Wife and I are planning a trip to indonesia in February, 2017. We are young (30s), fit, and reasonably experienced travellers and trekkers, but had never gotten around to obtaining scuba certification until recently. As a result, we're novice open water certified divers, and are trying to figure out exactly what type of diving trips in southeastern indonesia make the most sense for us. I've been focusing on raja ampat vs. Komodo as the primary two options, likely on liveaboard but could entertain the idea of a nice, ideally situated eco-lodge as well. We're relatively flexible on cost, less so on schedule. Probably not looking for budget options - we're happy to pay more to ensure the best possible experience.
Raja ampat seems straight forward this time of year with plenty of boats and a few good looking dive resorts as well (pulau pef, misool eco-lodge).
Komodo seems more complicated. I've read that february is the 'wet' seadon in komodo, and as such, most liveaboards head to raja ampat. However, it also seems that a minority of companies stick around to dive in the southern waters of the park which warm/clear up at this time of year. I would love to visit komodo because 1) i hear the diving is great, 2) i hear the wet season months provide anazing manta viewing, and 3) because it has dragons as a land-based bonus. My concerns pertain to finding a good company to dive with this time of year (uber scuba, indo aggressor seem to be the only 2 with availability i have come across), and pertain to the technical difficulty of dives in south komodo waters dur to currents, weather, depths etc.
Does anyone have insights into the technical difficulty of diving south komodo? How does it compare to raja ampat? How do novice divers generally do on these trips? We're in shape and adventurous, but would hate to find ourselves in over our heads literally and figuratively and have that ruin our experience.
Thoughts appreciated, as well as any recs/opinions on operators.
Raja ampat seems straight forward this time of year with plenty of boats and a few good looking dive resorts as well (pulau pef, misool eco-lodge).
Komodo seems more complicated. I've read that february is the 'wet' seadon in komodo, and as such, most liveaboards head to raja ampat. However, it also seems that a minority of companies stick around to dive in the southern waters of the park which warm/clear up at this time of year. I would love to visit komodo because 1) i hear the diving is great, 2) i hear the wet season months provide anazing manta viewing, and 3) because it has dragons as a land-based bonus. My concerns pertain to finding a good company to dive with this time of year (uber scuba, indo aggressor seem to be the only 2 with availability i have come across), and pertain to the technical difficulty of dives in south komodo waters dur to currents, weather, depths etc.
Does anyone have insights into the technical difficulty of diving south komodo? How does it compare to raja ampat? How do novice divers generally do on these trips? We're in shape and adventurous, but would hate to find ourselves in over our heads literally and figuratively and have that ruin our experience.
Thoughts appreciated, as well as any recs/opinions on operators.