Diving in Indonesia (prices/maybe camera rental)

Hi,

I'm on an overland 'round the world' trip at the moment, currently in Thailand and continuing into Malaysia & Indonesia, then Australia. I'd like to do some diving wherever possible (budget permitting). I googled about diving in Indonesia, but had problems finding prices for dives & rental equipment.

Could someone give me a pointer about this? (I will stay in budget accomodation wherever possible, so am not interested in diving resorts unless it's unavoidable).

-What's the average cost of, say, a 2-3 dive daytrip in Indonesia? (kind of like diving from Phuket is between 2700 and 3500 baht)?
-What's the cost of rental equipment in those places?
-Is it possible to rent an underwater housing for a Canon 5D somewhere? Or is this kind of equipment too specialized?

I'm not too bothered about 'which dive centre to go'. Just a rough indicator about costs would be much appreciated!

Thanks a lot!
CPixie

I think you will find most places will rent dive gear for around $5 per piece per day.
As indonesia is such a large place prices vary quite a bit. If you head to Bali and do daytrips from Sanur to Tulamben etc you will pay more than if were to stay in Tulamben itself. A typical 2 tank from a Sanur (south Bali) based shop is around $100 US.
In other places in Indonesia $20-$30 per dive is about average.
I don't know of anyone who rents housings for DSLRs.. but you should be able to find good compact camera rentals and external strobes at most dive shops throughout the country

Hi CPixie

About the DSLR housing: you won't find one or, if you will find one, it will cost a fortune! If you can rent one, are you sure you want to put your very expensive camera in it? Are you sure it's leak-proof? usually you can rent compact cameras. I have seen prices starting from 10€/day (without strobes).

The other thing: how is your buoyancy control? If you really have 20 dives it might be better for the environment not to dive with camera because you still focus on the other instruments.
regards

If you want to do it on the Cheap, you should check out North Bali, and stay in the little towns. The macro/photography is really good there as well. With equipment and guide the prices were about 20 USD per dive. They do packages with discounts as well. If you meet up with another traveler you should dive Tulamben with them (shore entry, easy to navigate) it'll cost you 5 USD per tank, and another 5 per dive for gear....