Best Diving and liveaboards in December

[Donaldreid]

Hi fellow divers I am from South Africa and am looking to do a one week liveaboard in December. I was originally looking at diving Red Sea but from feedback I have heard I think I should hold out till July for that trip. I am open to recommendations for a 1 week liveaboard from around the 20th December. I would also prefer not have to take too many connecting flights to get there. I would also like to avoid cold water hence the delay in the red sea trip. I will be traveling by myself.
Donald

 

[Quero]

Andaman Sea,Thailand (flights are not too complex)
Raja Ampat, Indonesia (requires more complex flight planning)

 

[Mossman]

Second the Andaman Sea. It was really nice diving at that time of the year, until that damn tsunami showed up.

 

[Donaldreid]

Interesting that you mentioned Raja Ampat. I did a liveaboard on the Queen Scuba in Thailand last year and that boat is now in that region. I was considering going there but the number of flights was a bit off putting. In your opinion is it worth the travel?

 

[sadcphuket]

Phuket, Thailand and do a liveaboard in the Andaman Sea. Flights are simple. Diving is great and the water is warm The tsunami made very little difference to the dive sites to be honest. I dived them before and after. This year has seen some great coral recovery in general, especially to the more southern sites of Hin Daeng & Hin Muang. The Junk is a great choice. A new boat this year - White Manta - may be a good option also. Depends what you are looking for.

 

[Quero]

Queen Scuba is a good value, as you know, DonaldReid, and Raja Ampat is indeed an exciting destination, though it's true that the number of flights is a bother. In December, of my two picks, you've done the Andaman Sea, so it would make sense for you to go elsewhere. I recommend flying to Manado from Singapore on Silk Air and then getting Lion Air to Sorong. That way you reduce the number of domestic flights using Indonesian carriers to a minimum, and the routing isn't too bad.

 

[Mossman]

Phuket, Thailand and do a liveaboard in the Andaman Sea. Flights are simple. Diving is great and the water is warm The tsunami made very little difference to the dive sites to be honest. I dived them before and after. This year has seen some great coral recovery in general, especially to the more southern sites of Hin Daeng & Hin Muang. The Junk is a great choice. A new boat this year - White Manta - may be a good option also. Depends what you are looking for.

No, I didn't mean to imply there was any lasting damage, I'm talking about the government closing the Similans to diving immediately after the tsunami. We lost two days of diving. On the bright side we rescued the entire population of Koh Tachai.

 

[Shasta_man]

Is RA worth the travel...HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.....

 

[Darnold9999]

If you route to RA through Monado I would be tempted to stop for a few days and dive Lembeh. No additional cost re flights and some very interesting critters to see.

So far RA diving has been significantly better than any other destination I have done. Limited as that is.

Worth the trouble.

 

[Donaldreid]

Thanks for the great feedback everyone, I am tempted by RA - i'll let you know what I decide and post feedback post the trip.