You've been getting weird responses. I thought Komodo was great for macro, but the only "big stuff" were the dragons on land. We did have a manta sighting somewhere on the way back to Bali (it was a Bali-Komodo r/t liveaboard) and a nice school of bumpheads off Lombok, but that wasn't Komodo.I would love to go back but PI just fueled a fire to see and do more and more. The general consensus is that we have done and seen some very good macro. Where is the big stuff? Palau? Rangiroa?
I know there are other locales for big. I will dive the Socoros eventually. But there are somethings that need to be considered for the wife and dive buddies:
- Warm water.
- Big stuff (wide angle)
- some Macro
- 4 dives a day
- minimal crowds
- some level of freedom (we are all pretty good on air and 50 minutes on 40fsw dives is not acceptable)
We can handle currents, liveaboards, mediocre food, bugs, heat and language barriers if the diving is worth it. So whatcha think? Where do we go? Whats the best you've seen?
In Palau, the "big stuff" is pretty much limited to a few white-tip and black-tip sightings, more if you're lucky, and napoleon wrasse. In Rangiroa, more big stuff, but you have to get out to the less-inhabited atolls for better diving in the Tuamotus IMO. Great shark action, rays, dolphins, turtles, etc. You also have lots of sharks, including bigger lemon sharks, in Moorea and Bora Bora.
Yap is more solid than Palau for mantas. In my two trips to Palau, the only manta sighting was a shadow in murky German Channel.
To meet all your criteria, Cocos is your best bet. Galapagos is better IMO, but it violates your #1.