I need advice...

[littlce]

I have narrowed it down now...
There are a few places I am thinking about going for my honeymoon and I need recommendations because I have never been to any of these places.

Wakatobi
Manado
Sipadan
Palau
Yap

We will be going in July of next year... our budget is about 5k
I have been trained as an Advanced diver
She is still Open Water and not as confident.

We want to dive for a few days... 4 or so and do things in the evenings.... then spend our last few days on tours and activities and shopping.

Any suggestions and why?

Thanks in advance.
Christopher

 

[kalekainxx]

Palau is nice. Very easy to dive at. As for evenings, there isn't really much to do except to lounge around. Shopping is just for gifts. Palau doesn't really make anything themselves tho. Most items are imported.

 

[ce4jesus]

Those are all nice destinations. You can't beat Sipadan, Palau, or Yap for small weird, stuff. What I'm not certain about is your 5K budget for those areas especially from the US. Just out of curiousity there are some outstanding locations Cozumel, Bonaire, Belize, the Caymans and Roatan that are very nice destinations here in this half of the ball and they're easy to get to from Texas. Its tough to beat the Caymans, Roatan or Belize.

 

[littlce]

I will be traveling from Jakarta, Indonesia. That's where my 5k starts

Which is why it really doesn't matter what hemisphere I will be on, but I figure as long as I'm in the east, I might as well honeymoon there... I can always make the trip to my back yard, but I can't see myself coming back to vacation in the east anytime soon. Might as well enjoy it while I'm there.

 

[diversteve]

Do you actually stay on Sipadan when you dive there now? The reason I'm questioning it is that I just read an article in this months Scubadiving - Slowly Saving Sipadan - p18.

A couple of quotes:

In 2004 the government ordered all six resident dive operations off the fragile island...

Currently Sabah Parks enforces the daily quota of 120 divers from the nearby islands of Kapalai, Mabul or the mainland town of Semporna.

Something you might want to check on...

then spend our last few days on tours and activities and shopping.

I also thought Wakatobi was pretty much all that's there. But I don't know never having been there.

The resort itself is situated on a small island locally called Onemobaa. Our island is beside Tomia Island, one of four major islands covering an area of 821 sq. km.

 

[littlce]

Do you actually stay on Sipadan when you dive there now? The reason I'm questioning it is that I just read an article in this months Scubadiving - Slowly Saving Sipadan - p18.

The long answer is that there are resorts on Mabul and Kapalai that you can stay on that are a 15/30min boat ride to sipadan... besides that, mabul and kapalai are very good macro sites also

 

[Live_in_Sin]

Wakatobi
Manado
Sipadan
Palau
Yap

We want to dive for a few days... 4 or so and do things in the evenings.... then spend our last few days on tours and activities and shopping.

am not sure what kind of things you want to do in the evenings but I don't think there's much things you could do in those places in the evening, nor shopping....
maybe go to Wakatobi / Manado for diving and on the way back stay in Bali and do activities and shopping!? or if your future wife could skip shopping part, go to Mabul or Kapalai and on the way back do tours in the borneo rain forest!

 

[littlce]

still needin some advice... anyone else?

 

[divnlite]

Wakatobi's 2008 pricing puts it over your budget.
Plus there really isn't ANYTHING else but diving, diving, diving, snorkeling, sun worshipping.
Can't advise on any of the other locals, sorry.

 

[victor]

You are on your honeymoon, so no issues about what to do in the evenings.
Sipadan 5 days,
5 days in Sabah, see the oranutans Kota, Rain forest, maybe a day trip to Brunai (a very interesting place).

Spend the middle 5 days in Sipadan then you don't loose any dive time to air travel.