August diving - conflicting suggestions and articles

[pughio83]

Well to be honest my hostel days are behind me and I tend to pick mid range places to stay. But bail and gillis are cheap to stay. There are little hotels on nusa lembongan which are like 10us dollars a night when I was there last and you can dive maybe with twofish divers who I can recommend. World diving also I hear is good there. Re ubud in Bali there r loads of cheap places, but couldn't recommend any specific cheap place Bali mainland. Most of the places in re gillis had to be booked in advance, but were about 25us dollars a night. Indonesia on the whole is cheap. I think there r home stays in lembeh too.

 

[gekodivebali]

Padang Bai in East Bali is good for hostels and backpackers. It's also the easiest to dive most of the Bali dive sites from Manta Point and Crystal Bay to Tepekong and Tulamben while sleeping in the same bed every night. Only a few bars scattered around town but a good atmosphere with an interesting mix of tourists and locals.

 

[Centrals]

which area will be best & cheap to stay if my main motto is to dive assuming there will transportation charges etc. I mostly will stay in a hostel and am not what area I should go to?

If you are diving at Bunaken or Lembeh then you dive, eat and sleep from the same place. All the dive sites are very near unless you want a special trip.

 

[scorpio84]

I am still extra confused for where to go Indonesia (Bali) or Thailand (Ko tao). Thailand (Air tickets are half as of teh price of Bali ticket from India)

And approx whole Thailand trip inc diving can be done in price of Bali ticket !!!

And I just cant decide where to go.. as several people are saying (not here though) that Koh Tao will not be that bad in terms of weather

Its so frustrating to plan a trip

 

[TheWartHog]

Scorpio84

If you going to dive in Thailand in mid-August then go to Koh Tao.
The weather should be very good, the diving is good too, it's excellent value and the island is wonderful.
You can do 2 dives and be back by lunchtime to relax for the rest of the day or go back out for 2 more dives in the afternoon should you so wish.
I have dived and stayed at Sairee Cottage Diving, a beachfront dive operation with bungalows and great restaurant.

There are many other dive centres that you can search for on KT. I find that the smaller ops are better for me than the bigger dive resorts.

Consider also, Koh Phangan and Koh Samui (although I think the Gulf dives sites are a little further to get to from these 2 islands).

Happy diving

 

[pughio83]

If its money u want to save then go Thailand. But just accept that the diving in ko Tao is not same quality in my opinion as Bali. The island is lovely, nice beaches and diving is ok, and easy. You can also visit ko samui and ko pan gnan if u wish. I snorkelled with lots of blacktips sharks at the latter. Bali offers more variance with much better macro, wreck at tulumben, mola molas and mantas at penida plus much healthier reefs. So weigh up what's more important to u. Pay more for more, or go cheaper and enjoy Thailand which is amazing anyway just diving east coast is limited.

 

[TheWartHog]

Quite agree with you pughio, used to go Thailand, now go to Indonesia, next will be The Phillippines I reckon.

 

[scorpio84]

I feel there is no harm in trying Thailand.. afterall I will be diving here someday or later; I can proabably keep Bali for a visit with my wife !!! As this time I am traveling solo so proabably Thailand - Ko tao wont be that bad either!!!