel that it is always a place that treats you as an individual and I find people always love different things about it most.

The resort has very nice rooms, a relaxing spa, pool, very nice food. It has always had good Wifi in the past, by Andy Deitsch commented on my Workshops FB Group that it was patchy when he visited. It might be that the wifi is the same as before, but our expectations and usage have changed. Being a clever chap, he suggested an App called Airalo and a cheap eSim solution.

The Diving

Lembeh is THE critter capital. And macro photography will be our focus. Yes, there are rich reefs here too – but the water conditions (average viz) make this a decidedly average scenic photography location. I won’t stop you shooting scenery, but you would be better travelling to a different destination, if that is your passion.

That said, Lembeh diving doesn’t always make a great first impression. If you have not been before, expect the visibility to be poor, the seascapes to be drab and there even to be smattering of litter on the sites. There will also be periods on all dives when nothing much is spotted. Enjoy the hunt. There will also be dives when you are inundated with amazing subjects from your first to last breath. Divers in Lembeh regularly come out of the water laughing, it is the only emotion that makes sense, after dives with such an embarrassment of riches.

The plan is to split the group onto several boats and dive different sites. Then compare notes and work the most productive sites, or sites with specific opportunities. If you have a very productive dive, please remember the site and tell me (so I can keep scheduling it). Repeating sites is much more productive than constantly visiting new ones. The dives are on slopes of mud, sand, rubble or reef and we tend to zig-zag backwards and forewords. The key to finding critters is to follow your dive guide, closely! Generally the groups will then sub-divide further with a couple of photographers working with a guide. But at times the guides might ask you to dive in a bigger group, while they work together to search for a rare creature.

Every time I go to Lembeh I find different sites are producing the best critters. So just because you have heard one site is amazing, doesn’t mean it will be this time. Muck sites have few permanent features, so tend to be very dynamic with creatures coming and going. Rest assured, we will be trying to spend as much time as possible on the best sites. Finally note that the Lembeh Strait has an agreement of a maximum of 15 divers per site, which means that when the Strait is busy it won’t always be possible to get onto the sites we want. Leaving promptly for all our dives helps us get to the best spots, rather than arriving there and finding it full.

Guides

Dives in Lembeh are done with guides. The guides are not there to show you the way, but to show you critters. Dive safe and don’t wander off. If your guide spends all the dive looking for you or looking after you, they won’t be looking for critters. If you loose your guide it is often best to stay still as they know the sites and will be able to find you easily enough (even on a black sand slope).

Experienced Lembeh divers tend to stick to their guides like glue, as the easiest place to find pygmy seahorses, mimic octopus, hairy frogfish, ornate ghost pipefish, blue-rings etc is right at the end of your guide’s pointer. If you have not been to Lembeh before it takes a couple of dives to learn how it works.

All LR’s guides are super experienced and they have all worked for years, every day, with underwater photographers, including some of the world’s best known. That said, they don’t necessarily know what makes a good picture – you are not compelled to shoot everything they find.

We will swap the guides through the teams every few days, so that nobody feels that they are stuck with the unlucky guide! As I said above, if your guide isn’t finding much, it is usually because they are spending their time looking after you! All LR’s guides are excellent spotters.

The guides may use their pointers to carefully reposition a critter for you to photograph. I do not believe in hassling creatures for my photos, so I would encourage everyone to not poke critters into position themselves and not to encourage your guide to push the limits.

 

Muck Skills

In Lembeh you are almost always close to the seabed. There are two main consequences worth mentioning. First, because you are following the seabed, you often don’t realise how deep you are, so do keep an eye on your air and computer (Nitrox is included and recommended, by me!).

Second if you swim too close to the sand it is easy to leave a smoke trail! On some sites the muck is very easily stirred up. The visibility in Lembeh is not wonderful, but it is always good enough for clean images – except when it is churned up by careless divers. Learn the skills for gentling settling on the sand and taking off again. It is a specific diving skill that everyone has to learn, or relearn if they have not been muck diving for a while. If you feel you are prone to stirring up the viz, then let your buddy shoot first on important subjects.

Watch this excellent video for tips:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2oJODUOoWgc

The Workshop

The teaching on the workshop will be as talks (in the morning at/after breakfast and image review sessions (evening), as well as pre-dive and post dive advice on the boats and informal chats at meals/bar etc. I am always happy to chat about photography and your images.

Also if you are having camera problems at any point come and see me or Adam straight away. I am very experienced in fixing underwater camera gear and it is always much easier to solve other people’s problems because you are not emotionally involved! Adam is probably even  better than me. Also make use of Lembeh Resorts in house photo team, who see all the common problems every week and is usually able to rescue even the biggest problems.

As always on my workshops there will be NO COMPETITION, not even a fun prize for the best photo of the week. And as a result I encourage everyone to be open with their images, ideas and advice. I know it is this atmosphere of sharing that makes my workshops so popular, so please buy into it. Bring laptops to meals and show your pictures and look and comment on other peoples’. If you are one of the less experienced photographers, you will have a resort filled with teachers. If you are one of the more experienced, nothing will better cement your knowledge on how to produce a shot, than explaining it to someone else.

And finally…

One other thing to bring is good behaviour! I will say this again at the start of the workshop. But throughout I want to ask you all to respect the wildlife, the guides and each other.

Lembeh Resort also has a detailed FAQ page:

http://www.lembehresort.com/faq/

Although I started by saying the focus of the workshop is on great photos not critters counting, knowing your critters can be a big help. Learn a few of the common ones from books and articles before you go. You don’t need to be able to ID every nudibranch, but a little knowledge goes a long way (so you at least photograph the correct end of an animal). Knowing simple things like frogfish have a fishing lure, that blue-ring octopus don’t always show their rings or that many anemonefish have parasitic isopods in their mouths – opens up more and more photo opportunities.

That is all for now, sorry this is long, but hope it is useful.

Looking forward to seeing you all in March,

Alex