1 month in Indonesia (open to other Asia suggestions)

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

Love Bangka long time - one of my favourite islands although I have to say I preferred a decade ago when there wasn't aircon and wifi - it had a wonderful Robinson Curoso feel to it. I use Murex on Bangka, Froggies on Lembeh and Bunaken.
Alor land based, Hoping Derawan hasn't changed too much, you're LOBs are sorted so if you do head to Derawan think about Sipidan with Scuba Ventures Oil Rigs. I haven't been to Lyang Lyang for a few years but hitting there with hammerheads was great. I spent a few days on Maumere about this time of year before doing Komodo on Pindito last year and loved chilling at Coconut Grove (From memory) last year.
Other options in Indo - Ternate, Halmahera, Morotai, after or before your Banda Sea LOB Banda Neira is worth checking out.
PNG always worth it. One of my absolute favourite places - the violence is mostly tribal and the only real difference with the recent Massacre is it made the news. Tribal violence is a way of life in PNG - It's a hard but wonderfully dark mysterious country. Dive ops like Tuwali in Alotoa, Wallindi Plantation & Febrina LOB, Kimbe and Madang etc will all do most of the organising to minimise your time in Moresby where the violence is Raskol Gangs who will target tourists. The biggest difference for me and why I prefer PNG over Indo is...1/100th of amount of divers - very rare to bump into other divers. One of my also female solo buddies left us after Komodo and went to Wallindi but had concerns about safety in Moresby so hired a PSA for the two days she spent there after her LOB.
If you're looking for big stuff - you mentioned GBR - personally IMO it's the wrong reef on the wrong side of the country - Ningaloo trumps it and has done since the 1970s. We have Whale Sharks, Mantas, Humpbacks (snorkel only no scuba) and lots of potato grouper and assorted sharks - a great white sick of the cold water down here was spotted enjoying a tropical holiday there this week.
An interesting place to dive on the NW of Aus just further up a few hundred km is Montebello Islands - about one of the only places you can dive an atomic bomb testing site and only reachable by LOB for a short window of the year is Rowley Shoals - awesome drift dives.
From Bali you can often pick up $99 flights to Perth where we have leafy and weedy sea dragons on the city doorstep and the rare Ruby Seadragon way down south at Bremer Bay which has been identified as a hotspot for an annual aggregation of really big stuff. Pods of Orcas taking out a blue whale is quite something to see.
Christmas Island technically belongs to Australia but there is only one ludicrously expensive flight from Perth per week however it's a short and cheaper flight once a week from Jakarta. CI and Timor are just starting to come onto the dive scene radar so may be a case of "get there before the crowds turn up". Not sure of your timing but the land crab aggregation got David Attenborough excited so it's on my list topside on Christmas Island. Also nearby CI is Cocos Keeling islands which have a little more "resort" options and I have heard good reports on the diving. If you do fly from Perth to CI the plane does a stop at Cocos Keelings anyway.
Few more places to consider :)

.
 
Plus side of SJ Sangalaki (on Derawan) is that the surface intervals are amazing. Snorkeling with Mantas at Sangalaki, snorkeling in the jellyfish lake at Kakaban, or just chilling on stunning beaches. My only disappointment was that in 6 days we only did Maratua & Kakaban once each. Twice to Sangalaki (Mantas! and Zebra sharks), and the first and last day at Derawan (macro). I enjoyed both but I think Maratua and Kakaban are the most interesting sites and have the possibility of seeing something out of the ordinary (Hammers & Threshers).

I was just there in June. Barely saw any Mantas and we did 3 days in Sangalaki. From what I was told, manta sightings have dropped off a lot in the past year. Maratua and Kakaban are great, but each only has 1-2 awesome dive sites, the rest are just wall/slope drift dives. Gets kind of repetitive if you don't get lucky with a big barracuda school or some sharks.
 
Possibly seasonal? I was there over Christmas 2018 and Mantas were everywhere. Snorkeling during the surface interval there were maybe a dozen, swimming directly at me before turning away. Also during the dives they were all over the cleaning stations, 5-10 per dive I'd say, maybe more. More and better Manta experience than Manta Point, Penida (Oct. '17, March '19) and Komodo (Oct. '18) for me.
 
