Best of Indonesia

[diveaddict123]

Hi everyone, interested to know how you would rank the following destinations, assuming you have been to all of them. Budget is not a consideration, just quality of the diving overall.

- Raja Ampat Central and South
- Triton Bay
- Komodo North and South
- Alor North and South
- Halmahera Proco Island, Sali bay, Kusu island area

 

[stepfen]

These are considered to be some of the best dive destinations in the world. So quality of diving is potentially excellent in all of them. They have differences such as ease of access, LoB vs land based, time of the year to visit each, reef vs blue water diving etc, but that's a matter of preference.

If budget was not a consideration I would visit all of them, one after the other again and again and again...

Unfortunately since budget (and time) is a consideration for me, I have visited only one of them (Raja) and I'm about to do my second one (Komodo) this summer

 

[Dan]

Hi everyone, interested to know how you would rank the following destinations, assuming you have been to all of them. Budget is not a consideration, just quality of the diving overall.

- Raja Ampat Central and South
- Triton Bay
- Komodo North and South
- Alor North and South
- Halmahera Proco Island, Sali bay, Kusu island area

I have been to Raja Ampat (10 times), Komodo (4 times), Alor (3 times), Triton Bay (never), Halmahera (never). So how I rank them is limited to my experience, read & heard. If you list them based on rank, at the top of the list being the best, I would agree.

I would modify the list after I visit Triton Bay in January 2025.

I plan to visit Komodo again this August 2024. I have been there in June, August & December. August is my favorite month. Check out my video of Manta Alley in the South, below.



I have been to Alor in April, September, & November. September is my best time. That was in 2012. I’m going back there again in December 2024. I didn’t start filming my dive trip until 2018. So I don’t have underwater video of my trip to Alor in September 2012, but I filmed our encountered with huge pod of dolphins when we headed to Alor Divers - Intimate beach resort on Pantar island, Alor archipelago as you see, below.



I have been to Raja Ampat in November, December, January, February, April & May. I enjoyed all of them. I plan to go back there in January 2025, as part of the crossing trip that ends in Triton Bay. The most recent one is in February 2024, as shown, below.



I am considering going to Halmahera sometime in the future, in 2026 or later. We’ll see how I rank it relative to the others then.

 

[Dan]

I would add Ring of Fire to the list and rank them something like this:

- Raja Ampat North, Central and South
- Triton Bay
- Ring of Fire Maumere-Ambon-Sorong
- Komodo North and South
- Alor North and South
- Halmahera Proco Island, Sali bay, Kusu island area

Here’s 1st half of Ring of Fire (Maumere-Ambon) that I did it back in 2019.



I’ve done the 2nd half of it (Ambon-Sorong) back in 2017, but that was before I start filming my trips. So, no trip video, yet.

My next trip is will be doing the whole Ring of Fire route from Maumere to Sorong. For example, this upcoming trip, 14-29 October 2026 offered Mermaid liveaboard on Mermaid 1, 2026 - Mermaid Liveaboards

 

[ardi999]

Great videos Dan. I have not been to Alor, Triton nor Halmahera.

I've been to Raja Ampat once and Komodo twice. I particularly like South Komodo.

 

[Luko]

I already dived 3 to 5 times in the last 10 years each destination I'm ranking : Raja Ampat > Alor > Komodo and will be going again. It seems everybody will be diving Komodo this summer
Never dived Triton Bay (yet) nor Halmahera (not sure I will).

(As a sidenote I have no idea what Alor "north and south" is supposed to differenciate, then what about Komodo West, which in my mind makes a big difference with Komodo North/Central and South)

These destinations are highly seasonal, so the ranking may depend on the time of the year. Not sure I would go diving Alor and north Komodo in the first quarter of the year, for example.

 

[Cali_diver]

I have dove them all numerous times and they are all amazing and not to be missed. I don't even think I could rank them. I guess Halmahera would be number 5 out of all of these in terms of diving but it is still really cool and so fishy. Komodo and Raja are way too crowded during their seasons so now I tend to visit off season or at the beginning or end of that season. Alor, Triton, and Halmahera are not that crowded "yet" but boats are starting to go there more now due to the crowded conditions at Raja and Komodo. So what you need to ask yourself is ..."What do I want to see and how many other boats do I want to see it with?"

 

[Plutonist]

I particularly like South Komodo.

That's interesting. I reckon you visited during wet season? I've never been to Komodo and was contemplating checking it out during wet season, because that fits better with my work schedule. But I am somewhat apprehensive of missing the signature dive sites, such as Castle Rock and then being disappointed.

 

[Cali_diver]

That's interesting. I reckon you visited during wet season? I've never been to Komodo and was contemplating checking it out during wet season, because that fits better with my work schedule. But I am somewhat apprehensive of missing the signature dive sites, such as Castle Rock and then being disappointed.

South Komodo is a favorite of mine with Cannibal Rock being one of the best dive sites in Komodo. You can dive the south in either season and see things you wont see in other places of Komodo. It is cold and a bit green during the on season and warmish and blue in the off season. I am pretty sure the only way to see it is with a liveaboard and is usually never crowded. Only difference is during the off season we usually take advantage of the south being warmer and we dive there for multiple days. We have always been able to dive Castle and the other sites in the Gili Lawa laut area in both seasons as well but off season just has way less boats. Either way I don't think you will be disappointed but you might be shocked at how many other boats are diving Castle at the same time as you.

 

[ardi999]

I reckon you visited during wet season?

Yeah, I visited in late December. Water was blue as you can see from my videos. Bottom temperatures were 27-28 C. We were still able to visit northern sites like Castle Rock & Gili Banta, though I was told by the guide that later starting in January typically the conditions in the north start to become less favorable.

I can see myself I'd return to Komodo again doing more dives in the south, before redoing Raja Ampat. The amount of scheduled liveaboard trips that visit Raja in the high season somewhat discourages me, and coincidentally, high Raja season is wet/low Komodo season.