We enjoyed another great couple of weeks at NAD Lembeh for our annual NAD Lembeh Photo Week 2026. The diving was off the charts and there was a lot of fun to be had. Of course the staff at NAD Lembeh were the perfect hosts as they catered to all of our dietary needs.

Average water Temperature 26-27C
Visibility – quite good for Lembeh!
Weather – a few days of rain at the beginning but mainly cloudy with sunny periods with wind that meant perfect air temperature throughout

NAD Lembeh Photo Week 2026 Critters

Everyone arrived early to get in a few days of diving to make sure everything was working before the start of the photo week. This allowed time for everyone to dial in their buoyancy and get a handle on their gear. It didn’t take long for the highlights to ramp up, we saw 6 species of octopus on the first day! The dive guides at NAD are some of the best in the world and they didn’t disappoint. With a generous 1 guide for every buddy pair, the organization is perfect for photographers. Not only are the guides great at finding critters, they understand photography too. Their innate understanding of photography and animal behaviour means they are a vital help to underwater photography enthusiasts.

The Main Event

After a few days of getting in the groove, everyone was ready for the main event to begin. After a short briefing about how the week would progress, Sam presented a great slideshow of Lembeh’s famous critters. The resort staff treated us to a wonderful BBQ dinner, a preview of the wonderful food NAD serves. This was a great way to start the week, a full belly always helps the creative juices to flow!

Throughout the week we enjoyed two morning dives before heading back to the resort for lunch. After lunch we would meet in the camera room for a short presentation about camera settings, snooting, lighting techniques and more. An afternoon dive was on the cards before heading back to the resort for a presentation on post processing at 5pm. After the evening presentation, everyone had a chance to work one to one with the presenters during “office hours”. This is a great way to work on techniques or receive photo critiquing.

Of course just because there were presentations and office hours going on, it didn’t stop the gang from heading out diving. Many a black water and Mandarin fish dive was undertaken throughout the week with some truly remarkable results. If you have never done a black water dive before then we highly recommend doing at least one while in Lembeh.

The Diving

The diving was off the charts this year, could this have something to do with the slightly colder water? The temperatures were mainly around 26C (79F) in the water, always a boon for the critter stock. We encountered every major species of octopus often enough that people grew weary of the blue rings. Lots of frogfish including the hairy, little yellow gobies, different species of pygmy seahorse, stonefish, all kinds of nudibranchs and harlequin shrimp are just the tip of the iceberg.

We finished the week with another fantastic BBQ before watching a slideshow of everyone’s best images of the week. The quality of the photos this year really stood out with everyone trying new techniques. We were very impressed with everyone’s photos and the variety of composition and subjects really demonstrated what a great week it was!

Photo Fun Weeks

Although the Photo Week was over that didn’t stop the photo taking as everyone remained on site for a few more days! With such great conditions in the strait, everyone took advantage and spent another three or four days to shoot more great photos. This allowed everyone to revisit a few of the sites from earlier in the week and get a few more shots of popular subjects. The coconut octopus and hairy frogfish were popular requests for everyone.

We would like to thank all of our attendees of this year’s NAD Lembeh Photo Week 2026 who came to us from Australia, the USA,Germany and the UK!

We are already excited for our 2027 Photo Week in Lembeh. The dates are set for 23-30 July with a warm up week and extension at the end available. If you are interested in joining us for this fun event then please Contact Us today for more details. We will be announcing the trip soon!