Possibly seasonal? I was there over Christmas 2018 and Mantas were everywhere. Snorkeling during the surface interval there were maybe a dozen, swimming directly at me before turning away. Also during the dives they were all over the cleaning stations, 5-10 per dive I'd say, maybe more. More and better Manta experience than Manta Point, Penida (Oct. '17, March '19) and Komodo (Oct. '18) for me.

That's probably true, and Xmas is generally low season out there due to rains and bad visibility, but maybe there's much plankton too.

I did 3 days there, on one day we saw a few swimming by underwater, and on one surface interval 2-3 at the top. The barracudas were also very hit and miss, and most divesites got old after a while...just a drift along wall/slope with not much large marine life.
 
I spent a few days on Maumere about this time of year before doing Komodo on Pindito last year and loved chilling at Coconut Grove (From memory) last year.

.

How's the diving in Maumere? Looks like a lovely place for some beach time.

I just went to Nomad Bangka in March and it still very much has an isolated feel. Wifi yes, AC no, but comfortable bungalows set back in the jungle (plenty cool at night). Super quiet place and wonderful hosts in Hilde & Marijn. Great food. Diving was also really good, Sahaung lived up to expectations, and had a top 5 night dive (Blue Ring, Harlequin Shrimp, much more).
 
Thanks everyone for the recommendations, I just added a few more places to my list! It just keeps growing and growing...

Any tips on Indonesia domestic airlines? Should I stick with Garuda only? Or do they equally suck? Any that I should absolutely avoid for safety reasons (aside from Lion)?
 
Thanks everyone for the recommendations, I just added a few more places to my list! It just keeps growing and growing...

Any tips on Indonesia domestic airlines? Should I stick with Garuda only? Or do they equally suck? Any that I should absolutely avoid for safety reasons (aside from Lion)?

Garuda is ideal. I have taken Batik, Lion/Wings, and Sriwijaya/NAM. Garuda usu. includes baggage with its fare and then offers free dive gear allowance for an extra 20 or 23kg. Batik is the next best one in my opinion, though they recently canceled a flight Mr OOO is scheduled for and no one e-mailed until we e-mailed customer service at Nusatrip about adding more pre-paid baggage. Safety isn't the best for all of the other airlines but it is what it is as sometimes that is your only option for a particular route. Garuda allows you to book direct with an American credit card and the others are hit and miss or not at all. I recommend Nusatrip - decent customer service should you have any issues.
 
How's the diving in Maumere? Looks like a lovely place for some beach time.

I just went to Nomad Bangka in March and it still very much has an isolated feel. Wifi yes, AC no, but comfortable bungalows set back in the jungle (plenty cool at night). Super quiet place and wonderful hosts in Hilde & Marijn. Great food. Diving was also really good, Sahaung lived up to expectations, and had a top 5 night dive (Blue Ring, Harlequin Shrimp, much more).

Maumere is gorgeous - I only got two dives in and felt diving was very East Nusa Tengarra - lots of fireworms, sea pens, snake eels, nudis everywhere and mimic and wonderpus quite unperturbed by our presence. Muck & critters, reef, bombies and a wreck.

Ankermi Happy Dive Center in Maumere, Flores, Indonesia: Dive center and Bungalows / Tauchen in der Maumere Bay, Flores

Diving in Maumere Flores (Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia): Dive sites, travelogs, maps General info on Maumere

Coconut garden beach resort,Bungalow in flores, Flores bungalow,maumere resort,maumere
I stayed there because the bungalows are like little hobbit houses and the sand is your carpet - blissful little place and isolated enough but not a day's drive away.

Re airlines - I've flown lion air many times, plus NAM, Batik, Swithayna (incorrect I know I can never remember it) and Susi Air. Garuda would be your optimum choice but...I'm still here :)
 
How's the diving in Maumere? Looks like a lovely place for some beach time.

I just went to Nomad Bangka in March and it still very much has an isolated feel. Wifi yes, AC no, but comfortable bungalows set back in the jungle (plenty cool at night). Super quiet place and wonderful hosts in Hilde & Marijn. Great food. Diving was also really good, Sahaung lived up to expectations, and had a top 5 night dive (Blue Ring, Harlequin Shrimp, much more).

Last year I took a month and dove with Two Fish at Bunaken and Lembeh, and Bangka with Nomad. Next year I'll spend all my time on Bangka. Phenomenal reefs and fish life. Nomad is very easy going and comfortable.
 

Back
Top Bottom