Triton Bay or Halmahera?

[diveaddict123]

Hi everyone, interested to hear from those who have done:
- Raja Ampat
- Komodo
- Alor
- Halmahera
- Triton Bay

And how would you rank them? Which ones do you want to revisit badly because it was so good? And what did you like about them the most?

Appreciate your help!

 

[Laval]

My recommendation is to go in the following order:
1-Raja Ampat
2-Komodo
3-Alor
4-Triton Bay

Check my Diver's Lens YouTube Channel. I have videos about all of these places. I've never been to Halmahera.

 

[diveaddict123]

My recommendation is to go in the following order:
1-Raja Ampat
2-Komodo
3-Alor
4-Triton Bay

Check my Diver's Lens YouTube Channel. I have videos about all of these places. I've never been to Halmahera.

Is that your ranking based on preference or based on the order someone should visit? If it’s the order you suggest to go in, what is the reasoning behind it?

 

[Laval]

Yes, it is the order I suggest of going.
Raja Ampat is the best. A lot fish, corals. Very little macro. Manageable currents. Warm water.
Komodo is the second best. Currents could be very strong and water cold (i.e. 20 deg C).
Alor is very good and less crowds. A lot of macro. Cooler water.
Triton Bay - you have to go through the above to fully appreciate Triton Bay. It is a mini Raja Ampat. They have everything, but visibility could be an issue. There are no other dive operations in the area.

 

[Cali_diver]

+1 for Laval's suggestion! But you could swap 1 and 2 and still be in the same boat!

 

[cetacean]

Both Halmahera and Triton can be hit and miss. I did a two week exploratory trip through Halmahera that had the best and worst of dive sites. Best was macro. I did another one more recently that ended in Ternate and it was fantastic. Triton can get some low vis at times, but is a truly wonderful mix of diving. One advantage of both places over Raja Ampat is that there aren't 3-4 dive boats lined up to dive every site.

It's been a long time since Palau. I remember using one of the first digital SLR camera housings available it was so long ago. Anyway, it was our first Pacific trip, so it seemed so cool ... until we went to Indonesia. We never went back to Palau, but we have been to Indonesia 14 times. Just saying.

Many locations in Indonesia are very good, as are various locations in the Philippines, PNG, and the Solomons...

 

[MissMango]

I will report back…I head to Triton Bay in a few weeks and will also be in Halmahera in early September, as well as Tompotika. These are all new areas for me.

I'm curious to hear about your Halmahera trip.
Did you enjoy it? How was the diving?

We're looking at doing a LOB Lembeh-Halmahera-Raja and I've heard very mixed reviews of Halmahera. Some were super positive while others were more of a "meh...okay".

 

[Darnold9999]

I'm curious to hear about your Halmahera trip.
Did you enjoy it? How was the diving?

We're looking at doing a LOB Lembeh-Halmahera-Raja and I've heard very mixed reviews of Halmahera. Some were super positive while others were more of a "meh...okay".

Put me in the "Meh OK" camp. DId a liveaboard Raja to Lembeh a few years ago and the Halmahera part of the trip was very disappointing. Far too many reefs with significant evidence of dynamite fishing. Coral rubble instead of healthy reefs. The liveaboard Lembeh portion of the trip was also disappointing, the guides on the boat were nowhere near as good as the guides we had staying in Lembeh at Black Sands following the trip. They could point out the obvious, but the Black Sands guides were finding the obscure and unique, and in Lembeh that is why you are there.

 

[MissMango]

Put me in the "Meh OK" camp. DId a liveaboard Raja to Lembeh a few years ago and the Halmahera part of the trip was very disappointing. Far too many reefs with significant evidence of dynamite fishing. Coral rubble instead of healthy reefs. The liveaboard Lembeh portion of the trip was also disappointing, the guides on the boat were nowhere near as good as the guides we had staying in Lembeh at Black Sands following the trip. They could point out the obvious, but the Black Sands guides were finding the obscure and unique, and in Lembeh that is why you are there.

Thank you so much for your reply and your input.
What you've said makes completely sense.
I didn't even consider that non-local dive guides simply don't know what to look for in Lembeh (besides the very obvious).
We just did Raja Ampat / Misool and I'd hate to follow up with a "meh" LOB experience.

 

[Cali_diver]

@MissMango We did Halmahera in March of 23 and had a great time (it was my second visit to the area). At the time it was great... super fishy and great mix of critter diving and reef diving. We saw way more sharks than we have ever seen in Raja. Our trip started in Raja and at that time Misool was coming off a rough algae bloom which really took a toll on many sights. We were blown away by the fish in Halmahera coming from Misool. Misool has since bounced back thankfully. We are heading back to Halmahera next month. What makes the itinerary that you mentioned great is that you can start your trip with a nice resort in Lembeh for a few days before the lob and have some spectacular critter diving and still end the trip with Raja. I would highly recommend that itinerary. Which boat are you looking at?