Black Sand Dive Retreat

From the moment we were picked up at the airport and our return to, we were greeted with smiles and good service, nothing was ever too much trouble. The resort is lovely with lots of bungalows, restaurant and swimming pool. Food was great with lots of new flavours to be tried with plenty of variety and fresh fruit at each meal. The dive boats were small but comfortable & returned to the resort after each dive. Due to the location of this resort the dive sites are close by. Our boat crew & dive guide were quick to help and full of smiles which goes a long way to making a 'happy dive'. Lembeh is a great place to dive, and we came home with some great photos. Overall, a great experience and our 2nd visit to Lembeh.

Comfortable and spacious cottages facing the sea. They provided insect repellant but we didn't need it. Food was good, every meal was different and served to the guests. Options ncluded meat, fish, vegetarian. Starter, main and dessert. Etmo and Stefan great dive guides. There was plenty of space to gear up. The place was always clean. We would rest at the dive centre during surface intervals since the dives were nearby. The boats and engines in good condition. Romie was helpful and always smiling. Linda and her crew provided great service. Our flight was cancelled due to volcanic Ash and she made sure we got our transfers to airport hotel and helped to converse with airport staff. Ask for the massage if you would like one. There is no spa nearby but the resort can arrange for the massage in your room.

We had a nice welcome from Black Sands Retreat when we arrived. We really enjoyed this resort. It was on the smaller side which we liked. More intimate. The resort gave us our own dive guide so we didn't need to share. Very nice for Macro photography. They took very good care of us. The staff was attentive and the food was very good. Our dive guide was great. He helped us find some great “Muck Critters”, and again, we didn't have to share with anyone. We felt pampered in this regard. We definitely plan to return.

This resort was fabulous! The accommodations were spacious and comfortable. The staff were so attentive The pool was inviting. We loved the diving and snorkeling. The operation is very well run and the critters seen on the dives were amazing. Octopus, frog fish, sea snake, snake eels, angler fish, scorpion fish. Even the snorkeling just at and near the property was full of cool fish and critters. I had my seahorse friends that I would check on each day. There are anemones and damsels/clownfishes, lionfishes, puffers, and Bangka cardinal fishes all over the place. Maybe too common to be special but I loved them all! I recommend booking a package that includes full board and transportation to and from the resort. The meals were well crafted, delightful to look at plated, delicious and satisfying. We have very fond memories of our stay!

This is a very pleasant place. We got new friends from the BSDR team. We received perfect, faultless and complete service. We had wonderful, very interesting and absolutely special dives with them. Very good team, professional divers, amazing cuisine. Thank you very much for the nice dives and your friendship! We highly recommend this wonderful paradise in the Lembeh Strait to everyone! Beatrix and Zoltan

First time diving with BDSR and I was super impressed with the hospitality, resort style stay, dining experience and exceptional diving. Rooms were big and spacious with great views overlooking the Lembeh Straits Meals were not typical buffet style but a 3 course meal, for breakfast, lunch and dinner where you are assured something different everyday. Diving was way above expectation. We were asked for a check list on the first day of critters to hunt for, and we saw more than we expected. All the octopuses - mimic, wunderpus, coconut and blue ring. Frogfish - Tons of them. Ghost pipe fish- At least 5 variants. Shrimps - Countless. Nudibranch - Many I have not seem before were found in Lembeh. Special sightings on night dives - Bobbit Worm and Stargazer. The list goes on. It was my first time diving in Lembeh and we are already planning to go back in 2024. The resort is quiet and cozy with only 14 - 16 guest at any one time. Met many divers while chilling in the dining area where travel stories were exchanged. Special thanks to our guide Etmo for spotting all the critters we wanted to see. Also to Linda and all the staff for making our stay a very memorable one for our 6 days dive holiday in Lembeh. See you all in 2024......

