Best relatively unknown diving in Indonesia?

[GDMP]

Hi everyone,

This is a question for people who know Indonesia diving very well and have dived in many places there.

I'm heading back to Indonesia soon and am trying to find some of the best dive sites that I haven't been to. I've been to many of the big ticket items. My favourites include Alor, Raja, Maratua, Koon, and Belongas. I enjoy healthy, fishy reefs, with interesting topography. While I like macro, I enjoy diving with pelagics more. I've also done lots of diving in many other areas: Komodo, Kakaban, Sangalaki, Derawan, Candi Dasa, Banda, Lembeh, Bunaken, Penida, Menjangan, Pemuteran, Ambon, Weh, Rote, East Lombok, and probably some other places I'm forgetting.

There are some renowned spots I haven't visited, such as Wakatobi, Triton Bay, etc. The tricky thing with some of those is from what I've seen, some of them work out to be mega expensive, which rules them out for me at the moment. There are others like Halmahera and Togean that I've heard mixed reviews about (nice reefs, overfished).

I've heard good things about Bangka, although I don't think it's very sharky. At the moment, that's probably top of my list though.

Apparently the diving off west Sumbawa is quite nice, but I don't know it's special. And supposedly the southern gills are good too, but they're more about macro.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for underappreciated sites in Indonesia with dense reefs and pelagics that don't cost too much to reach?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Greg

 

[Centrals]

Timor-Leste but it is a different country even though Indonesia has tried very hard to grab it.

Indonesian invasion of East Timor - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Santa Cruz massacre - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

A small fraction of the dirty work by Indonesian.

 

[GDMP]

Thanks! I'm asking about Indo though.

I've dived in Atauro and Dili. Atauro is very nice (esp Adara and Iliana), but for me it's basically like a slightly worse version of Alor (less current, less fishy, very rare to see sharks or rays).

 

[Christian]

I was going to say Kalimantan archipelago, but then saw that you’ve already been. You should ask @Dan who has liveaboarded through many areas of Indonesia.

 

[GDMP]

Thanks @Christian. I love that area — definitely one of my faves, and I preferred it to Komodo. Any thoughts, @Dan?

 

[rmorgan]

Cenderawasih Bay, although only by LOB. Bangka isn’t relatively unknown—it’s right there between Lembeh and Bunaken. It is good diving, though, with interesting topography.

 

[GDMP]

@rmorgan, completely agree, although I don't know how someone would draw the line re relatively unknown (so I prob should've phrased that better). Anyway. Thanks for the suggestion, but yeah, not looking for LOB-only destinations

 

[Dan]

Thanks @Christian. I love that area — definitely one of my faves, and I preferred it to Komodo. Any thoughts, @Dan?

Triton Bay!

 

[cetacean]

Hi everyone,

This is a question for people who know Indonesia diving very well and have dived in many places there.

I'm heading back to Indonesia soon and am trying to find some of the best dive sites that I haven't been to. I've been to many of the big ticket items. My favourites include Alor, Raja, Maratua, Koon, and Belongas. I enjoy healthy, fishy reefs, with interesting topography. While I like macro, I enjoy diving with pelagics more. I've also done lots of diving in many other areas: Komodo, Kakaban, Sangalaki, Derawan, Candi Dasa, Banda, Lembeh, Bunaken, Penida, Menjangan, Pemuteran, Ambon, Weh, Rote, East Lombok, and probably some other places I'm forgetting.

There are some renowned spots I haven't visited, such as Wakatobi, Triton Bay, etc. The tricky thing with some of those is from what I've seen, some of them work out to be mega expensive, which rules them out for me at the moment. There are others like Halmahera and Togean that I've heard mixed reviews about (nice reefs, overfished).

I've heard good things about Bangka, although I don't think it's very sharky. At the moment, that's probably top of my list though.

Apparently the diving off west Sumbawa is quite nice, but I don't know it's special. And supposedly the southern gills are good too, but they're more about macro.

So, does anyone have any recommendations for underappreciated sites in Indonesia with dense reefs and pelagics that don't cost too much to reach?

Any thoughts would be much appreciated!

Thanks in advance,

Greg

"Banka not sharky..." - yes, that is very true.

If you want a large population of sharks, and somes species diversity I would look outside of Indonesia entirely. Galapagos, Cocos, French Polynesia... even Palau on a good day is more sharky than most of Indonesia.

Having said this - if you're set on Indonesia, look at Triton Bay (as @Dan mentions...)

 

[GDMP]

Thanks @Dan and @cetacean. I looked at Triton Bay before and it looked to be very expensive. The fact they feed whale sharks also puts me off a bit — not really interested in diving around some feeding platform and would rather have a lower chance of seeing them by chance alone.

Cetacean, again, I'm just looking at Indo here. I've done LOBs in Revillagigedo and Galapagos this year, so I had a good fill then! But can never see too many sharks