Help with first Indo-Pacific Trip (Raja Ampat ?)

[chillyinCanada]

Astronomer, it seems counterintuitive to me for you to be going all the way to Raja Ampat and then limiting your dives. Raja Ampat was an amazing experience for me and I'd never have wanted to waste any opportunity to suck as much out of it as possible. My trip was on a high-end liveaboard . . .not because I wanted to spend that kind of money but because that was what was ideal and available. I'm currently squirreling away money to do it that way all over again!

And quite frankly, I believe you should get more experience too before you head that way.

Reconsider Belize. It's not like you can't return to Belize to take advantage of its many gifts of land and sea.

 

[astralmind]

Astronomer, it seems counterintuitive to me for you to be going all the way to Raja Ampat and then limiting your dives. Raja Ampat was an amazing experience for me and I'd never have wanted to waste any opportunity to duck as much out of it as possible. My trip was on a high-end liveaboard . . .not because I wanted to spend that kind of money but because that was whar was ideal and available. I'm currently squirreling away money to do it that way all over again!

By that you mean limiting due to weather (can't negotiate the time and chances are July will be all that'll work for the next few years) or the resort location ?

 

[chillyinCanada]

Yes.

In one of your earlier posts you mentioned how you would/could limit your dives to close in to the resort. Raja Ampat is a vast area.

 

[astralmind]

No wayd out to perfection! They say they cover 12 km radius which isn't terrible. With time restrictions (2 weeks plus travel ) and financial restrictions (hopping costs extra, LOBs are usually much more $), that plan seemed kind of a valid alternative. Then again, I am more than open to suggestions

Edit: After chatting shortly with Wingy, I had a look at the North Sulawesi sites, (lembeh, bunkaken etc..) and stumble upon the Lumbalumba Dive resort which seems charming but after all is added in once again, we fall back to the same price as the R4 alternative. Reaching Manado is certainly much easier than reaching R4 though but.... for the same price, wouldn't it still make more sense to go R4 ?

 

[divenski]

Another 2 cents from me... you can get all wrapped up in possibilities - while not endless, there are certainly a lot of them!! Everyone has to balance their own budget with what's available out there in terms of travel time, decent place to stay, and quality of diving. If the R4 trip looks good to you - do it! I have heard about diving in Manado and researched Bunaken and been diving in Lembeh, and R4 would be my choice over those, based on what I know. We flew into Sorong from Manado, so it was just one more short flight. I know you can also get there via other routes. Anyway, as someone who researches things to death... there will always be more opportunities (hopefully!) so if you've found something that looks good, esp when you know the diving is first-class - go for it. End of 2 cents :0).

 

[Shasta_man]

You do have to factor in the issue of weather for R4 versus Sulawesi. I don't know enough about weather to say but all overcast weather would really take the joy out of a trip. It's still good stuff but the sunshine makes a big difference in the beauty of the place and seeing all the colors on the reef and fish. A couple days of bad weather are not such a big deal but entire trip would be a bummer, so carefully consider that because you will be paying big money to go. If they pull the liveaboards out of there during that time, it is a clear sign. R4 is a big place and a liveaboard is really ideal for it. If you think you may go on a big trip again in the future, then you may save R4 for that trip and do a liveaboard. I always do liveaboards because I just find that I get more of an experience than staying a resort. The boat goes many places, you wake up in different locations and see places you've never seen before. There are no mosquitos on the boat. You sit out and watch the sunsets and stars. Sometimes storms come along and you experience some big waves but by the morning, it's beautiful again and you're anchored. The crew catches a fish and you have fresh sashimi. You spend time with the other guests and see amazing things together. You spend time with the crew and see how it is to live in another world. I've had some fantastic experiences I don't think I would have had. However, instead of one hotel room price, you now pay per person. Ouch.

Komodo would be another excellent alternative and is easier to get to than Sorong. It seems like only a couple flights less but that can be nice when you've already been up for 30 hours traveling.

Having been on trips where weather was bad, I would take the trip with better weather. It sucks to wake up to another overcast day and grey ocean.

