Planning a trip to the other side of the world...

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Norlaine Thomas

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Messages
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Location
Calgary, Alberta, Canada
# of dives
50 - 99
My husband and I have done about 80 dives. We both have our advanced open water and enriched air certifications. We have DAN insurance, and our own equipment. We have dived in Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba and Belize. We had our first liveaboard experience in November 2016 and it was amazing. My avatar photo is one we took on that trip.

Now we are planning another trip for March 2017. We have an opportunity to go to the other side of the world and we are trying to figure out where to go. We are considering Australia, Palau, and French Polynesia, but we would be interested in other suggestions as well.

Flying from Canada, it is going to be a lot of travel, wherever we go.

What we are looking for: Beautiful and varied aquatic life.

We have done the Blue Hole in Belize and we both had the same reaction: Meh. It is deep. It is also cold and sort of dark and not really any fish. Cool to be able to say you dived it, but we probably wouldn't do it again. We are really into the diversity of shapes and colours to be found in corals and sponges and fish. We have seen quite a few sharks over the years and, while they are cool, they don't excite us as much as they do some people on the board. We are not looking for a shark feeding frenzy, such as some posters have described enthusiastically. We are not competitive about going deep. We have found our most enjoyable dives have been moderate to shallow, because of the greater diversity of marine life. I love watching the big sea turtles soar through the water, swimming through schools of fish, and watching soft corals sway while brilliantly coloured fish swim around. My husband is not comfortable in small or enclosed spaces, so wrecks and caves aren't our thing. We are not sure if we are experienced enough for really fast currents, so we would prefer to err on the side of caution. This is supposed to be enjoyable, not a struggle.

I have been reading threads about planning a trip to this region and there is so much information! It is hard to know, trip reports being subjective and people having many different interests and goals, where we should focus our search.

We really enjoyed the liveaboard experience. We were on the Belize Aggressor IV (formerly the Sun Dancer II) and the staff and accommodations were excellent. The food was superb (too good, actually). I am pescatarian (meaning mostly vegetarian, but I eat some fish/shellfish from time to time), and the galley crew was extremely accommodating. The weather wasn't fantastic, but it didn't really matter as we spent a lot of time under water. We did 25 dives in 6 days and loved the whole routine and the focus on diving and learning about the fish and corals. We would be very interested in doing this type of trip again. Having said that, it is possible to imagine that having a bad experience on a liveaboard would be a special sort of hell, one you cannot escape from until you return to dock.

We have noticed that some people say land-based is as good as a liveaboard in some of these locations because the good dive sites are a simple boat ride from shore. I think, generally, we would prefer to have the extreme focus of the liveaboard, and then do any exploring on land either at the beginning or end of the trip. We are looking for opinions on this.

We are also considering extending our trip to do two different dive locations. Palau and GBR, perhaps? But how hard is it to get between locations? Are there places that it makes more sense to pair as a longer dive trip?

Because this is a rare opportunity, we are very concerned about getting it right. Obviously, at this point, we may find our choices of liveaboards and/or accommodation and dive providers limited. We need to get busy and get this booked ASAP before everything is full. We have dithered a bit too long already.

Please, if you have recommendations, they would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!
 
If I were in your (enviable!) position, I'd consider a split between Indonesia (Lembeh Strait) and Philippines. There are so many amazing opportunities to see incredible sea life in those areas :)
 
I have seen Raja Ampat mentioned favourably. Anyone know anything about the liveaboards there? How hard is it to get to? Have there been an adverse changes there recently? Is it becoming "too popular"?
 
If you do Raja Ampat this early in your scuba avocation, be prepared! You'll be having trouble finding satisfaction ever after. Are you sure this is what you want to do? There's still some very good diving to be had in the Caribbean.
 
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I have seen Raja Ampat mentioned favourably. Anyone know anything about the liveaboards there? How hard is it to get to? Have there been an adverse changes there recently? Is it becoming "too popular"?

I've been in Raja Ampat 5 times. The 6th time is this coming November. IMHO, it's better than Caribbean, GBR & Galápagos. My liveaboard recommendation: Mermaid Liveaboards | Liveaboard Scuba Diving Vacations | Hammerhead Indonesia
 
What we are looking for: Beautiful and varied aquatic life.

...We are really into the diversity of shapes and colours to be found in corals and sponges and fish. We have seen quite a few sharks over the years and, while they are cool, they don't excite us as much as they do some people on the board. We are not looking for a shark feeding frenzy, such as some posters have described enthusiastically. We are not competitive about going deep. We have found our most enjoyable dives have been moderate to shallow, because of the greater diversity of marine life. I love watching the big sea turtles soar through the water, swimming through schools of fish, and watching soft corals sway while brilliantly coloured fish swim around. My husband is not comfortable in small or enclosed spaces, so wrecks and caves aren't our thing. We are not sure if we are experienced enough for really fast currents, so we would prefer to err on the side of caution. This is supposed to be enjoyable, not a struggle.

