Raja Ampat, Komodo, Bunaken, Bali all done - where next in Indo????

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Struth Ruth

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Messages
26
Reaction score
10
Location
Australia
# of dives
200 - 499
Dived Raja Ampat in March last year and its was totally awesome, the amount of fish was truly amazing, loved it. Was always a a dream to go there. Did Raja again in June and sadly not as good fish wise. Also dived in Bali, Komodo and Bunaken, loving them all.

Now I'm stuck on where to go next in October and in January. So far, I've narrowed it down to:

Palu (Central Sulawesi)
Maratua
Alor
Karimun Jawa
Bandaneira

Palu seems easiest to get too from Bali which is where I will be starting from.

Belongas Bay in Lombok looks great for hammerheads in October but seeing I have a week would like to go further.

maratua, Alor and Banda will involve a lot of travel and are expensive so need to know if diving worth it. Happy to travel if good diving.

Karimunjawa looks fabulous and I really want to visit but cant really find much info on the diving.

Ambon and Lembeh are out as I'm not a huge fan of muck diving only

I like adventure diving, seeing the big things and would love people's thoughts on any of these please, the good and the bad experiences please.

Thanks

Ruth
 
Ambon and lease islands are more than muck diving, you can couple it with Banda, you say you love adventure diving but you're not ready to travel? Something that is a bit contradictory...
You missed Bangka which is the best in North Sulawesi, so much better than Bunaken.
Alor is absolutely great in october but completely out of season in January. Not sure a liveaboard is the best choice for Alor...

Never been but did you consider Selayar, South Sulawesi? Looks like it's a sharky place.
 
Like luko says Ambon is far from just muck diving. We did approx 50:50 and if you plan well enough you can dive molana haruku and south side Ambon which offers walls caves and healthy reefs! To be honest we liked the blue water diving just as much as the muck! Plus October is a great time and relatively simple to get to. And yes could couple it with Banda islands also. Will def try go again. Highly recommend dive into Ambon who are currently renovating a new location as a boutique hotel as opposed to being at natsepa.
 
Thank you both for the advice re Ambon, much appreciated. Did a lot of googling last night and looked at Luko's pics and it looks great, really like the look of Molana too.

Will keep an eye out re DIA FB re their new accommodation

Thanks
 
Maybe Weda Bay, East coast of Halmahera?
 
As a single female traveller not that confident of PNG, would have to be an organised group trip which isn't really my thing at the moment, but its definitely on my bucket list ... one day.

For these trips I already have trips booked to Bali so using that as my base. Waiting to hear back but looks like Im going to Alor after they waived the single supplement and added a day for free, perfect!!!
 
I realise your decision has pretty much already been made, but...

I've been to Tufi and Kavieng in PNG as a single female traveller. Don't hang around in Port Moresby. Flights from Brisbane or Cairns are scheduled such that domestic connections are straight forward (land just before lunch, fly out early afternoon). Schedule from Sydney is a bit more messy. Honestly, if you're just staying at the dive resort and doing the resort run dive trips and land tours, you'll be fine, as you'll always be in a group.

I also travel to PNG a few times a year for work, and to be honest, the only places there that are of a genuine security concern are Port Moresby and up in the highlands and near the West Papua border. None of which are really of concern for a dive tourist, as long as you don't plan on spending any time in Port Moresby.
 

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