Dive Trip of a Lifetime to celebrate our 30th Anniversary

[Kevster]

If you are travelling in Aug i would forget about Palau or Philippines due to the weather concerns.

If you want something really exotic try
- Walindi PNG- Amazing diving, dive sites closeby, nice resort (but not luxury), ok food, email for home contact. Difficult travel.
- Uepi Solomons - Amazing diving, South Pacific paradise, average accom (not luxury). Moderate travel.
- Bali/Wakatobi - as others have suggested this may be your best bet. Good/great diving, luxury resort, easy travel.

 

[Shasta_man]

Raja Ampat or Komodo on the Dewi Nusantara. The boat is so big you will have trouble knowing you are on one. Unfortunately these places will crush your previous dive experiences into insignificance. Indonesia has the diving and land adventures.

 

[Darnold9999]

Raja Ampat or Komodo on the Dewi Nusantara. The boat is so big you will have trouble knowing you are on one. Unfortunately these places will crush your previous dive experiences into insignificance. Indonesia has the diving and land adventures.

Unfortunately true. If you go to the Indo Pacific you will forever more be disappointed with Caribbean diving.


Have been on the Dewi Nusantara and we are talking BIG. Can't imagine getting seasick on such a boat, and I get seasick fairly easily.

If you really can't tolerate boats the trip I would do is a three prong one. Bali - Lembeh - Misool Ecological Resort. Misool because it has probably the best diving in Raja Ampat at its doorstep (lots to argue with this statement as there are lots of places with great diving in RA, but this has been my experience). Lembeh because it has excellent macro and easy diving on the doorsteps of the resorts - and also has some very nice resorts. Bali because it would be a good place to spend a bit of time on land in a very cool place getting adjusted to the time zone and do a few dives to acclimatize before heading out to the other two locations. Would break it into 3 days Bali, 4 days Lembeh 7 days Misool and then 1 day return to Bali. If possible I would add a day to Bali at the front end. travel times will add another day or so of travel.

The only down side to all of this is I don't believe that Misool has easy contact with the outside world, and even if it does returning to the USA quickly is not easy.

 

[Bryan Cunningham]

While many of the above suggestions are great, and certainly viable options, let me throw in two more.
1) South Africa to Mozambique. You can start in Cape Town/Hermanus with great whites, move up to Aliwhal Shoals for wrecks and guaranteed sharks, throw in a few days game safari in Africa's first game reserve, move up to Mozambique for whale sharks reef and mantas. South African Rand is at an all time low, so your money can go a long way.

2) August is a good time for the Azores, but you would have to book quick to get seats on direct flights from the USA, they fill up fast. Azores has a short dive season, but whales, dolphins and mantas galore. Very pretty islands, and very affordable.

But there are loads of destinations much better than diving in the Caribbean.

 

[Shasta_man]

Good suggestions Bryan. I'll be getting to Africa one of these days... BTW, we also suggest these places because the warm water diving is relatively easy and with multiple islands in a single place, you get to see a lot of scenary. There are some pretty amazing trips coming up for the Dewi as well as some discounts.

 

[lamarpaulski]

Bali and Komodo.

 

[erywcy]

Thanks for all the suggestions... Please keep them coming. I hadn't thought about South Africa or the Azores but will definitely look into both of them. I looked at the Dewi and whereas I'd love to push the button and try a live aboard, being seasick is truly miserable. Thanks again to all of you for trying to help us make this anniversary special.

 

[Wingy]

French Polynesia - Tuomoto Archipeligo for diving - Society Islands for romance?

Papua New Guinea?

Vanuatu?

Private island off Sumatra?

 

[shawnhammer]

erywcy, in your original post you clearly indicated your and your husband's experience level, your preferred UW hobbies, your love of experiencing different cultures and a desire to experience something different than the Caribbean. Many folks have offered some amazing ideas of their dream dive vacations and taken care to consider your abilities and desires. I would ask you an additional question: What do you want this trip to mean to you and your husband? I ask because when I consider a trip like this to memorialize an important life event, I want to start by answering that question and then fill in the adventure blanks based on the answer.

From my personal experience, diving in Kiribati in July of 1994 was likely the most memorable of my life though I only went on half a dozen dives over a week. It was memorable because I was welcomed into the local community, invited to take part in the lives of the locals and celebrate their life events with them. There was no tour operation, no dive operator, really nothing more than an inexpensive hotel to sleep in with an almost so-so restaurant. A part of what made it memorable to me was diving with local subsistence fishermen (they collected food for their families during my dives by breath holding to 30-90 feet wearing swim goggles!!) out of their wooden row boats on the outer reef. When I asked if it was a good place to dive they said they didn't know because didn't think anyone had ever gone underwater in that area. The memory for me wasn't just about what I saw underwater but about eating with the village in the Maniaba after sunset, listening to stories and songs and watching embarrassed young people performing their coming of age ceremonies in the presence of their family and village.

For me, I want to know what I want the experience to mean so I can try to fill in the trip blanks with the right information. My definition of adventure isn't the same as a hardcore tech diver, caver, wreck junkie or UW photo/video journalist. My dream adventure will occupy the rest of my life and be comprised of (hopefully) thousands more experiences.

Okay, I can improve at writing succinct responses to forum threads...

 

[TheWartHog]

My wife and I are planning something similar to yourselves for our 20th Wedding Anniversary – we've decided on the Maldives for the first time, the diving sounds fantastic, looking forward to seeing the big fish.