Please, if you have recommendations, they would be very much appreciated!

Thanks!

Greetings from Indonesia Norlaine! If you are looking for amazing hard coral reefs, soft corals with vibrant colors, fields of reef fish, majestic mantas, turtles and macro subjects galore than it sounds like Indonesia and Raja Ampat will be right up your alley.

It is a bit hard to get to, but many remote special places in the world are. From Alberta you could fly directly to Manado or Jakarta and then non-stop into Sorong. Flights times don't always match up, so you may have to have and overnight pre/post, and if you have the time do add on diving in Lembeh (for awesome macro). Plus it's always a good idea to have time on either side in case there are issues w/cancellations, delays or lost luggage.

Or you can go straight to Bali, there are a bunch of festivals in late March (Melasti & Nyepi) and early April (Galungan & Kuningan) either would be an added highlight to any exotic holiday. Sorong is a little harder to get to from Bali, but with a stopover you'll be rested up.

Raja Ampat is a huge area and most lob's work together to time their diving. There are a few areas that have a bit of a bottle neck, nearer to port. But again, we usually try to work together. If you are worried about it being "too popular" my reply would be, that's it's only going to get more popular!

@chillyinCanada is correct, you will be spoiled once you dive this area, it's hard to beat!
 
You might want to consider New Zealand. I'm an ex_ pat USA citizen that moved here 25 years ago and have dived all over the S. Pacific and think that the diving at the Poor Knights Islands is amazing.

There are a number of dive organizations operating out of Tutukaka that have live_aboard boats that go to the Poor Knights Islands. My favorite is Dive Tutukaka (www.diving.co.nz).

Happy to answer any questions you might have.
 
I second all the other posts about Raja Ampat which probably holds what you are looking for the easiest.

Will also add I loved Poor Knights in NZ although I did not have much time there and NZ is a very pretty country.

As no one yet has commented on Australia as per your thread title, just to throw some thing a little different in the mix...(I am probably the worst promoter of diving in my own state) parts of GBR are still worth diving apparently, here in Western Australia which has great distances and horrible logistics - we have a few things to offer

- Humpacks (Ningaloo)
- Whale Sharks (Ningaloo)
- Dugongs (Ningaloo)
- Mantas (Ningaloo)
- Turtles (Everywhere)
- Dolphins (Everywhere)
- BIG Dolphins aka Orcas (Bremer Canyon)
- Southern Right Whales (Bremer Canyon)
- Giant Squid (Bremer Canyon)
- Greys Beaked Whales (Off Rottnest out to sea rarely seen)
- Ruby Seadragon (I'm looking for it now - shan't be long)
- Leafy Sea Dragons (Metro to Southern Ocean)
- Weedy Sea Dragons (Metro to Southern Ocean)
- Nudibranchs (Everywhere - Metro local jetty is a hotspot)
- Blue Ring Octopus (Everywhere - again metro jetty hotspot)
- Sharks (Everywhere - Thin ones, Fat ones got GWS to Port Jacksons to Banjo's)
- Seals, Sealions and the odd elephant seal that rocks up to have a baby or a rest up every now and then.

Of course not all of these are available on scuba but all can be snorkelled with (except giant squid, greys beaked and the seal family, they're annoying) and there are operators providing tours. Orca and GWS and Southern Right aggregation is seasonal and obviously you do not get in the water on the day trip that is available. Unfortunately there's a coastline of 17000km with Ningaloo up north and Bremer down south. The Viz ain't great at a lot of places and it's not Raja or French Polynesia warm until you get up the coast a fair way...but we have "cool things"

Enjoying diving in my own backyard at the moment. Looking for ruby seadragon :D
 
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I just returned from a trip to Raja Ampat and Australia on liveaboards. I can't speak to West Australia but I had a truly disappointing experience diving the Ribbon Reefs near Cannes, Australia (North East Australia) . I was aboard the Spirit of Freedom when the first clue emerged during the "check" dives in that there is significant bleaching of the reefs in that area with very little marine life. Their vaunted Cod hole dive featured exactly 2 Cods actually showing up for the chum. There were 2 reefs that were fair- "Bougainville and Steve Bimmie" . So 2 dives out of 13 and $2,000 US dollars later I would stay away from the area and/or that liveaboard. As a postscript, they cancelled the Osprey Reef leg of the trip due to "Northern Winds". I was on the Aggressor in Raja Ampat and it was fantastic for wide angle photography and some macro life. The DMs were fantastic while the food was fair. The reefs there are in excellent condition with large schools of fish (some macro such as the pigmy horses) Mantas and the Wobbegong Shark. One would hope it stays that way but it has become very popular in the last 2 years.
 

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