Saving for a trip

[Diving Dubai]

And then I checked prices . . .. groan. How's the food?

I'm not a great lover of Indonesian food, and I was kept well fed. The food is nice and as usual there is more than enough. The standard lite breakfast, main breakfast, lunch, afternoon cakes, dinner.

We went with friends, so stayed in the Ultima villa, it has 2 bedrooms with 3rd bed on a mezzanine (all have mosquito nets)
We were happy with just a fan in the evening, our friends preferred full A/C

Things to be aware of

Occasionally you do get minor power outages because the island is on generators, they do tell you not to charge items in your room but to use the dive centre as that has surge protectors. we got hit by one surge which blew our Apple chargers, but non Apple were okay. Our our fault.

It's a heck of a journey. Once you reach Sorong you have a 4-5 hr speed boat ride to the island. However Misool meet you at the airport, take you to their own coffee shop around the corner where you have free WiFi where you have an hour to chill after the over night flight. I slept on the boat ride.

The price will get you every time... But it's the only destination we've been that we will return to at the drop of a hat - We'd go sooner but my wife won't let me sell the kids into slavery

I think @Dan_T has been there too, as well as LOB, he may be able to give further insight

 

[Mattis Persson]

@gkrane

I've done RA on lobs and land-based, Komodo only land-based. I concur with the statements so far but would like to add that RA, or at least Dampier strait, seems to be getting more and more sharks. I've been 3 times, the first time when the MPAs had just been established. Then I say a shark here and there (lob) but nothing much. 6 years later, significantly more, and 3 years after that (last summer), more still and lots of babies. I asked around and the locals on Kri confirmed this. Heartwarming really.

Even though I love RA - it's a very special place - it's hard to wrap your head around its vast territory and endless dive sites. It really deserves an lob. Komodo on the other hand really is possible to do land-based (RA is too, cheapishly even, but to really appreciate it...). Some dive centers even do the south of Komodo and Rinca on day trips. So if you find the lobs to be eye-wateringly expensive (and they kinda are given the cost of labor, fuel and food in Indonesia), land-based diving is an option not to snuffed at.

 

[Dan]

I am saving for a liveaboard trip to indonesia on the side of my yearly carribean diving trips but am overwhelmed at the options and just dont know where to go. I understand a liveaboard is the best option. The airfare cost to indonesia is what keeps me going back to the caribbean since our dive trips are usually inclusive of the whole family. Anyhow, what we would like to see are sharks, clownfish and powder blue tangs/surgeonfish (for my wife), mantas, beautiful soft coral, vast amounts of colorful fish ike anthias and the such. We are definitely more into reefs than muck diving. Is there a place that incorporates all of these? If we travel across the world for a liveaboard I would really like it to be a top spot that isn't a huge hassle to get to.

If you go this year, the airfare to Indonesia is cheap. I just book one for November from Houston to Denpasar, Bali, via Manchester using Singapore Airlines (to me it's still the best airlines to use for flying half around the world from Houston). I paid $688 for roundtrip.

I lead a group of 13 divers, chartering a whole liveaboard for 12-day crossing trip from Ambon to Sorong passing Banda Sea & Raja Ampat. if you like liveaboard diving, that's a great place to go. However, the domestic flights may add another $500 on top of it. If you haven't been diving in Indonesia, then, Komodo is much cheaper & shorter flight to go. You just need to do a puddle jump from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo. Or if you choose the fast cruiser liveaboard, like Mermaid I & II, then you can do around trip from Benoa (Bali) to Komodo & back to Benoa.

You may even don't need to go elsewhere in Indonesia, just do the dive safari along Bali coast from Secret Bay on the Northwest to Tulamben (dive in one of the best wreck in the world - USS Liberty) on the Northeast, down to the East coast in Padangbai, to Southwest in Nusa Penida. You can see manta in Manta Point in Nusa Penida. If you come at the right time of the year (July-September) you may get lucky to see 20' Oceanic Mola-Mola (like shown in my Avatar).

I've been to Bonaire 1x, Utila 1x, Cayman Brac 1x Tobago 1x, Bali 9x, Komodo 3x, Raja Ampat 5x. So you get my drift.

Misool Eco Resort (MER) is a very nice place to stay, but like @Diving Dubai said, it'll cost you an arm & a leg, plus 6-hour flight from Denpasar to Sorong, + 4-hour boat ride from Sorong to MER & an over night stay in Makassar airport for transit & an overnight stay in Sorong on the return trip on top of the 24-hour flight from Houston to Singapore & 2-hour flight from Singapore to Denpasar.

If I were you, skip liveaboard, just enjoy the top & below sides of Bali, especially when you have never been to Indonesia. You will see all the fish, critters & corals that you mentioned & more.

Have fun diving & I hope we see each other there or elsewhere, someday.

 

[Lorenzoid]

My wife and I have only dived in Indonesia twice, the first time on a Komodo liveaboard, and the second time a land-based trip around Bali. Raja Ampat has been on our bucket list for many years, but the first time we were planning a trip we quickly decided a RA liveaboard was just too far out of our budget--hence the decision to do Komodo. The second time we had Indonesia in our sights, RA was even farther out of our budget, as prices had increased by several hundred dollars in the intervening few years. So we decided to do a relatively economical land-based trip around Bali. Except for Menjangan and Lembongan/Nusa Penida, it was heavily muck-oriented, though, which is apparently not what you're looking for. Bali is definitely the least expensive and easiest destination in Indonesia for much of the western world.

 

[Dan]

... Except for Menjangan and Lembongan/Nusa Penida, it was heavily muck-oriented, though, which is apparently not what you're looking for. Bali is definitely the least expensive and easiest destination in Indonesia for much of the western world.

I saw these guys in Tulamben & Seraya:

Muck diving in Bali is also very interesting, not just seeing nudibranchs, pygmy seahorses & shrimps, but also... (see the pictures, below). You'll be surprise what you find down in the muck:

 

[gkrane]

Awesome pics. Thanks to all for the suggestions, it gives me quite a bit to consider.

 

[Wisnu]

Tulamben is not only about muck diving. I mostly use my 7-14mm when diving the wreck - very beauitiful soft coral and full of colors.
All below were also taken at the wreck

Liberty 8 by Wisnu Purwanto, on Flickr

Tulamben seascape 2 by Wisnu Purwanto, on Flickr

Sweetlips Liberty Tulamben 4 by Wisnu Purwanto, on Flickr

bumphead 2 by Wisnu Purwanto, on Flickr

Liberty 10 by Wisnu Purwanto, on Flickr