asia advice

[slurpeee76]

Hello divers!

I'm heading to SE Asia (arriving in Bangkok) in late November. I'm looking to do a diving excursion for about 5 days. I've seen the Similans which was awesome.

I'm considering Sipadan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I'm on a budget and would like to spend around $1000US all-inclusive (except for airfare from BKK).

Any advice on the above destinations? Or, if you know of a forum where this question has been answered already, please direct me (I couldn't find one).

Thanks so much!

 

[Tassie_Rohan]

Sipdan/Mabul offers a nice mix of dives. Sipadan - big walls with turtles and, on occassion, baracuda. Mabul - shallow coral gardens with a nice range of critters (frogfish, ghost pipe fish, ribbon eels, mandarin fish, etc). SMART and Borneo Divers are both good. You may be able to squeeze in under 200 a day.

Diving in the Philippines is cheaper - but I've only dived Bohol (which was nice- good beach and nice walls) so hopefully someone from the philippine forum can suggest somewhere.

My favourite place so far has been Lembeh for the muck diving: an amazing range of creatures (photos). However forget coral and walls if you dive here - so it may not suit a non-photographer. The resort I stayed at was expensive however recent threads have described cheaper options. For a change there are also big walls across the island at Bunaken - good for small stuff but not as much big stuff, and getting there may eat into your dive time.

Bali is nice - good critter diving on the northern shore and I heard some good dives along the east coast. Can be done cheaply and great people and culture topside as well.

For only 5 days diving I'd recommend staying in one spot to get the most dives in - in which case sipadan/mabul offers a good range of dives if it can be afforded.

Cheers,
Rohan.

 

[pakman]

I'd second the Sipidan recommendation, but not sure of flight routing from BKK. I guess you would have to go BKK to KL to KK (Kota Kinabalu) to Tawau, then bus and boat...

 

[malaysia-islands]

From BKK, you can fly with AirAsia to Kota Kinabalu (BKI). It doesn't fly daily though, I guess to justify the traffic. It only flies 3 times weekly to BKI ie: on Sundays, Tuesdays, and Fridays. Then, from BKI, you can catch the twice-daily flights to Tawau (TWU) before getting on the minivan or cab to Semporna jetty for Sipadan.

Alternatively, you can do BKK-KUL-TWU. The BKK-KUL portion offers 5 daily flights. While KUL-TWU segment is offered 2 daily flights.

 

[malaysia-islands]

I'd second the Sipidan recommendation, but not sure of flight routing from BKK. I guess you would have to go BKK to KL to KK (Kota Kinabalu) to Tawau, then bus and boat...

Yes, from Tawau, you have to take the minivan or taxi to Semporna where the boat jetty at Sipadan is located. Recent oil price spike have seen the one-way taxi fare gone up to RM100 now (used to be around RM80 only, or US$20).

As for diving recommendation, see my dive report and underwater photos that I took from Sipadan dives:
Dive report + photo gallery:
Barracuda Point: http://www.malaysia-islands.com/html/sipadan/dive/barracuda-point.shtml
Mid Reef: http://www.malaysia-islands.com/html/sipadan/dive/mid-reef.shtml
South Point: http://www.malaysia-islands.com/html/sipadan/dive/south-point.shtml

Anyway, since I made a point to visit Sipadan almost one a year, do feel free to ask further questions regarding the logistic. I don't feel like writing them all up here because I'm not sure what other information you need.

Happy travelling!

 

[pakman]

nice, so there is are flights from BKK to BKI and KUL to TWU...

 

[Jason Ooi]

Welcome to :sblogo:
You can fly Bangkok to KL transit Tawau and Samporna, Air Asia need booked in advance you may get budget flight air fare.
Just visit Air Asia http://www.airasia.com/

 

[malaysia-islands]

I'm not really a fan of AirAsia.com because I think the website is less user-friendly. I mostly use this 3rd party site http://www.airasiaplus.com which you can view airfares 14 days in advance of your intended travel date. Just a touch of flexibility I guess. Sometimes flying 1-day earlier or later will save you tens of Ringgits.

Don't worry, this 3rd party site will direct you to real AirAsia.com booking once you have decided.

 

[scubadudee]

Hello divers!

I'm heading to SE Asia (arriving in Bangkok) in late November. I'm looking to do a diving excursion for about 5 days. I've seen the Similans which was awesome.

I'm considering Sipadan, Indonesia, and the Philippines. I'm on a budget and would like to spend around $1000US all-inclusive (except for airfare from BKK).

Any advice on the above destinations? Or, if you know of a forum where this question has been answered already, please direct me (I couldn't find one).

Thanks so much!

HI,

I will say to your question either go for Sipadan or the Philippines; probably will cover almost all of your budget for Indonesia. Monsoon is blowing and usually most of the dives are possible. Make some studies and try your luck. I'm doing a dive trip myself just before your desinated date to either Phuket or Sipadan.

The difference is mainly the cost and logistics.

From BKK to Philippines. Flights available but it all also depends on where and how you choose your dive sites. Things may cost more as most of them prefers to quote you in USD. So is Indonesia; USD.

From BKK, I think there used to be flights via AA to KK and to Tawau. The tricky part is the return from KK to BKK. You may have to take a flight from Tawau to KL and then back to BKK.

As for the actual diving, so far that I have been; it depends on your liking. Macro or Action. Parts of Philippine and Indonesia provides a blend of both. Sipadan and the neighbouring islands does.

I can only vividly tell you the rough pricing of them but Excludes the logistics, food that are not covered, taxes, alcohol. Just for the diving and assumption you got your own gears-


Sipadan- estimated per day between 200 to 250 RM
Philippines - estimated between 15 to 25 USD
Indonesia - estimated between 18 to 35 USD

As for accomodation:-

Sipadan - estimated per night per pax(usually per room) between 29 to 110 RM
Indonesia - estimated per night per pax between 35 to 100 USD; usually they will sell in package with the diving but twin shared.
Philippines- estimated per night per pax(some do have per room basis) between 25 to 60 USD

Hope all of these helps. Do enjoy your dive and keep us updated mate.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Slurpee76,

I'd think it depends a lot on what kind of diving you like. There is a lot of possibilities for Sipadan, Philippines and Indonesia during this part of the year.

Sipadan is a good option... At Sipadan, you can see schools of jacks, barracudas, sharks, turtles etc without needing to look too hard. I like the macros but Sipadan works for me... there's Mabul and Kapalai in the vicinity where I could see crabs, shrimps, nudibranches of various varieties. On top of that Seaventures house reef offered some of my favorite diving. Poor vis but there's frogfish, loads of crocodile fish/ flatheads, shrimps, nudibranches, etc.

I went to Apo reef during Nov but wasn't too awed by it. Dive operators said I was unlucky. Should have lots of reef life and some big fish. If you like reef diving, Anilao (Batangas, Manila, Philippines) offers some of the best diving at reasonable prices. Verde island and San Agapito in Batangas area are wonderful. They have some of the most colourful reef I have seen. Lots of nudibranches too. Not sure if the recent typhoon affected the reef in the area though.

Bali, Indonesia offers some rather good diving too. Puri Jati can be interesting - muck diving with a rich macro life. The largest creature is probability the lone barracuda that appears to only lone diver. I've just been to Tulamben and really enjoyed the dives there (shore dives, some muck diving, good for macros). Some of the guys we were with really like Amed which is a short distance from Tulamben... drift diving.

Quite some Singaporean divers go to Manado (Bunaken for the reef, Lembeh for muck diving all year round. No/ low current and typically decent viz (except Lembeh) with a good varieties of critters.

Have fun....