jamesdiving
Contributor
If maximum no of dives is the key thing then I guess a resort like Wakatobi or Misool with a quality house reef is the answer. Easy to do 5 pretty stellar dives a day at those locations.
Palau second thoughts?
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I've been to Komodo a few times. for the money It can't be beat. If you go with Condo (oldest operator and the yoda of diving), CN Divers, you can do 3-4 dives a day or $100-125 a day! Just don't expect any form of luxury whatsoever, however diving with him is the best since its all tailored to what you want, no nannying...
That being said I am going to Palau this year for the first time
I was able to get a livaboard deal for $1900.
That being said I am going to Palau this year for the first time
I was able to get a livaboard deal for $1900.
Kevrumbo
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Using USA Territory of Guam as your hub, island hop across tropical Micronesia/Oceania/Australia/SE Asia.
Easiest overseas itinerary for an American Diver: The incredible walls, corals, schooling big fish/pelagics/sharks & drift dives of Palau, then Guam hub, and finally to the beautifully soft coral adorned Truk Lagoon WWII Wrecks in Chuuk. No currency exchange needed -all use US dollars. Flights are easy to book online with United Airlines out of mainland Pacific Gateways such as San Francisco/Los Angeles -or even Denver to Tokyo whenever they get that Dreamliner 787 fixed. Whatever is left in the travel budget, add a couple days stopover in Oahu/Pearl Harbor/Honolulu-Waikiki Beach on the way back to the mainland to gradually "re-acclimatize" back to hectic urban life. . .
Palau Visitors Authority - About Palau
Guam travel guide - Wikitravel
Spa stuff for the lady diver in Palau:
Palau Pacific Resort Villas | Palau Spa and Massage | Palau Packages
Sam's Tours: Palau Diving Micronesia, Island Hopping and dive travels
Ocean Hunter I & III - Palau's most luxurious liveaboards
(And am leaving for all of the above in less than 24 hours. . .!)
Easiest overseas itinerary for an American Diver: The incredible walls, corals, schooling big fish/pelagics/sharks & drift dives of Palau, then Guam hub, and finally to the beautifully soft coral adorned Truk Lagoon WWII Wrecks in Chuuk. No currency exchange needed -all use US dollars. Flights are easy to book online with United Airlines out of mainland Pacific Gateways such as San Francisco/Los Angeles -or even Denver to Tokyo whenever they get that Dreamliner 787 fixed. Whatever is left in the travel budget, add a couple days stopover in Oahu/Pearl Harbor/Honolulu-Waikiki Beach on the way back to the mainland to gradually "re-acclimatize" back to hectic urban life. . .
Palau Visitors Authority - About Palau
Guam travel guide - Wikitravel
Spa stuff for the lady diver in Palau:
Palau Pacific Resort Villas | Palau Spa and Massage | Palau Packages
Sam's Tours: Palau Diving Micronesia, Island Hopping and dive travels
Ocean Hunter I & III - Palau's most luxurious liveaboards
(And am leaving for all of the above in less than 24 hours. . .!)
OP
scuba e
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Gotta say, I like your style and sounds like fun but with a day of deco between flights I see alot of dry days in your itinerary. With a total of 3 weeks vacation a year I just cant see spending that much time topside.
Been to Honolulu. No thanks. Left LA due to crowds and traffic. Spas? cant see doing abroad what we can do at home.
Again, if younger and just traveling around I like your views but at this point we need to pack as much submerged time as we can. WIth the best quality we can.
---------- Post added November 27th, 2013 at 05:30 PM ----------
OK, Komodo has come up over and over here as well as other sites/conversations. Komodo vs. Palau? thoughts? who has done both? Seams most liveaboards are about the same price be it Carib, PNG, Komodo, etc. So what would you do?
If we do Komodo it looks like we could do a few extra days in Bali? From what I see about Palau, PNG, Raja, it does not seem like places to spend a few extra days. Thoughts?
Kevrumbo
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Here in Palau, just now finishing my Thanksgiving Dinner, after five straight days of two-tank diving --and I could have used a "dry day" today to off-gas & recover and get indoors/AC out of the heat of the tropics. . . Even on a liveaboard, you gotta pace yourself & take-off a dive or two and not push it if your body is showing tell-tale signs of fatigue/exhaustion (i.e. sub-clinical DCS).
jamesdiving
Contributor
You could easily spend a week in Bali - diving and/or topside stuff - there's a huge range of accommodation, restaurant, excursion and diving options there. Raja Ampat you could mix Liveaboard with resort, or you could stop in Ambon or Manado (Lembeh, Bunaken, Bangka) on the way.
I guess it depends how often you think you'll get back to Indonesia? It may be worthwhile to hit multiple parts of the archipelago in the same trip - there's a lot of diverse and fabulous diving.
You should also be aware of the seasons - Raja Ampat season for most of the liveaboards is Nov-Mar, Komodo is May-Sept, with crossing trips between the two through the remote Banda Sea in Oct and Apr.
---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 09:49 AM ----------
Just to add, I haven't been to PNG but it's high on my list. The topside attractions there look amazing - incredible tribal culture (Google "Mt Hagen show" or "Goroka Show" and click on images...), jungle lodges, birds of paradise and from what I can see there are multiple different diving regions - Tufi, Milne Bay, New Britain, New Ireland - scattered around the country with a selection of liveaboards and resorts serving each.
That said, it's not cheap to do the land tours and you need to fly everywhere, which is expensive; even getting to PNG in the first place is expensive as you have to go through either Singapore or Brisbane on Air Niugini.
I guess it depends how often you think you'll get back to Indonesia? It may be worthwhile to hit multiple parts of the archipelago in the same trip - there's a lot of diverse and fabulous diving.
