advice on which place to dive

[lynnemari]

Hi,
We are trying to decide best place to dive. We are looking at Australia, Bali, or Phuket. We cant do them all so looking for information, and opinions on which one.
Thanks, its once in a lifetime
Lynne Arrieta

 

[Cali_diver]

Really hard question without more information. What time of year? What do you want to see? Resort or Liveaboard? etc... Budget? More info will give you more informed answers. My vote is Indonesia with the 3 choices you gave, but Indonesia (Bali) is a huge and diverse place!

 

[Luko]

For a once in a lifetime dive trip I would forget Thailand which is probably the less interesting place to dive compared to the other places in the Indo-Pacific region.
Indonesia is for many, me included, one of the best places in the world to go diving, certainly the best area for biodiversity. Bali is usually the easy option (and a good one but with more times on your hands you could also try diving Komodo or the ultimate best of Indo, Raja Ampat.
As said above, everything depends on your time of stay, period to go, budget, resort vs. liveaboard preference, expectations on landside attractions, etc.
Tell us more we may advise for more specific options.

 

[lynnemari]

Our time to go is flexible. We would want to go when the Ocean is its calmest, and visibility at its best. We have dove mostly the carribean, and would love to dive the other side of the world and see the huge parrot fish with the (blunt)? nose, probably not the right term. Clown fish , all the unique sea life in that area. We would prefer not to do a Liveaboard unless that was the only way to get to something spectacular, and than just a minimum time. We usually rely on our time share to travel . Yes we would be interested in landslide attraction too . We love to experience other countries and cultures. We would set aside 2 weeks for this trip. Of corse we would want it to budget friendly, but comfortable.
Thank you for your input.
Lynne

 

[lynnemari]

Our time to go is flexible. We would want to go when the Ocean is its calmest, and visibility at its best. We have dove mostly the carribean, and would love to dive the other side of the world and see the huge parrot fish with the (blunt)? nose, probably not the right term. Clown fish , all the unique sea life in that area. We would prefer not to do a Liveaboard unless that was the only way to get to something spectacular, and than just a minimum time. We usually rely on our time share to travel . Yes we would be interested in landslide attraction too . We love to experience other countries and cultures. We would set aside 2 weeks for this trip. Of corse we would want it to budget friendly, but comfortable.
Thank you for your input.
Lynne

I just looked up the parrotfish, it's the green bumphead parrotfish.

 

[Blasto]

So it's not once in a lifetime then.

If you want other cultures, Oz is just another colony, so it's Indonesia vs Thailand.
Thailand has good diving, Indonesia has great diving.
Both Bali and Phuket are the more touristy bits of their respective countries, so the culture will be watered down. Bali AFAIK has more sightseeing to offer topside (but don't take my word for it, not my favorite side).

Phuket is cheaper. Thailand is basically backpacker central, Bali is geared more towards medium budgets. With 2 weeks and diving, accommodation and food will be minor costs regardless (if viewed as necessities rather than attractions). Diving is cheaper in Thailand, but not so much in Phuket.
All in all sounds like Bali is more of what you want.

 

[lynnemari]

So it's not once in a lifetime then.

If you want other cultures, Oz is just another colony, so it's Indonesia vs Thailand.
Thailand has good diving, Indonesia has great diving.
Both Bali and Phuket are the more touristy bits of their respective countries, so the culture will be watered down. Bali AFAIK has more sightseeing to offer topside (but don't take my word for it, not my favorite side).

Phuket is cheaper. Thailand is basically backpacker central, Bali is geared more towards medium budgets. With 2 weeks and diving, accommodation and food will be minor costs regardless (if viewed as necessities rather than attractions). Diving is cheaper in Thailand, but not so much in Phuket.
All in all sounds like Bali is more of what you want.

It's once in a little time as in we probably would not make it back to that part of the world ( Asia, or Australia) we haven't been to ither. We can't go to both so we are trying to choose the best, with the help of Scuba board friends.

 

[Diving Dubai]

Komodo or Raja Ampat. Do you want big stuff or macro as there are areas that are better for each..

To get the best Livaboard is the only real option, Indonesia is so big even in these two areas, you'd do yourself a disservice being shore based. Unless you went to Misool - or Wakatobi but these two places can't be considered budget friendly.

 

[Searcaigh]

Indonesia hands down, where depends on what you are looking for but that area has some of the most diverse diving on the planet.

Australia is also quite diverse but completely different and very expensive, and pretty cold if heading down to dive the wrecks in Port Phillip Bay.

Thailand, great culture and marvellous people but the diving IMHO isn't as good as Indonesia.

 

[Cali_diver]

Our time to go is flexible. We would want to go when the Ocean is its calmest, and visibility at its best. We have dove mostly the carribean, and would love to dive the other side of the world and see the huge parrot fish with the (blunt)? nose, probably not the right term. Clown fish , all the unique sea life in that area. We would prefer not to do a Liveaboard unless that was the only way to get to something spectacular, and than just a minimum time. We usually rely on our time share to travel . Yes we would be interested in landslide attraction too . We love to experience other countries and cultures. We would set aside 2 weeks for this trip. Of corse we would want it to budget friendly, but comfortable.
Thank you for your input.
Lynne

For a trip of a lifetime, first I would recommend a liveaboard in Raja Ampat, and if you have time I highly recommend you add a short stay before or after in Lembeh (Muck /critter diving). I prefer "before" so I can get my dive mojo (weights/gear etc.) before I get on the boat, but if you think you and your buddy might need a few dives to get your buoyancy right you might want to do this at the end. (this would have to be from Oct/Nov- March-ish) This will give you a taste of the best of Indonesia. And I guarantee you will want to come back.

For the other part of the year the second choice would be Bali and then a Komodo Liveaboard. Tons of info on the Indo board so just start searching and you will find lots of great advice. @Dan_T will probably throw in some great videos to entice you!!!

Indo is quite a bit different than the Carib. You don't have that vast see forever visibility. Not to say that you don't have good viz... but with currents and nutrients in the water you have lower viz but incredible amounts of fish. So thick with fish sometimes you can't see the surface. So it is a give and take.... but I would take all the fish any day!!