Does this itinerary make any sense? Thailand and Lembeh?

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ChrisM

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Have been to Thailand but years ago and not to dive. looking at a southern Itinerary in Feb. Indo has been a dream, so while we were there... But from those that have been there does this make sense?

Sunday morning - get off liveaboard, fly afternoon/evening to Singapore
Monday - Fly Singapore to Manado transfer to Lembeh resort, dive Tues - Fri morning
Saturday - transfer and Fly Manado to Singapore
Sunday - Home

Thoughts? The airlines seem to fly those days Singapore - Manado and prices and times not bad
 
Personally I would spend my whole holiday in Indonesia , but I’m not sure if you are travelling for a holiday with diving or for a diving holiday. Thailand is perfect for a holiday with diving, great food and beautiful beaches.


This plan would be too much travelling for many IMHO. If you fly from Phuket to Singapore in the morning you will miss a lot of the previous day’s diving and all of the last day’s diving. The diving in Bali or Sulawesi will be a lot better. Having said that the weather in Thailand should be perfect in February and it might still be a bit rainy in Bali. However I have been to Indonesia for the fast three of four Februaries and the weather has been fab.

Enjoy your trip !
 
Makes perfect sense to me. Thailands a wonderful country, so is Indo, enjoy your trip :)
 
Personally I would spend my whole holiday in Indonesia , but I’m not sure if you are travelling for a holiday with diving or for a diving holiday. Thailand is perfect for a holiday with diving, great food and beautiful beaches.


This plan would be too much travelling for many IMHO. If you fly from Phuket to Singapore in the morning you will miss a lot of the previous day’s diving and all of the last day’s diving. The diving in Bali or Sulawesi will be a lot better. Having said that the weather in Thailand should be perfect in February and it might still be a bit rainy in Bali. However I have been to Indonesia for the fast three of four Februaries and the weather has been fab.

Enjoy your trip !

So between a forgotten work conflict that makes the Thailand boat undoable and your comment, I am now leaning to two weeks in Indo. I would like to spend one in Lembeh. Where would you spend your second week? I’d move twice for a really good reason but would prefer a week (or so) at each place. Land based is fine doesn’t have to be a liveaboard. Wife and I are well experienced divers

Thanks for any advice!
 
Komodo...Easy flight from Bali and great diving. :) That will give you some wide angle reef/large fish action (mantas, too!) to balance out the muck and small critters of Lembeh. The other option is Raja Ampat, but 7 days is not enough - 10-12 days is more ideal by liveaboard, though you could still do a 7 day liveaboard or land based. It is also more difficult to get to from Bali so it will suck up more transit time vs. Komodo.

Though, February...Raja Ampat is better than Komodo then. If you want to stay close to Lembeh you could check out Bunaken.
 
Lembeh and Bangka or Lembeh and Bali would be perfect combinations. This is easiest of all if you fly into Manado with Silk Air / Singapore Airlines , but is also doable if you arrive in Jakarta or Bail.

Best fishes x
 
Two weeks at Raja Ampat.
Raja Ampat home stay will save you tons of cash. 3 dives a day with full boad for less than US$140.00 per day. You have the whole cottage with sea view to yourself.
 
Feb in Indonesia is time for Raja Ampat, Triton bay, Ambon or Maluku.
Lembeh is almost always good because in this narrow Strait, there are almost no waves but it can rain loads. I would not consider Bunaken nor Bangka nearby, neither recommand Bali/Komodo area, it will def rain a lot an dshould be wavy.

I would really try Raja Ampat if I were you, a week in a Dampier resort is good too, It will blow your head off. then spend the rest of the time in Lembeh.
If budget is a problem, there are much cheaper operations than Lembeh Resort.
 
To save time on travel, I'd go to Raja, given the choice and ability to do it.

If I couldn't do that then I'd return to Bangka and Lembeh. You can organize a diving transfer from one to another if you stay within a "family" of resorts, ie. Murex Bangka and Lembeh Resort or Bastianos Bangka and Bastianos Lembeh.

Now that said, yes, you may get some less than ideal weather in North Sulawesi. However, I've been to Bangka and/or Lembeh 3 times in January, February and March and had good weather with some rain showers each time. The diving at Bangka was incredible the first and third time. Well, it was very good the second time too but visibility wasn't. I was told that they'd had a very bad winter weather wise. Who knows? Maybe Luko. :wink:

Luko doesn't care for Lembeh Resort but I was reasonably happy there though that may have been as much about the food as it's upper crust acco and facilities. Also, was fortunate to have a room at the bottom of the hill rather than higher up. So that was nice for us too. As well, had an excellent guide just for me and my buddy. We'd started out as 4 divers but one of the other 2 was seriously annoying and despite neither my buddy nor I saying anything to him about it, he managed to get the other couple pawned off. LOL

All that said, back to Raja Ampat. I don't know how many opportunities will come your way. If few and far between then you should go to Raja but you'll be doing yourselves a huge disservice if you only go for one week. (I've been only 3 times but spend most of my day dreaming trying to figure out how to get back again this winter).

You will want to be sure to connect with recommended guides, resort and/or lob.
 
However, I've been to Bangka and/or Lembeh 3 times in January, February and March and had good weather with some rain showers each time. The diving at Bangka was incredible the first and third time. Well, it was very good the second time to but visibility wasn't. I was told that they'd had a very bad winter weather wise. Who knows? Maybe Luko. :wink:
Well only been twice in the area in feb :
- mid feb it rained bucketloads in Lembeh , it was diveable like year round in the strait but the operation couldn't leave out for diving Bangka area because of the sea.
- late feb in Bangka the day on our arrival the wind was howling generating white foam on the sea, during the night we could hear heavy rain the guys in the resort told us it had been so for a week limiting the diving.Fortunately, the morning after the wind suddenly stopped we had flat seas for 5 days.

I'm thinking of people who might not be as weather lucky as I was and who'll have their diving stranded on a few sites in Bangka. I prefer recommending "safer" areas in this respect.
 

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