Point me somewhere to Dive/Snorkel Sept-Nov!

Hi all. I'd love to get some feedback from you guys. We have some great cooks on this board, so here are my ingredients, what would you advice us to cook with it?
We are looking at a 10 day trip (give or take a few days, mostly give) and are trying to keep costs low. Thailand/Philipines/Malaysia/Indonesia....anything is fine. We have done Lembongan and Mabul/Sipadan last year, but this year we'll stick to one destination to keep costs and downtime low. We're from Switzerland. Ideally, we would spend half the time diving, and the rest, enjoying beach also doing some snorkeling.

- Snorkeling
I would love to have a place, where we can just chill and enjoy the beach, but also just grab our fins and masks, and wade into the water and start to snorkel. For me, this part has to be totally independant... I don't want to have to join some boat trip at a certain time etc.

- Diving
It would be amazing, if there were some kind of house reef or another form of "unguided" easy diving, which would allow us to just hit the water independantly, same as described above. But I also am open to "regular" diving via single boat trips, or even join a liveaboard for 3, max 4 days.

Since we can freely chose the "when", we want to try and avoid highseason. I really do not want to dive somewhere with more divers than fish. Like I said, it doesnt have to take place at the same time, a liveaboard first, beach second etc would be cool as well. Of course having everything accessible from one place , would be the perfect meal.

Anybody know a good recipe for this?

Thanks

Average

If you are looking for a place out of the ordinary, I have just started booking Walindi Plantation and the M/V FeBrina in Papua New Guinea. Besides offering some world class diving, resort and live aboard based, there is some amazing culture, and land excursions. Beautiful country! I am also booking Tawali Resort which offers space on their live aboard ship the M/V Chertan. Both resorts are intimate and the ships are also not crowded.

I have also just booked some folks at Lembeh Resort and Kungkungan Bay Resort (Indonesia) which as you probably know offer some of the best muck diving on the planet. Both boat and shore dives are available. Fantastic food, service, and intimate places.

I'm in there process of adding PNG to my website offerings so I don't have info there yet, but a google will get you to both Walindi and Tawali.

Let me know if I can provide any info.

Scuba Diving Destinations - Vacation Specials - Liquid Diving Adventures

Hi there

Thanks for the input!
I went over these, and unfortunately, considering we're flying out of Switzerland and will have a relatively short vacation, these places are too remote for us. I understand they're great if flying out of the West Coast for example...
But thanks for the fast response.

Keep'em coming guys!

Average,
You may consider Tanjung karang beach, Donggala, central sulawesi.
It's not Sipadan, Raja Ampat or Komodo, but their house reef with healthy coral reef strech over a km long. I love early morning and night diving there - where was our 2nd sighting of Blue ring octopus.
The only problem is, can be crowded during week end or public holliday where you may join their boat trip to pasi kawe (lot of sharks) or to Marantale / Parigi (1.5 hour drive) crystal clear blue water with 40 m viz. Note - marantale is not suitable for snorkeling. The reef start at 10 m, hundred meters from shore.
Check the my daughter report on the link below my signature.

Wow Wisnu, these pictures are amazing!
I love the report, it tells me: I want to go there.

But now I have to check where it is, and how "easy" I can get there from switzerland.
thanks alot for your suggestions!


Ok I checked... there had to be a downside: the flights are very expensive from Switzerland. And long, with alot of stops.
I'm afraid this has to wait, for another time :-(
but still, thanks alot for that info!

I just got a message offering 2 deals. #1 is Sipadan Kapalai (Sabah, Malaysia) and #2 is Lankayan Island (Sabah, Malaysia). Both are offering packages 20% off. I can send you the links if interested. I don't have a booking agreement with either resort.
Scuba Diving Destinations - Vacation Specials - Liquid Diving Adventures

thanks. We've been there last year. Also quite a long ride, Kul, Tawau, Taxi, Boatride...
we'll do that again in the future, but then on a long trip

Maybe Pulau Weh ? You can fly from Switzerland into KL, and then a short Air Asia flight to Banda Aceh... Weh offers great diving and nice relaxed beach with few tourists... Check out Lumba Lumba - they have great accommodation, an awesome house reef (for diving or snorkelling) and awesome boat dives...

Moalboal in Cebu has several "very good" snorkel site most are relatively easy shore/walk in dives (except at low tide). We also have at least 3 "very good" dive sites that are easily accesable from shore. We have many more good dive sites mostly available by boat entry...


We only have one beach for sun bathing but it is pretty large and you can find a "not too crowded" spot even on weekends.... This beach also has pretty good snorkeling...


Moalboal is a pretty laid back destination and can be one of the least expensive diving locations in the Philippines. You can find great rates on accomodations and diving... Also you can snorkel as much as you like in some pretty nice areas...

There is alot of information on Moalboal and other locations in the Philippines in the Philippine Paradise Diving Forum....

Where ever you decide to go I hope you have a great time!!!!

Cheers,
Roger