New Divers: Indonesia Suggestions?

[mitphys]

Hi everyone
Thanks for all the great advice and trip reports you have on here already. I just recently started scuba diving and my wife has done a few dives to date.

We are headed to Indonesia for a month in January and want to spend a lot of it scuba diving. We are spending 5 days in Bali getting our Advanced Open Water certification with dives in Tulamben.

Then we are headed to Sulawesi for 3-4 days of diving in Bunaken and also 3-4 days in Lembeh (by which time hopefully we will have better buoyancy control experience and all). Thinking about doing this Two Fish Divers. Any thoughts on how they will be with somewhat new divers?

Then we are thinking of somewhere else to go for a few days. Thinking about Ambon, or possibly Alor. Again, any thoughts on whether these would be suitable for us, and is January a good time to go?

We decided against liveaboards at this point. We'll save that for the next trip!

Thanks in advance everyone. Appreciate the advice.

 

[Bora_Horza]

Hi, just communicate clearly your experience level when you get to Bunaken / Lembeh and they should take care of you well.

As you might know, Jan/ Feb is in the rainier season for much of Indonesia, but this might not be the case for the Ambon / Maluku area. Check out this website by a regular Indonesia contributor on the Lonely Planet Thorntree forum, a lot of useful info to browse through:

East-Indonesia.info - Maluku Travel Information - Climate & Timing

(Alor might also be a good place to visit at this time, I don't know enough about it to comment - I visited there over easter a few years ago.)

Also, sounds like you'll be doing a lot of travelling around to more remote areas in a month - I'd be prepared to be flexable, reconfirm flights regularly, etc, as cancellations and delays do occur, and be back in Bali (or wherever your international flight home leaves from) a few days beforehand. Have fun!

 

[AlanWald]

Do as many night dives as you can, especially in Lembeh. Great fun.

We saw a crab spawning one night at Pantai Parigi just off Lembeh Island.

 

[mitphys]

Thanks very much to both of you. So do you think 2fish is a good operation to go with? They are running a 50% off second driver deal in January if you stay 4 days in each resort, which seems like a pretty good deal, but could we do better?

We are trying to be be on a budget, but at the same time don't mind spending a bit extra to get some good dive briefings and service.

 

[AlanWald]

Check with Twofish if you are booked with them, as their policy in the past has been free transfer from the airport to Bunaken Island if you bring Nigel and Tina a bottle of wine. They have a meet and greet person and a van at the airport. If you don't see anyone holding a sign saying Two Fish Divers (or whoever is picking you up) just ask any of the other drivers. They all know each other,. It is a very small airport. As soon as you exit customs you will see all the vans and drives and meet and greet people.

Do as many night dives as you can especially in Lembeh. At Bunaken you can do a dusk dive and see the mating Mandarin Fish just around the bend from Two Fish in front of the village. .

. If you go to Two Fish Lembeh and dive with Opo, the singing Divemaster, tell him Alan from California says hello. He is very experienced and very outgoing and he will sing for you and play guitar.

Don't forget to ask about how much the international departure tax is from whatever airport you leave Indonesia from as you will need to save that much money in local currency. In Manado you pay at a counter after checking in and just before going upstairs.

 

[xariatay]

Just let 2Fish know that u are new divers, they will arrange a guide for u.

 

[highdesert]

Alor has the potential for ripping curents ... possibly not the best choice for a new diver. It could be that you could dodge all the tides and currents, but it's a long trip to find out ...

 

[Wayan]

Would skip Alor and do Ambon seeing that you are all new to this. Alor can be a lot more advanced depending on phases of moon and weather conditions.

Would make more sense to do Tulamben / Ambon and then finish off in Bunaken / Lembeh. woould save double back on your route.

 

[mitphys]

highdesert and Wayan: thank you both for replies. Ok, dropping Alor from the list. Seeing as this is our first experience with muck diving and the macro life in the area, is diving in Ambon going to be different/interesting enough to justify the trip to Ambon (its not the expense, its more taking the time away to deal with flights in Indonesia that could be better spent underwater), or is our time better spent doing more days in Lembeh?

Thanks!

 

[AlanWald]

I have not been to Ambon but I think with Bali and North Sulawesi you will see plenty of stuff. So I would suggest keeping things as simple as possible and doing extra days at Lembeh.


As you have read here, everyone goes back to Lembeh over and over again. Lembeh is great fun because you never know what you are going to see. In Lembeh We saw an Octopus who was in a half coconut shell and it was holding two playing cards.

A few years ago just before I got to Bunaken, some divers saw a baby whale shark that was about a month old (very rare to see in that area). I have seen dolphins underwater while doing scuba off Bunaken.

Around Bunaken Island and other areas, keep you eyes on the areas with sea grass, you may see a dugong.

IF you can, make a side trip to Bankga Island . Quite different than Bunaken and Lembeh. Because of the distance (about an hour and half?? from Bunaken, you can also approach from Lembeh) and fuel costs there is a fuel surcharge and most dive ops will only run a trip if they can get enough people to sign on. Saw a lot of egg cowries there as well as some nice small soft coral.