I wanted to thank the wonderful staff at Black Sand Dive Retreat for making my dive trip a fantastic experience. Rustam and Freeli took great care of me and went out of their way to make everything perfect for me. The restaurant and room staff made sure everything was perfect, clean and that we always had full bellies. The entire dive staff was fabulous but I wanted to pay special thanks to Pangel, the boat captain, Ebner, who was my dive guide for one day, and especially Etmo, my amazing dive guide for the majority of my dives, and my human torch. Not only did Etmo help find everything on my wish list, he also was my human torch to help light up my subjects since all my external dive strobes/lights failed as soon as I hit the water. Etmo helped to insure I was able to get great photos of all the amazing critters in Lembeh and save my trip. Oh, I should also mention the room and property were just lovely and the dive area was nice, clean and very comfortable. The food was great and the restaurant staff were always welcoming custom requests. I also did a morning excursion to the Tangoko forest and BSDR set it all up and made sure I got there at the right time to see the things I most wanted to see, to the extent of waking me up at 3:30am and being in the main area to meet my driver and see me off with a bag breakfast. Thank you again for making this a wonderful experience.

This was our fifth time to Lembeh within the last 18 years. Having stayed before at Lembeh Resort , we truly had some expectations – which were all fulfilled. It happened that the former GM of Lembeh Resort is the owner of Blacksand Dive Retreat. He put in all his experience in this resort: from the same standard/ outfit of the rooms over excellent meals to well trained very attentive staff. All rooms come with A/C which worked great and are designed that you do not get the air straight on the bed, which is important to us as we are always likely to catch a cold after long travel. The open bathroom features a shower with (reliable) hot water. The balconies offer great views on the Strait and come with two seaters. Unfortunately, the weather was pretty hot, so you could only stay underwater or inside the rooms or in the very pleasant restaurant area after 11:00 am. But the pool area is great for a early morning or late afternoon relaxation. We enjoyed nearly a week at the resort which includes only seven sunny bungalows and therefore is very individual when it comes to the selection of dive sites or what you want to search for. We were lucky to be only 4 guests during the week and went diving in one of the boats which are designed to fit in 4 guests and up to two dive guides. A great surprise was also to find Abner, one of the most experienced senior dive guides we met many years ago at Lembeh Resort , working now for Black Sand. With his 20 years of experience he spotted reliably every creature on any of the dive sites. We had (nearly) all: various mimic octopus, wonderpuss, coconut octupusses, rhinopia, pygmy seahorse (several of them on one single Gorgonian fan), ornate pipe fish, yellow seahorses and so many other creatures. But the best was a Mandarin fish mating- dive, which is basically a dive where you have to wait until it is dark and the Mandarin fish starts mating, coming up from the corals. As keen photographers we appreciated that nobody was watching the clock when we had to wait longer as expected and ended up with a 75 minutes-dive. The resort has its own house reef which makes a great dive site by day and night. If once you go with one of the guides, you can go there anytime without them - adding a lot flexibility if the 3-4 boat dives per day (8:00/ 11:00/ 14:30/ 17:30) do not suit you. Night dives comes with a moderate surcharge and are due to guests request. The dive center offers professional standards: several tanks to rinse your gear, 2x showers, camera room, storage for your gear. Our summary: if you are looking for high standards in service, comfort, good food and excellent dives with experienced staff and dedicated dive guides, choose Black Sand resort. We combined our stay with a liveaboard tour afterwards and were not willing to pay ridiculously high prices. And were pleasantly surprised to get if all here with a very personal touch at much more moderate prices. Thank you all for making our stay that wonderful.

We spent four wonderful days at Black Sand at the end of our Sulawesi trip and felt completely comfortable. The small resort, very personally managed by Rustam and his nice team, is located on a hillside and has spacious bungalows with a magnificent view of the Lembeh Strait. During the dives, which were conducted in very small groups, the wishes of the guests were always taken into consideration, if possible due to the weather. Many thanks to our excellent guide Stefen, who did not miss even the smallest creatures (e.g. pygmy seahorses)! To our amazement, there were beautiful walls with colorful vegetation to dive next to the Muck Diving known for the Lembeh Strait. We can fully recommend the Black Sand Dive Retreat and will definitely come back!