Kevster
Contributor
Big Trip Indonesia- Part 1- Palau Weh & Bali Jul/Aug 09
Part of a 65 day adventure diving Indonesia.
Palau Weh
Flights KL-Medan (To get visa on arrival)-Banda Aceh. I had a pleasant experience using Air Asia. They let me check in 25 mins before the flight departure. I thought I was going to miss my flight as the low cost terminal is a pain to transfer from the main terminal. After arriving in Banda it was a 30 min taxi ride to the harbour to catch the slow ferry (2 hours) to Palau Weh. Once on the island it was another 30 mins ride to Gapang beach, where Lumba Lumba dive shop is located.
Gapang beach was really nice, a great place to relax.
It is very quite. There are only a handful of local cafes that serve basic but nice local dishes. I imagine this was what many places in Thailand & perhaps Bali& Lombok were like in the 60s & 70s. I stayed in the Lumba Lumba bungalows. They were nice & fantastic value at 25 Euros. Large clean rooms with fan & free Wifi. The weather was great, sunny blue skies, only 1 day of rain.
Diving
All of the sites were less than 30 mins from the beach. Max 12 divers on the boat with 3 or 4 guides. The boat was not the best; it was a bit difficult gearing up when it was busy.
I did 15 dives in 10 days. Generally the diving was good, but viss was average 10-15m. There was also current at most of the sites. My favourite sites were Pantee Peunateung & R.Utara. Highlights included lots of large gorgonian fans, lots of Morays (the most I have seen), 3 Napoleon, a few black tips, the occasional turtle, white tip & sea snake. I also did the house reef pier dive a few times on my own. Generally this was a shallow (3-8m) muck dive with lots of interesting stuff. Lots of butterfly fish under the pier, stonefish, scorpion fish, lion fish & a couple of ghost pipefish.
Summary
PW is a great place to relax & dive for a week. It was very good value. Around 500 Euros for 10 days & 15 dives. What I really like about the place was there was an equal amount of locals & foreigners enjoying the beach. My only regret was not visiting Lake Toba while I was in Medan., which is perhaps a good reason to return one day.
Tips-Take some DVDs if you take your laptop or a good book. I was told that there are Mantas here in Feb. There are two dive operators on Gapang beach. Lumba Lumba was busy every day I was there. The other dive Op had little or no divers. I suggest checking out the other Op if you are travelling there & have not pre-booked anything as I would imagine you would get very good service.
Next stop was KL for 3 days to apply for a 60 day visa for Indonesia. The visa took 1 day to get. Required documentation;. Visa form, onward flight tickets & copy of flight tickets, copy or passport & copy of entry stamp into Malaysia. Cost 170 MRY. I stayed in the Istana hotel that was ok, good location.
Part of a 65 day adventure diving Indonesia.
Palau Weh
Flights KL-Medan (To get visa on arrival)-Banda Aceh. I had a pleasant experience using Air Asia. They let me check in 25 mins before the flight departure. I thought I was going to miss my flight as the low cost terminal is a pain to transfer from the main terminal. After arriving in Banda it was a 30 min taxi ride to the harbour to catch the slow ferry (2 hours) to Palau Weh. Once on the island it was another 30 mins ride to Gapang beach, where Lumba Lumba dive shop is located.
Gapang beach was really nice, a great place to relax.
It is very quite. There are only a handful of local cafes that serve basic but nice local dishes. I imagine this was what many places in Thailand & perhaps Bali& Lombok were like in the 60s & 70s. I stayed in the Lumba Lumba bungalows. They were nice & fantastic value at 25 Euros. Large clean rooms with fan & free Wifi. The weather was great, sunny blue skies, only 1 day of rain.
Diving
All of the sites were less than 30 mins from the beach. Max 12 divers on the boat with 3 or 4 guides. The boat was not the best; it was a bit difficult gearing up when it was busy.
I did 15 dives in 10 days. Generally the diving was good, but viss was average 10-15m. There was also current at most of the sites. My favourite sites were Pantee Peunateung & R.Utara. Highlights included lots of large gorgonian fans, lots of Morays (the most I have seen), 3 Napoleon, a few black tips, the occasional turtle, white tip & sea snake. I also did the house reef pier dive a few times on my own. Generally this was a shallow (3-8m) muck dive with lots of interesting stuff. Lots of butterfly fish under the pier, stonefish, scorpion fish, lion fish & a couple of ghost pipefish.
Summary
PW is a great place to relax & dive for a week. It was very good value. Around 500 Euros for 10 days & 15 dives. What I really like about the place was there was an equal amount of locals & foreigners enjoying the beach. My only regret was not visiting Lake Toba while I was in Medan., which is perhaps a good reason to return one day.
Tips-Take some DVDs if you take your laptop or a good book. I was told that there are Mantas here in Feb. There are two dive operators on Gapang beach. Lumba Lumba was busy every day I was there. The other dive Op had little or no divers. I suggest checking out the other Op if you are travelling there & have not pre-booked anything as I would imagine you would get very good service.
Next stop was KL for 3 days to apply for a 60 day visa for Indonesia. The visa took 1 day to get. Required documentation;. Visa form, onward flight tickets & copy of flight tickets, copy or passport & copy of entry stamp into Malaysia. Cost 170 MRY. I stayed in the Istana hotel that was ok, good location.
