Best budget land based with the best driving?

[Fishcandy]

Not looking for lux.
Looking for a 21 day trip (multiple locations,
7 days at a each stay)

I prefer remote and less crowded.
Best diving in Indonesia is the main idea.

Please suggest for around Oct-Dec 2023

Thxs

 

[scrane]

Nomad Divers. I've stayed at this place twice. The last time I got chased out by Covid. Family owned and operated (Dutch and Belgian: English speaking). Maximum of about 12 guests. The best reefs and bio I've ever seen. Frogfish and massive schools of Snapper. Occasional encounters with Dugong. Nice new boat. Great dive master. Great family style dining. Substantially less expensive than the other Ops on Bangka. Two hours Taxi/Boat from Manado. Good access to Bunaken and Lembeh. They are just getting back in the swing of things after a two year closure. I will be returning in February for 20 days.

Nomad Divers Bangka, a small and friendly scuba diving resort on Bangka Island, North Sulawesi

Join us at our peaceful castaway scuba diving resort on Bangka Island for some of the top diving in North Sulawesi

nomaddiversbangka.com

Nomad Divers, Bangka

Nomad Divers, Bangka, Lihunu. Gefällt 1.595 Mal · 8 Personen sprechen darüber · 496 waren hier. Nomad Divers is a small dive resort off the beaten track on a tiny island in North Sulawesi, Indonesia....

www.facebook.com

Check out the recent relaunch of the dive boat just a couple of weeks ago on the FB page. It looks like half the nearby village came to help. The owners kept the employees on salary during the closure.

 

[SaltyWombat]

Triton Bay Divers is certainly remote.

 

[JohnN]

Triton Bay Divers is certainly remote.

Just dove with Triton Bay Divers

Very very good diving, you are almost guaranteed to be the only ones at each dive site. When the random LOB comes through, Leeza finds out where they plan to dive and the Triton Bay boat goes somewhere else. Accommodations are very nice, food is good Bintangs are only 50k Rp

I’ll write a full trip report “soon”

 

[Indah]

As all men I think I drive better than most. But best driving? No. Sorry, stupid joke. Anyway, when you come with 12 divers you bring your own crowd already.

 

[tursiops]

Not looking for lux.
Looking for a 21 day trip (multiple locations,
7 days at a each stay)

I prefer remote and less crowded.
Best diving in Indonesia is the main idea.

Please suggest for around Oct-Dec 2023

Thxs

I would like to start planning an epic dive trip with a group of 10-12 people.

Focus of the group is budget travel, not luxury.
Renting places in Indonesia' with epic shore diving.i researched, a few years ago places to rent daily. Some had very good home reefs.
I need to revisit that option again.

Also, finding resorts, backpacker type resorts, off the beaten path, that offer unreal diving without the fluff.

Two months in Indonesia then a month to be determined, in another country.

Maybe throw in a 7day LOB in misool area.

I've committed 15k usd to this epic trek, 3 three months diving and travel. Locations to be determined

These dates Oct-Dec gives us about a solid year to plan this trip.

So who would be interested in a trip like this?

Light weight travel
Backpacking type travel
Shoestring accommodations
Adventure with a preliminary plan, that will change in route obviously as we go.

Lots of research to do on the route.

Any suggestions will be appreciated

Who's in for a once in a lifetime trek through dive paradise?

Are these different, or actually the same question?

 

[scrane]

I'm sorry your other thread got shut down. I also don't understand the animosity that developed here.
I am intrigued by an extended dive trip with limited expense. For sure there are difficulties in both planning and executing such a trip. I think there's a break even point where hassles and complications, outweigh the rewards of such a trip. This is a very individual calculus for each traveler/diver. To complicate matters is the logistics of diving: air fills, equipment failure, guides, & etc.
I, personally, am at an age where I can put up with a little inconvenience and discomfort for a price. I will gladly forego air conditioning and people kissing my ass for great diving on a budget. But you can run into a lot of dead ends and "you can't get there from here" moments without good planning and a little luck.
And so I look for operators like I mentioned above that offer good value and good cheer and great diving. If you haven't done so already, check out Nomad's. I probably have 60 dives with them and crossed paths with another group only once (if you don't count the local fishing boat that dropped a giant net almost on our heads). If any business deserves to outlive Covid they do.
Anyways good luck and keep us updated on your adventures.