Where's good late December-early January?

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nwflyboy

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Location
Seattle, WA, USA
I'm looking around for an appropriate destination for a week following Christmas 2019 (roughly 12/26/2019 through 01/03/2020). I'm looking for, well, the usual stuff that everyone wants...Great diving, good viz, healthy marine environment with lots of fish, comfy accommodations, good food, etc. etc.

We (a couple) are experienced divers (stopped logging dives long ago after 500+), we don't have anything to prove so we're not interested in "aggressor" posturing, we enjoy easy and challenging dives alike. We've been to Indonesia a few times before (Bali, Bunaken, Misool - enjoyed them all of course) and lots of places from the Caribbean to the Andaman Seas. This time we've got just a week, and it's at peak-holiday season (I know this is working against us, it can't be helped) so I know that complicates things a bit (busy, crowded, expensive) - and rainy season in some places that might be otherwise perfect.

Sniffing around for destinations, I'm finding lots of things that at first look intriguing, but then find that many of them are not ideal (some not even open) at the time we want to go (end of December-early January).

So before drilling down into specific resorts (or boats), it might be best to filter simply on: what's good at that time of year?

We're not obsessed with any single thing in particular, instead we prefer a nice mix of stuff (so for example, someplace that is all about muck muck muck, for us that's kinda meh meh meh - some muck and weird little critters is fine, but I don't want to spend a whole week in that); a mix of large and small stuff, walls/reefs plus macro, large dense concentrations of fish plus maybe some pelagics would be ideal.

I'm leaning towards land-based, but would consider a liveaboard (as long is it doesn't require a second mortgage). For land-based, we prefer a nice comfy resort with a bit of luxury (doesn't need to be 5-star); for liveaboard we prefer boats that have their sheet together rather than something that's cheap and funky or struggling to get by.

We want to avoid crowds (to the extent possible), avoid a party destination, and avoid a very, very long slog to get there (starting from Bangkok, I'd like to keep the travel time to the destination to 24-36 hours max if possible).

Places I've been starting to consider include:
  • Alor (but its rainy season I think, so wrong time?)
  • Komodo (definitely a bucket list destination, but seems to be getting crazy popular so crowded, and I'm not sure if the season is wrong?)
  • South Maluku/South Halmahera (Sali Bay, Kalimaya, others???)
  • Someplace else that I haven't heard of?
Any suggestions for my dilemma (besides changing the timing or lowering my expectations)?

Thank you!!!
 
I've had excellent success in Maldives at that time. Yes, it's expensive but there seems to be some sales right now for your time period, both land and lob.
 
Alor and Komodo are both in rainy season in December/January. If you were thinking of Indonesia the best conditions will be in Raja Ampat.

The Philippines are fairly quick on travel time and offer some great options this time of year. During this time we offer trips departing from Anilao or Cebu with two different itineraries to choose from.

You can explore our website and view the schedule and sample itineraries under the trip info section, All Star Philippines Trip Info - Details, Rates, Hotels + Checklists. Feel free to email me at kevin@allstarliveaboards.com if you have any questions.
 
Yes, I've also had decent luck in Raja Ampat at this time of year, though it had some slight rains/showers. I don't recall any showers on my Maldives trips and visibility was usually quite good. That said, offered an equal opportunity to go to one or the other, I'd pick Raja Ampat.
 
My wife and I did Papua Explorers in Raja Ampat last December/January. Excellent time of year. They are land based and I can't recommend them enough. DM me if you have any questions.

--Thumbsplitter.
 
December and January are great months to go to Raja Ampat indeed! That being said, I would like to set something straight regarding the rainy season in Komodo. Yes the weather can be rainy but in Raja Ampat too. And we love how the South of the Komodo National Park opens up! A colleague wrote this very informative article comparing the weather in both locations and it is very eye opening! Click here to read it on our website.
 
What about the East Coast of Central Halmahera? At the moment, as often this time of the year, totally flat sea and great weather. The prevailing winds are from the North-West - North-East. Weda Resort and Weda Bay are well protected.
 
Had similar question and was interested in Manado weather in late Dec / early Jan vs RA and Komodo. Thank you!
 
I've been to North Sulawesi, at or near, that time of year. Yes there's been some rain. More often droplets during the day and heavier rain at night, if it comes at all.

If you choose North Sulawesi, don't choose only Manado/Bunaken diving. Be sure to include time at Bangka, as well.

Last time that I was there, my friend/buddy and I chose a 2.5 week trip, with a couple of days on Manado side diving Bunaken, then the majority of our days diving Bangka (which still gets you the occasional 2 tank over on Manado side), then we moved over for a couple of days at Lembeh. My friend hadn't been to Lembeh before and so was happy to do every dive offered at Lembeh. Lembeh Resort also offered to take a few of us diving up the coast of Lembeh and back down the other side on a 3 tank day trip. I very much enjoyed that!

We'd had no complaints about our accommodation at Manado or Bangka but it was still pretty sweet to finish off the trip with a few days at that fine resort.
 
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