East Timor for a change of scenery

[dutchpickle]

Great map clgsamsaon. My apologies for putting the post in the wrong section. maybe should have gone with the general asia section.
I hope to be back up in Mindanao in a few months paolov.
Halthron there are loads of great shore dives between Dili and Baucau.
The big advantage is that there is no dynamite fishing to speak of. The coral doesn't seem any thicker than places in Indonesia or the Philippines but the variety for me at least is astounding.
My object was simply to make people aware of this place. The country could use the tourism.

 

[paolov]

My object was simply to make people aware of this place. The country could use the tourism.

ah sneaky ......

it worked huh ! :14:


no problem with the PPD group. keep us posted of your trips around the area




.

 

[dutchpickle]

Just got back to Bali from Kupang tonight. The border is closed at this time with East Timor. I hope to be back there in Dili in a few weeks and will keep posting under general asia. Spectacular dives! Really clean - undamaged corals and sponges.
Will be posting about manta dives in Komodo as well under general asia.
Might throw in some info on southern Mindanao in general asia as well. Excellent rhinopia dives.

 

[shugar]

excuse me , move it to Metro Manila ......


.

and WHAT on god's good earth do we need a 2.9km mountain in the middle of manila for??? it's not like there's not enough traffic as it is

Jag

 

[Zeeman]

excuse me , move it to Metro Manila ......


.

wont get snow there either...

Z...

 

[Halthron]

No, but it might move faster than some of the jeepneys.

 

[Kim]

According to the news today they're close to having a civil war now.

 

[Travelnsj]

Just got back to Bali from Kupang tonight. The border is closed at this time with East Timor. I hope to be back there in Dili in a few weeks and will keep posting under general asia. Spectacular dives! Really clean - undamaged corals and sponges.
Will be posting about manta dives in Komodo as well under general asia.
Might throw in some info on southern Mindanao in general asia as well. Excellent rhinopia dives.

Well i have a trip planned for Sept....should I change???...after reading the reports today...does not look good!

Dutch...what do you see there? I know there is a lot of small stuff and great corals...what about big stuff?

 

[dutchpickle]

Saw an eagle ray a couple of days ago. A few Napoleans, lots of trevalleys. Some tuna. My mate has had a pod of killer whales swim up to within 2 meters but this is very rare. There are turtles, ocassional big mantas, ocassional dugongs.

Lots of macro.

I should be back there in 3 or 4 weeks for a 2 month stretch. I got into Bali from Kupang last night.

The beauty of this place to me is that it is so pristine.

For real current info contact Wayne or Ann at freeflowdiving by email.
Sept is a long way off so I would reccomend not cancelling your trip.
You can always email me dutchpickle @ hotmail also but I am out of the country for a few weeks to take care of business. I can not wait to get back there!

 

[dutchpickle]

The border between East and West Timor is closed.

I went to the border at Kefa by Oecussi and it is closed to all travel now. The border at Atambua is also closed. There is little information comming out at this time. I will probably fly to Darwin sometime in the next week. (From West Timor. No problems here)

When things are looking better I hope to fly to Dili. Will keep posting with new info when it comes in.

Scuba board loads up very slowly so I will only be able to answer email addressed to dutchpickle @ hotmail. com Thanks