drrich2
Contributor
This topic may stir up rivalries or resentments at perceived misinterpretations or wrong assumptions, but may be useful to help divers new to the region decide amongst varied big name destinations there. I know this will involve over-generalization and probably not everyone will agree. I’ll narrow the parameters so we can narrow it down. I will hit you with a lot of text setting up what I’m trying to accomplish, but I think this thread has the potential to help some divers make sense of Coral Triangle trip planning options. I haven’t been there; I need input from those of you who have.
I’ve been researching Coral Triangle destinations for a hoped for one-time trip to a big name Coral Triangle destination, and after deliberation between Raja Ampat and Komodo, chose Raja Ampat, so my dive travel agent and I have been working on that. It took a lot of digging to get a sense of my options. For months I’ve had a stretched out map of the Earth as my 27-inch computer screen wallpaper, to get it in my head where these places are relative to each other. Reading multiple threads and other sources, I’ve gotten some 2nd hand impressions of how they compare to each other, but some of my impressions may be wrong!
It stands to reason other divers in my situation may face this problem, so I started this thread to help. Because I know divers hail from around the world, have different levels of experience and financial and time resources, different interests and goals, I’ll narrow it down to people like me, which I think speaks to a lot of the mainstream recreational diving population.
1.) Our diver is a North America-based recreational diver with PADI AOW or similar, probably 100+ ocean dives, has been on at least a few but probably several trips to the Caribbean and maybe Florida. He’s done some drift diving in Cozumel.
2.) Our diver is 45 - 65, chubby but in generally good health, fair fitness, the sort you see a lot on dive boats. He’s accustomed to air conditioning, soft beds, the level of amenities you find at Bonaire’s Buddy Dive Resort or a mainstream Caribbean liveaboard. On the other hand, he’s middle class, not loaded, and wants mid.-range budget. I’ll use ‘he,’ but sex probably doesn’t matter.
——So Wakatobi Dive Resort is probably not going to be the winner, but neither will a no air-conditioning homestay.
3.) He strongly values beautiful, lush coral reefs. Then large numbers of tropical fish, particularly colorful ones. Big animals are a big plus. Tiny macro subjects are neat, but this guy isn’t packing a big SLR rig with macro lens and a dome. Mantas and sharks win out over nudibranchs, but wobbegongs and blue-ringed octopi rock.
——In other words, Lembeh Strait is probably not going to be the winner. Don’t think muck diving is gonna win.
4.) We assume this may be his only trip to the Coral Triangle. He probably wants to go somewhere he’s heard a lot about on ScubaBoard, and maybe online and magazine articles.
5.) He’s gonna use a dive travel agent to handle the hassles of arranging airfare and overnight hotel stays.
Problem: Our guy sees a lot of talk about Raja Ampat, Komodo, multiple places in the Philippines, and rare but high praise reports of diving in Papua, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (so why so few trip reports for those?). And sporadic mentions of places like Ambon, Alor, Bali, Banda Sea, Sulawesi (maybe he noticed that includes Wakatobi and Lembeh Strait), the Ring of Fire and the Forgotten Islands. Doubtless I’m missing some. Even if he picks a place, then there’s liveaboard vs. land-based.
Our guy wants to know the pro.s and con.s of these places as they relate to each other without spending a few years of intense study. Is there some comparative guide?
Going with what I see as the ‘big names’ by SB discussion frequency, I’m narrowing the list down to these:
1.) Philippines.
2.) Komodo.
3.) Raja Ampat.
4.) Bali.
5.) Papua New Guinea (PNG).
6.) Solomon Islands (a stretch - rare trip reports, but it’s in line with Raja and PNG, and maybe worth discussing anyway).
I left Sulawesi off because I figure Wakatobi Dive Resort is too expensive for most, and muck diving in Lembeh Strait won’t be somebody’s first and only trip choice.
Note: Some destinations are better or worse at different times of year. I’m skipping that for simplicity.
I’ve been researching Coral Triangle destinations for a hoped for one-time trip to a big name Coral Triangle destination, and after deliberation between Raja Ampat and Komodo, chose Raja Ampat, so my dive travel agent and I have been working on that. It took a lot of digging to get a sense of my options. For months I’ve had a stretched out map of the Earth as my 27-inch computer screen wallpaper, to get it in my head where these places are relative to each other. Reading multiple threads and other sources, I’ve gotten some 2nd hand impressions of how they compare to each other, but some of my impressions may be wrong!
It stands to reason other divers in my situation may face this problem, so I started this thread to help. Because I know divers hail from around the world, have different levels of experience and financial and time resources, different interests and goals, I’ll narrow it down to people like me, which I think speaks to a lot of the mainstream recreational diving population.
1.) Our diver is a North America-based recreational diver with PADI AOW or similar, probably 100+ ocean dives, has been on at least a few but probably several trips to the Caribbean and maybe Florida. He’s done some drift diving in Cozumel.
2.) Our diver is 45 - 65, chubby but in generally good health, fair fitness, the sort you see a lot on dive boats. He’s accustomed to air conditioning, soft beds, the level of amenities you find at Bonaire’s Buddy Dive Resort or a mainstream Caribbean liveaboard. On the other hand, he’s middle class, not loaded, and wants mid.-range budget. I’ll use ‘he,’ but sex probably doesn’t matter.
——So Wakatobi Dive Resort is probably not going to be the winner, but neither will a no air-conditioning homestay.
3.) He strongly values beautiful, lush coral reefs. Then large numbers of tropical fish, particularly colorful ones. Big animals are a big plus. Tiny macro subjects are neat, but this guy isn’t packing a big SLR rig with macro lens and a dome. Mantas and sharks win out over nudibranchs, but wobbegongs and blue-ringed octopi rock.
——In other words, Lembeh Strait is probably not going to be the winner. Don’t think muck diving is gonna win.
4.) We assume this may be his only trip to the Coral Triangle. He probably wants to go somewhere he’s heard a lot about on ScubaBoard, and maybe online and magazine articles.
5.) He’s gonna use a dive travel agent to handle the hassles of arranging airfare and overnight hotel stays.
Problem: Our guy sees a lot of talk about Raja Ampat, Komodo, multiple places in the Philippines, and rare but high praise reports of diving in Papua, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands (so why so few trip reports for those?). And sporadic mentions of places like Ambon, Alor, Bali, Banda Sea, Sulawesi (maybe he noticed that includes Wakatobi and Lembeh Strait), the Ring of Fire and the Forgotten Islands. Doubtless I’m missing some. Even if he picks a place, then there’s liveaboard vs. land-based.
Our guy wants to know the pro.s and con.s of these places as they relate to each other without spending a few years of intense study. Is there some comparative guide?
Going with what I see as the ‘big names’ by SB discussion frequency, I’m narrowing the list down to these:
1.) Philippines.
2.) Komodo.
3.) Raja Ampat.
4.) Bali.
5.) Papua New Guinea (PNG).
6.) Solomon Islands (a stretch - rare trip reports, but it’s in line with Raja and PNG, and maybe worth discussing anyway).
I left Sulawesi off because I figure Wakatobi Dive Resort is too expensive for most, and muck diving in Lembeh Strait won’t be somebody’s first and only trip choice.
Note: Some destinations are better or worse at different times of year. I’m skipping that for simplicity.