Komodo or Sipadan - in early September

[GaGa.927.HK]

I am planning a dive trip for 7-day vacation in early September. I am now considering Komodo, Indonesia (maybe a liveaboard?) or Sipadan, Malaysia (aiming the dive rig). I will be most grateful if someone can give me some advice on these two locations. Thanks in advance.

Information giving: I am an AOW with less than 2-year diving experience and about 60 logs.

 

[Centrals]

Getting there is half the fun.
You should check how long would the return transfer take from HKG to either Komodo or Sipadan.
Both journeys will require domestic connection or a very long bus trip for Sipadan as an alternative.
You would be really hard pressed to complete a 4 or 5 day LOB to Komodo within your time frame.

Bali would be a more sensible option.

 

[GaGa.927.HK]

Haha yea... the travel time is always killing me, but Bali seems to be a quite too crowded (?). Never dive there but heard it from others when I was in Gili T last year.

In fact I have about 9 days (including the weekends) for the trip and 2.5 days are designated to be for flight / travel only. So, the actual dive days will be around 6 days. Understand that 6 days might not be long, but still wanna find a nice place to spend this hard-earned holiday.

 

[Centrals]

Most dive operators/resorts are in areas less frequented by the masses in Bali.
Komodo vs Sipadan
I will chose Komodo because there is no permit issue.
If the LOB does not work out because of schedule then you can try land base operator eg. Scubajunkie. BTW, they also run a operation out of Mabul/Semporna for Sipadan.

 

[matador]

try the only liveaboard in Sipadan, the only way to dive Sipadan properly imho.
otherwise Komodo.