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...