Work trip Jakarta then where to dive a few days?

[Prop Joe]

I'll be in Malaysia then Jakarta for work Mid July. I was hoping to sneak a few days of diving. I dive Cozumel usually twice a year so used to current. Over 500 dives in Mexico/Caribbean. AOW, Rescue, EAN. I'll be by myself. Where to go? Bali, Komodo? It all looks great, but I have no idea where to start in this part of the world. Any and all help appreciated. Airfare, baggage allowance, Water temps. Dive ops, where to stay... Please enlighten me. TIA!!!

 

[Luko]

Usually airfare is not an issue, domestic flights are cheap, Garuda includes 20k checkin +23k sports equipment luggage. Others either 20k or none.

A week : a short Komodo LoB would be great (4/5 days). Airport LBJ, 2,5 hrs flight from Jakarta (about 350USD roundtrip),.. lots of options depending on your comfort requirements.

Few days : Bali airport DPS 2 hrs flight from Jakarta (about 230USD roundtrip). If you like macro and easy reef, locate in Tulamben, Liberty Dive Resort, 3hrs drive form the airport, if you like bigger stuff (Mantas, Molamola as it will be start of the season), current and corals then base yourself in Padang Bai, 1,5 hrs drive from the airport, stay at Puri Rai dive with GekoDivers.

 

[Prop Joe]

Thanks Luko,
If I were to go back to KL instead of Jakarta, Would that change your recommendations? Sipadan for instance?
Cordialement,
Joe

 

[chillyinCanada]

Sipidan is a very long way from KL. Am I misunderstanding you?

 

[Luko]

Thanks Luko,
If I were to go back to KL instead of Jakarta, Would that change your recommendations? Sipadan for instance?
Cordialement,
Joe

Yeah, Sipadan instead of Komodo, it just takes a AirAsia.com KL-Tawau flight, but you'd need at least in this case 5-6 days otherwise you may be end up diving Mabul only.
Diving Bali from Jakarta is still the easiest if you can select your departure city from either Jakarta or KL.

 

[Thrawn7]

If earliest you can fly out of Jakarta is in the morning, you can get to Komodo same day then do 3-dives a day the next few days.

Realistically going to Bali from the morning, you get to the dive resort around 3pm anyway so you miss out on the diving already that day.

The advantage of Bali is theres plenty of afternoon and evening flights, so you can use that and go diving the next day.

Going back you have a no-fly period. So Komodo or Bali is similar in terms of arriving back to Jakarta.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Yeah, Sipadan instead of Komodo, it just takes a AirAsia.com KL-Tawau flight, but you'd need at least in this case 5-6 days otherwise you may be end up diving Mabul only.
Diving Bali from Jakarta is still the easiest if you can select your departure city from either Jakarta or KL.

But then after Tawau, IIRC, a 3 hour van ride to Semporna, then a wait for the boat to Mabul. I can't recall how long the boat ride is to Mabul, probably not that long.

It's certainly doable, but I'd pick Bali or Komodo first.

 

[Luko]

If earliest you can fly out of Jakarta is in the morning, you can get to Komodo same day then do 3-dives a day the next few days.

Realistically going to Bali from the morning, you get to the dive resort around 3pm anyway so you miss out on the diving already that day.

The advantage of Bali is theres plenty of afternoon and evening flights, so you can use that and go diving the next day.

Going back you have a no-fly period. So Komodo or Bali is similar in terms of arriving back to Jakarta.

Errhh.. From Jakarta, you can get to Bali airport at 10AM (or even earlier), 12AM in your Padang Bai resort or 1PM in Tulamben, that means you are diving the afternoon and the night dive.
Daytrips from Komodo take about 1,5 hour to get to the central Komodo sites, same duration for the return. You ought to like long rides to dive Komodo on 3 consecutive daytrips... that's why it's better to dive Komodo with a short LoB.

 

[Luko]

But then after Tawau, IIRC, a 3 hour van ride to Semporna, then a wait for the boat to Mabul. I can't recall how long the boat ride is to Mabul, probably not that long.

It's certainly doable, but I'd pick Bali or Komodo first.

From KL certainly not Komodo!
I thought the question was what if the poster had to fly from KL NOT from CGK.
(btw, I always had my first dive in Mabul end of afternoon on the day of arrival in Tawau)

 

[chillyinCanada]

From KL certainly not Komodo!
I thought the question was what if the poster had to fly from KL NOT from CGK.
(btw, I always had my first dive in Mabul end of afternoon on the day of arrival in Tawau)

My one trip was a very long time ago. At the time, i couldn't fly direct into Tawau and had to fly to KK, stay over a night and then fly out very early a.m. to Tawau. We were picked up in a van at Tawau airport, long drive but I was still excited about that sort of thing back in the day. We were dropped at a pier/port kinda thingie, where we then waited quite awhile longer again for our boat. In those days, one could still stay on Sipidan, though it was in the last days of that period. So, my outbound was to Sipidan. Half way through the trip, I moved over to Mabul so my boat back to Semporna was from Mabul and for some reason, I remember that much better than the boat from Semporna to Sipidan.