You should also be aware of the seasons - Raja Ampat season for most of the liveaboards is Nov-Mar, Komodo is May-Sept, with crossing trips between the two through the remote Banda Sea in Oct and Apr.
---------- Post added November 29th, 2013 at 09:49 AM ----------
Just to add, I haven't been to PNG but it's high on my list. The topside attractions there look amazing - incredible tribal culture (Google "Mt Hagen show" or "Goroka Show" and click on images...), jungle lodges, birds of paradise and from what I can see there are multiple different diving regions - Tufi, Milne Bay, New Britain, New Ireland - scattered around the country with a selection of liveaboards and resorts serving each.
That said, it's not cheap to do the land tours and you need to fly everywhere, which is expensive; even getting to PNG in the first place is expensive as you have to go through either Singapore or Brisbane on Air Niugini.
I have dived both Komodo and Palua, both LOB. Loved them both.
Dived Komodo with Mermaid II. Awesome mix of world class macro, wide angle stuff at "hook ins" and Manta Cleaning Stations, amazing drift dives, great coral. Also, the scenery along the way is simply breathtaking with volcanoes and swarms of fruit bats filling the sky at dusk. The Dragons are pretty cool too. We took the LOB that leaves from Bali ( you can meet boats much closer to Komodo but have to take a short flight). Another great aspect is, as with the vast majority of Asia Pacific diving you have 79-84 degree water which for me is board shorts and rash vest. The water does cool at the southern tip of Komodo Island, where the Mantas are, but 3mm wetsuit is fine.
If you plan to spend time in Bali and want to avoid crowds, do not stay around Kuta! Crowds and traffic. Kuta beach has a great surf scene but if thats not your thing, stay away. Consider northern Bali.
We dived Palau on the Aggressor. Top notch quality staff and food. Great variety of diving with a bias towards palaegic and big stuff but some very nice walls along the way. Fantastic time spent with Mantas at German Chanel and Blue Corner totally deserves its reputation.
One thing I noted about Palau was the well known sites i.e Blue Corner, German Chanel, Ulong Chanel did tend to get crowded by day boats around midday. this is why I would suggest LOB, you get in the water at these sites before the day boats arrive and have the sites to your selves after they have left. Plus, I think given the distance from resort to most sites, LOB is the only way to hit 4 dives a day.
Top side in Palau is limited, we spent 3 days at Palau Pacific resort to relax before the LOB and while the resort and beach is fantastic there is little to do. Even the town has little to offer as far as culture.
To sumarise, both Komodo and Palau are must dives and I would love to visit both again. If I could only return to one i think Komodo would edge it and likely will next year.
Based in Hong Kong, both are relatively easy to get to however, I think Palau would be eaiser coming from the states.
Other things to consider would be that in both places enjoy strong currents. Competence in current and reef hooks are a must.
Last thing, one place that I dont think has come up so far is Malaysian Borneo (sabha). Mabul and Sipedan offer stunning macro and big stuff respectively and are within 2 miles of each other. Yes Sipedan has the complication of the permits but that is for another thread. the top side activities of the Borneo jungles are obvious too.
Dived Komodo with Mermaid II. Awesome mix of world class macro, wide angle stuff at "hook ins" and Manta Cleaning Stations, amazing drift dives, great coral. Also, the scenery along the way is simply breathtaking with volcanoes and swarms of fruit bats filling the sky at dusk. The Dragons are pretty cool too. We took the LOB that leaves from Bali ( you can meet boats much closer to Komodo but have to take a short flight). Another great aspect is, as with the vast majority of Asia Pacific diving you have 79-84 degree water which for me is board shorts and rash vest. The water does cool at the southern tip of Komodo Island, where the Mantas are, but 3mm wetsuit is fine.
If you plan to spend time in Bali and want to avoid crowds, do not stay around Kuta! Crowds and traffic. Kuta beach has a great surf scene but if thats not your thing, stay away. Consider northern Bali.
We dived Palau on the Aggressor. Top notch quality staff and food. Great variety of diving with a bias towards palaegic and big stuff but some very nice walls along the way. Fantastic time spent with Mantas at German Chanel and Blue Corner totally deserves its reputation.
One thing I noted about Palau was the well known sites i.e Blue Corner, German Chanel, Ulong Chanel did tend to get crowded by day boats around midday. this is why I would suggest LOB, you get in the water at these sites before the day boats arrive and have the sites to your selves after they have left. Plus, I think given the distance from resort to most sites, LOB is the only way to hit 4 dives a day.
Top side in Palau is limited, we spent 3 days at Palau Pacific resort to relax before the LOB and while the resort and beach is fantastic there is little to do. Even the town has little to offer as far as culture.
To sumarise, both Komodo and Palau are must dives and I would love to visit both again. If I could only return to one i think Komodo would edge it and likely will next year.
Based in Hong Kong, both are relatively easy to get to however, I think Palau would be eaiser coming from the states.
Other things to consider would be that in both places enjoy strong currents. Competence in current and reef hooks are a must.
Last thing, one place that I dont think has come up so far is Malaysian Borneo (sabha). Mabul and Sipedan offer stunning macro and big stuff respectively and are within 2 miles of each other. Yes Sipedan has the complication of the permits but that is for another thread. the top side activities of the Borneo jungles are obvious too.
bracko
Contributor
^^ good post. thanks,.
I've just come from Mabul with 2 days at Sipadan. I would not put it in the same class as Komodo and Palau. It ws good, but it's the first destination I would not travel back to... strangely I wouldn't mind working there as an instructor though.
I've just come from Mabul with 2 days at Sipadan. I would not put it in the same class as Komodo and Palau. It ws good, but it's the first destination I would not travel back to... strangely I wouldn't mind working there as an instructor though.
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