Best diving locations in Indonesia for unexperienced divers

What are the best dive locations in Indonesia for unexperienced divers? I'm currently doing an internship in Jakarta and me and my girlfriend are planning to travel through Indonesia for one month from June till July. Last year we have acquired our Open Water on Pulau Weh with LumbaLumba divers. So we've only logged about 6 dives and we definitely have to do a refreshers course. Diving is not the only activity we want to employ, but can function as a guide to decide on our travelling locations. We have vistited Bali and Sumatra before, so we want don't want to visit these islands again.

I have read a lot about Bunaken, but I'm still unsure whether it's a good location for beginning divers. The same goes for the Lembeh strait. If I understand it correctly, Lembeh strait is mainly focused on muck diving. Other locations that I have in mind are Komodo, Flores, Lombok, or other places on Sulawesi. The whole trip is actually still open, so any suggestions would be welcome. Our main interest would be to see the bigger animals in the sea (macro-diving?). My girlfriend definitely wants to see turtles and would like to see some sharks. If it's possible I would like to see some whale-sharks, however I don't know if that's possible since we can only go to a depth of 18 metres. Like I said, we are pretty unexperienced so we don't have any real preferences. We just want to explore the beautiful underwater-world, see some nice (big) marine wildlife with some nice corals. Thank you in advance for your help!

Yannick

Hi YW -

Welcome to the 'Board. You're fortunate to be so close to many dive options. I think Bunaken is a good choice for new divers. There are always almost current-free dives somewhere around the island, and where there is current, it's not the Komodo-style, carnival-ride variety. You'll have options to see schooling fish, turtles, beautiful corals, and (maybe) a few sharks. To clear up some terminology, "macro" refers to little stuff ... it's easier to just associate the word with the similar-sounding "micro". Big marine wildlife might take a dedicated trip, and a few more dives under your belt. We humans have sadly removed almost all of the big stuff from the oceans (and continue to do so), but they're still out there (mostly way out there) and maybe that can be another trip.

I agree Bunakan would be great for a new diver.

Komodo and Lembeh are a bit more advanced (due to current and precision buoyancy skills needed to see little critters at lembeh)

Bali has plenty to offer - try Padangbai, Tulamben and Lovina.

Philippines has some nice beginner sites too.

Have fun!

I'd recommend Bali. There are several interesting locales around the island that are ideal and very interesting for new divers. Menjangen Island and Tulamben are two I can heartily recommend as appropriate for new divers, but there are others that are also very nice.

We used an outfit that's local to the island called Aquamarine Diving ... they set up the whole tour, including divemaster and driver, for a very reasonable price.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I agree , you will be fine in Indonesia. Bunaken is fine for beginners, one of the ladies we were there with did DSD and loved it , another did her OW, so it'sfine. Haven't been to Lembeh , but I'm sure it would be fine too.The coral and fish life on Bunaken is awsome.

The Gili Islands have lovely diving ( I know others may not agree , but we love it there) and it is fantastic for turtles , with ten ish on most dives. It's also great for sharks. If you did want to reconsider Bali , Tulamben is really easy and a lovely wreck dive. Also Nusa Lembongan where , at Manta Point you have a 70 to 80% chance of seeing manta rays.The currents are alittle more tricky there , but the shop we have dived with , World Diving are excellent and really take care of their guests.

I certainly wouldn't exclude Komodo, particularly if you are young , fit , strong , acclinatised to the temperatues and time zone and not jet lagged. OK the currents on some sites are "challenging" but on the vast majority of our LOB they were fine and the diving is out of this world.It's so near you , relatively speaking , that ot would be a shame to miss it.

Happy travels

I just got back from Bunakan and the diving is fairly easy. There were a few days where the currents were quite strong, so we did some nice wall drift dives, and a couple of dives where the currents abruptly switched direction during the dive. We also encountered two instances of strong down currents, which were strong enough that exhaled bubbles were sinking. However, the currents dissipated at around 60-80 feet. The recirculation of our bubbles over a couple of minutes had the effect of making it look like we were diving inside a snow globe. We had some new and weak divers with us and they handled the conditions just fine. As Tippytoes12 noted, the coral and fish life is awesome, and the shear vertical walls that plunge well beyond recreational dive limits are impressive.

the gilis are the biggest dive training part of indonesia. the dive sites are easy and mostly there are drift dives. What can u expect underwater? a lot of turtles, bumphead paroit fish, reef sharks, nemo, moray eels, etc......

For marco life there are a few dive sites where u can find the mandarin fish, ornate ghost pipe fish, mimic octopus, wonderpus, leaf ghost pipe fish, nudis, flatheads, seahorses, piqmees.......

Thank you all for your extensive replies. It sounds like Bunaken would be a nice place to continue our diving experiences. We might combine it with a trip to Lombok and visit the Gili's if were not able to find any turtles or sharks around Bunaken. How is the diving around Lombok in general? About Komodo, I've read it's a truly unique diving experience which is almost incomparable with other places. However, I also read that it would be more suited for more experienced divers due to the strong currents. What's your opinion on this?

Highdesert, I automatically assumed that macro referred to "big" or "large" as it does in for example "macro-economics". But thanks for clearing up the terminology, I won't forget it anytime soon!

Hi,

I can't comment on Bunaken but would agree that Bali and/or Lombok (the Gilis) would be good places for beginners.
Diving around the Gilis is, as far as I can remember, pretty relaxed with little currents. A lot of (a few years back) broken corals but heaps of turtles.

I wouldn't recommend Komodo or Flores to beginner divers due to the strong currents. Better wait until you have more dives and are more confident under water and with your bouyancy before going to these places.
Personally I haven't seen that strong currents in the (open) ocean before. To me it reminded me more of a river than the ocean!

HTH,

Andy

YW:

Thank you all for your extensive replies. It sounds like Bunaken would be a nice place to continue our diving experiences. We might combine it with a trip to Lombok and visit the Gili's if were not able to find any turtles or sharks around Bunaken. How is the diving around Lombok in general? About Komodo, I've read it's a truly unique diving experience which is almost incomparable with other places. However, I also read that it would be more suited for more experienced divers due to the strong currents. What's your opinion on this?

Highdesert, I automatically assumed that macro referred to "big" or "large" as it does in for example "macro-economics". But thanks for clearing up the terminology, I won't forget it anytime soon!

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My family is in the same boat as you, we were certified last August, and we love diving, but weren't sure about where in Indonesia would be right for us. We ultimately decided on Bali, and are headed there in June. We almost chose Bunaken, but there isn't as much to do topside (aside from hiking and wandering around the island), so we went with Bali. In Bunaken, you can stay on the mainland and be closer to more topside activities, but it may mean longer boat rides (and I've also heard that Manado isn't really geared towards tourists). So, if it's more of a mix of diving and topside stuff that you're after, and you don't want to return to Bali, I would suggest the Gilis. Also, although I have never been there, I would suggest leaving Komodo as a trip for a later time. While you would probably be fine on most of the sites, you might not get to experience all that it has to offer, and you might also not appreciate its true grandeur (Note: this is only what I've heard about Komodo, I do not have any first-hand experience to back up these statements). Hope this helps