Bali/Penida/Komodo questions, travelling with family

[Dan]

See I haven't done any big wreck diving, so I don't even know if I like it I probably wouldn't be able to make it down to BDE on a dayboat from sharm right? Is that liveaboard required? Or can you get there from Hurghada on a dayboat?

But your comments about Ras Mohammed definitely have me thinking I should scrap Sharm and use those extra days in Indonesia

Most of the wrecks I have seen in Florida were sunken for artificial reef. SS Thistlegorm is the real historical World War II wreck, a Brittish cargo ship sunk by German bomber aircraft in 1941, SS Thistlegorm - Wikipedia

It contained full of motorcycles, cars, rail cars, guns, ammunitions, etc. Unfortunately I was there with many other divers ahead of me already mucking up the visibility, so I couldn’t get a good picture of the wreck. If you can go there early in the morning before others that would be best.

There were many good videos of Thistlegorm wreck that you could see in YouTube to see if that would interest you or not, such as this one, below.



Yes, BDE would be too far south from Sharm El Sheikh Diving in BDE would be best done from liveaboard. I have seen some day boats going to Elphinstone to see the Oceanic Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus Longimanus) which Elphinstone is famous for. I got lucky to see a couple of them swimming around us then.

 

[qwimjim]

Even when I used to dive the Red Sea in the late 90's, early 00's Dahab was quite mundane, SSH much better. The Tiran straits as well as Ras Muhamed were very nice in terms of (soft) corals and depending on the season could be dense in fish (fish mating in spring and July-August are better in this respect this was still the case now as some friends reported to me.).
I dont share the same enthusiasm for the Thistlegorm which can be very frequented sometimes with a lot of surge (seen some DMs puking at surface) and needs early morning departures + 3-4hrs boat ride. Personnaly I prefer the USAT Liberty which is beautifully encrusted with corals and very accessible from the beach eveyday and even at night.
Sidenote : If you're really into wreck diving and looking for something IMPRESSIVE then nothing beats the Coolidge IMO, but that's another area of the world.

Hurghada area was quite lame apart from Carless reef which is quite away and not so often dived, there were dozens of dive boats and hundreds of divers on sites off Hurghada (The Giftuns, Umm Gammar...) with very little interest underwater.
Safaga was not as interesting as SSH to me, lots of bommies but no colors as Ras Mo or Thomas Reef on the Tiran straits.

Can't speak about southern Egypt, Brothers (on a liveaboard) or Elphinstone.

Overall I rate Komodo MUCH better than Egypt, fishier & more colorful, Bali is more varied than Egypt as well. anyway you can't have more varied than Indonesia as a whole.
Once I discovered SEA in eh 90's I gradually slowed down going to Egypt and finally never went back for almost 20 years now.

Thanks, I think we'll skip sharm and spend more time in indonesia

 

[Luko]

spend more time in indonesia

You can't go wrong

 

[Dan]

Hi, I'm planning on travelling with family the last week of September, first week of October. The plan is to spend a week in Bali and Nusa Penida, do some dives around Penida and a day at Tulamben. I'm not super interested in macro/muck diving.

It’s Mola Mola season in Nusa Penida. Try to take advantage of that. It’s not for kid though.

 

[AlMitch]

Budget 2-3 days to immerse yourself in the Bali culture and what the Island (top side) has to offer. Bali is a special place.

To echo Luko, the Tulamben / Amed area has a ton to offer and is really a great way to ease into things.

I know you said you are not a fan of the tiny stuff....could this be simply because you have not experienced good macro diving ...yet...just a thought.

Our last trip to Bali was a week up in Tulamben and then a week right on the beach in an Air BNB.

Tulamben, Bali, Dec 2019

We stayed a whole week at Ocean View Tulamben Dive Resort right in Tulamben town, it is 50m down the beach from the wreck and was a comfortable and decent resort to stay at. Dive guides where good spotters and very accommodating.

flic.kr

My 8 year old loved snorkeling the Liberty wreck.

 

[Simon Dahlén]

Great! I would love to have a day where I could bring my junior diver Would these sites also be suitable for snorkelers too? And how do you ensure that you go to easy dives sites, how many people are on a typical boat out of Lubuan Bajo? Would we need to hire a private boat for the 4 of us? I imagine most people going all the way to Komodo are not going to want the "mellow" dives?

Definitely going to Rinca to see the dragons and hiking/pink beach on Padar. When you say the beaches are not great in Komodo, do you mean the water too? I don't need a pristine white sand Caribbean beach, so long as the water is clean and clear to swim in, has something to look at, and isn't filled with seaweed or trash

Yeah they are suitable for snorkelers too, an its possible to have a snorkeling guide joining if uncertant of the conditions. Right now theres is this thing in bajo where the first ppl that book can "choose" where to go, depending on the conditions of course. But theese divesites that i mentioned is some of the divesite we go the most to, along with batu bolong (where snorkelling isnt allowed). But companies are flexible and tries to adapt to the experiense and what suits the guest the best. The amount of ppl on the boat varies between the company but its usually maximum 4 ppl per guide so fairly small groups. Blue Marlin is the only company that does speed boat at the moment and its smaller boats so less guests. One thing i would recomend doing is really research what company to go with because some have not been operating during the whole pandemic and the quailty of boats and such has gone down a lot.

What i mean with that the beaches isnt great is that its not the prestine white coral sand beaches that you find in thailand or Philipines but more rough vulcanic sand and more dark in colour. depending on season and currents there can also be a lot of trash and wood floating up. Remember that this is indonesia and it has a lot of issues with polution, especially now when there is no tourists to they dont clean up the beaches as they usually do.