 

[astralmind]

Once again, thanks for your 2 cents guys. I guess this whole thread (from my end) sounds more like an internal debate shared with you haha...

The point remains that July is all we'll be able to have off, most likely for the next few years. I do have some savings aside that I kept for That big trip and this would be it. That being said it remains limited and knowing that means staying at 1 place, leaving LOBs out as we want a 2 weeks trip.

North Sulawesi can actually be much cheaper accommodation wise, up to half of what R4 would be. Getting there though, is just as expensive. It is certainly simpler but $ wise, no difference per say.

We've watched hours and hours of youtube videos (amateur and pro) of many locations. For some reasons we found much more profesionnal looking content covering Lembeh, Bunaken vs R4... But it doesn't take more than a few seconds to realise how much more paradise like R4 feels vs Sulawesi.

I'd definitely need to have a few more real life experience from divers who did both and can compare, esp in July for the weather component. Obviously all the dive ops I've contacted were equally positive that weather wasn't an issue but ...yeah not so objective.

As for Komodo, please, if you are familiar with great inexpensive land based Dive ops, share away I had only found one and it wasn't any cheaper than R4 and certainly did not look 'better'. My strong bias towards R4 is strictly based on trip reports I've read and pictures I've seen... I figure, if this is THE trip I'll be able to do for the next few years, might as well pick the ultimate dream location.

---------- Post added February 28th, 2014 at 10:56 PM ----------

Well.. here we are. I want to thank you all again for your suggestions. Raja Ampat is out, weather seems to be a very real issue. As well, it is true that it might be overkill for a first venture in Indonesia.

Following Wingy suggestion, I looked up both Lembeh and Bunaken in depth and we are pretty much set on 2 weeks in Lembeh with NAD Lembeh Resort. Prices are a bit higher than Two Fish which also looked good but they do seem to offer considerably better accommodations, nicer looking grounds and a top notch team of photog which is always a great plus (even though I have no fancy camera gear).

Now we have to figure out the flights... Any thoughts on that piece ? It seems like quite a challenge as prices are very high. Booking the Montreal-Singapore portion and Singapore-Manado seperately appears to always yield better deals than punching in Montreal-Manado... that being said, it would also mean waiting in the Singapore airpo

 

[Shasta_man]

Since the weather wasn't going to be certain, you'll probably end up with better odds and a nicer trip this way. Diving is excellent in that area, so it will be great and you still have Komodo and R4 to look forward to later.

If you have flights which are purchased as separate segments, be sure to leave enough time between for screw-ups, because the airline will handle any problems getting you from flight to flight, but separate segments are on you if anything causes you to miss the flight. If you aren't familiar with the airport in Singapore, it is very large and has a transit hotel built into it. I've used the transit hotel multiple times and it is very nice to relax even just for 6 hours, because you can really relax and lie down. It's nice because you never leave the secure area of the airport so you just go back to your gate. You can leave the airport for other hotels and to look around if you wish but you will have to re-enter the airport like a new traveler. Others can comment on such hotels. Also buy travel insurance. I tend to wait closer to the date of departure because my main concern is something happening on the trip, not pre-trip. That brings insurance cost down a little. Hopefully it's wasted money since needing it means you had problems, but it could offset serious expenses. Make sure that you leave some time to explore the land a bit. Pretty cool stuff there too from animals to plants you may have never seen before.

 

[Darnold9999]

I have found that flying through Jakarta and then taking a local flight to Monado to be significantly cheaper than trying to fly through Singapore and connecting on to Monado. Flying out of Vancouver so Montreal may be different. Something to consider. Be aware that booking a local flight from Jakarta to Monado is a bit difficult but it can be done - NAD will be able to help with this.

 

[needmynitrogenfix]

wickeddiving.com has cheap liveaboards in komodo and raja ampat.

---------- Post added March 6th, 2014 at 07:51 PM ----------

if you are set on lembeh now, i would suggest you divide your time between lembeh and bunaken. they are close to each other and easy to switch half way through your trip. that way you get beautiful reefs and variety of dives in bunaken and also some muck critter dives in lembeh. lembeh is full of garbage so spending your entire two weeks there as your first trip to s.e. asia might be a bit much.