Planning a 6 week diving trip to SE Asia

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Hey guys,

As an update on my trip plans, this is what I have so far..

- Flying out From Sydney to Phuket on 2nd May
- Bumming around Phuket for a few days (never been)
- Catching a Liveaboard from there to the Similian Islands (Similan Diving Safaris) from May 5 - 10. Doing my AOW + Nitrox there too.
- May 10-22 still open (still thinking of spending a week on the east coast of Thailand and then heading to Bali for 2-3 days
- Catching another liveaboard from Labuan Bajo (ex Bali) to Komodo. May 22-26 (White Manta)
- May 26- June 14 still open. (going to make my way to the Philippines then)


A few major gaps still exist but atleast I've booked in the most expensive parts of the trip (the liveaboards).
Now have to fill in these gaps...


Cheers,
Karan
 
You might want to give Bali more than 2-3 days Penida/Lembongan alone is good for that and if your into exotic critters Tulamben is great for them and for topside Ubud is beautiful. All of Bali can be done pretty cheaply.
 
Great advice from DF, Bali diving is awesome and great value. Try to spend a few days on Nusa Lembongan. We saw Mola Mola there in June a few years ago. The diving is a lot better than Thailand. White Manta is a a great choice too.

This sounds like a wonderful trip .
 
Agree with more time on Bali.
May-June is an excellent time of year for anywhere in the Philippines. Never mind trying for a Tubbataha liveaboard, if you're trying to keep to a budget and relatively new to diving. Plenty of other options.
 
You might want to give Bali more than 2-3 days .


I was there a month n a half back! that's where we did our OW though you're right, I should pencil in atleast 5-6 days for Bali and surrounds. Maybe the Gili Islands for a couple days?
 
Gilli's aren't really the best diving Bali has to offer. I've been twice ( and will end up back there again after loading up on dives off Padang Bai-Penida-Tulamben), we like Gili Air for chilling out. When I get bored and fidgety I'll go for an afternoon dive. It's really a shame it was blown out by dynamite fishing as they have the great Coral Triangle diversity, and the dive site's are really close.The hard coral and soft coral are starting to recover and it does have decent fish life and loads of turtles, but it depresses me to see what it used to have been. But unless your going to party or chill on the beach which it is great for either i wouldn't pick it as a "dive" destination. But there again your a new diver and I'm a bit "jaded" so it might be right up your alley.
 
Sounds like a great trip, I for one am jealous! Black Manta Komodo trip is amazing - in 18 years of diving, with over 20 liveaboards, that's the best trip I've done yet. (Though I hope it's overtaken by Misool Eco Resort a month from now :))

As others have suggested a few more days in Bali can't hurt, perhaps instead of east coast Thailand, which at least from a diving perspective won't match up to the other areas you're visiting.

I don't know the Philippines well, but I have dived Malapascua which is a nice island, good for small (as divers rather confusingly call it, "macro", in reference to the photography terminology) stuff and above all for the "guaranteed" daily dives with thresher sharks. There didn't seem to be much in the way of medium sized fish there though - not much between little critters and sharks - but it was nice diving all the same.

I hear good things about Anilao, which is famed for macro, though on that subject I do wonder if you've considered North Sulawesi and particularly Lembeh? Good variety of diving with three distinct areas within an hour or two of each other and the airport - Bunaken for walls, Bangkka for soft corals, Lembeh for "muck" diving and incredible marine life.

Muck diving sounds difficult or gross, but once you try it you'll be a convert. I did Lembeh a couple of years ago with old friends who are all instructors with thousands or tens of thousands of dives around the world between them. On every dive we saw species none of us had seen before - blue ring, mimic and wonderpus octopus, flamboyant cuttlefish, hairy frogfish, electric clam, the list goes on and on.

North Sulawesi is easy to access - multiple domestic/international airlines fly to Manado - with a range of resorts. There's also some interesting non-diving stuff to see - Tangkoko national park for Tarsiers and Sulawesi crested macaques, the volcano etc.
 
Right. So here's the update. I have most of the trip sorted out - except the last 16 days in Philippines

- Flying out From Sydney to Phuket on 2nd May
- Bumming around Phuket for a few days (never been)
- Catching a Liveaboard from there to the Similian Islands (Similan Diving Safaris) from May 5 - 10. Doing my AOW + Nitrox there too.
- May 10 -15 Bali
- May 16 - 22 Manado (yet to book ex Bali)
- Catching another liveaboard from Labuan Bajo (ex Bali) to Komodo. May 22-26 (White Manta)
- May 27 - head over to the Philippines. I have 16 days to spend there


Now I need help with the Philippines part. What I want to do there is -

- Spend 2 days in Manila (may also do a
Corregidor Island Tour then)
- Spend a couple days diving off
Malapascua Island
- Dive with Whale sharks in Cebu (Oslob?)
- Maybe get some wreck diving in Coron
- Heard the diving in
El Nido, Palawan is pretty decent too?

Oh and I'll be flying out to Sydney after that. I suppose I can catch the flight from Cebu or Manila

I'll admit I don't have much of a clue of the geography of the Phils yet and so not sure how to structure the trip. Where to go first. Flights? Ferry? Bus?

Help!



 
Moving around in the Philippines sucks up more time than you would believe possible. Malapascua, for example, is 4-6 hours from Cebu (depending on whether you use expensive or cheap methods). Also, many dive areas have so many different sites that they each merit more than a couple of days.

I see direct Manila-Sydney flights but not nonstop Cebu-Sydney. You can, however, fly to Cebu from Bali or Singapore (no idea on routing from Komodo).

So, start with the possibilities by road and short ferry from Cebu: Malapascua, possibly Moalboal, Oslob. Now you've worked your way down to southern Cebu, it's a short road/ferry hop to Dumaguete for the muck and macro of Dauin, and healthy corals and aquarium effect of Apo Island. For a less well known destination, try Sipalay. Or, skip the island of Negros altogether and fly to Manila from Cebu.

There are also direct flights from Dumaguete to Manila, or Bacolod (for Sipalay) to Manila. From there, if you've left time, take a road trip to Anilao, and/or road and short ferry to Puerto Galera. Anilao offers more than just muck, but not much to do besides dive. PG has great topside food and drink, but a certain sleaze factor some don't like.

All the above meet your criteria of great diving without requiring too much technical challenge. I mean, you can find drift or deep challenges at these spots, but the divemasters can find you easier spots too. The thresher shark dive at Malapascua requires you to have AOW because you park yourself at 25-27 metres depth, but aside from that it's not technically challenging.

Coron wrecks -- would be an additional flight to Busuanga from Manila; not sure how much of an additional technical challenge these would be. You weren't thinking of wreck penetration, were you? There are wrecks at Malapascua and Puerto Galera, the latter kind of tame.

El Nido diving was meh, in my very limited experience, compared to the other places mentioned. Again, an additional flight and road travel... plenty to do without adding that.

Spend your couple of days in Manila at the end. You will be glad you gave yourself lots of margin for catching your overseas flight.
 
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