Best value diving in Indonesia

[Asanoth]

I am curious as to why you want to avoid Bali , it has superb diving at great prices on the East coast.

This is not a diving vacation, but a trip with some (fewer than we d like ) dives. I imagine Bali overcrowded with tourists, party scene etc. With this come touts, harrasment, scamming etc. Maybe that is a wrong idea...

we only have our masks and computers, no other gear. Even then, a dive on Weh seems to go well bellow 30 USD. But price is not the (only) priority, so if Komodo/Bali is superior to Weh, we might skip Aceh and focus entirely on Tengarra.(?)

 

[JonnieB]

I imagine Bali overcrowded with tourists, party scene etc. With this come touts, harrasment, scamming etc. Maybe that is a wrong idea...

It's the wrong idea...but as you say you're more interested in things other than diving then stay away.

 

[Asanoth]

It is not about "interested", it is about I simply do not have budget to spend 2 out of 8 weeks in Indonesia diving.

 

[Tippytoes12]

This is not a diving vacation, but a trip with some (fewer than we d like ) dives. I imagine Bali overcrowded with tourists, party scene etc. With this come touts, harrasment, scamming etc. Maybe that is a wrong idea...

we only have our masks and computers, no other gear. Even then, a dive on Weh seems to go well bellow 30 USD. But price is not the (only) priority, so if Komodo/Bali is superior to Weh, we might skip Aceh and focus entirely on Tengarra.(?)

In the East of Bali, and probably the North this is totally wrong.

 

[Dan]

we only have our masks and computers, no other gear. Even then, a dive on Weh seems to go well bellow 30 USD. But price is not the (only) priority, so if Komodo/Bali is superior to Weh, we might skip Aceh and focus entirely on Tengarra.(?)

There’s a reason that Weh is cheap. I have been diving in Indonesia for over 15 years and never bother to dive there. Don’t even bother to go to Medan. The only place that’s worth visiting is the Orangutan sanctuary. Save your money and go to Nusa Tenggara.

 

[Indah]

You sound like someone in the scuba industry in Indonesia/Bali. If so, maybe share your thoughts on what is a "fair" price to be pay for diving. Let's say from shore in Bali and a short boat excursion.

Keeping in mind there is nothing particularly challenging about most dives in the Tulamben/Amed area, as they are all easy parallel shore dives and the boat trips to sites off the cliffs are 10-15 minutes max. Also, many of us have all our own equipment so this should be factored into the cost.

I am living at North Sulawesi, here the minimum salaries are a bit higher, but the costs of living almost the same. I did not mention the rent of equipment or the costs of the boat yet. Even if the boat trip is not far, you need the boat and crew.
First of all, of all you pay, 10% tax is for the government. The guide and/or their employer have to pay social security and insurances. The net income for a guide should be at least IDR 300.000 per day (USD 20, -). Overtime not included yet. Keep in mind that the dive equipment and the tank of the guide should be paid for as well. The costs for the dive tanks depend on many factors, but are never below USD 0.50 per tank. For small operators this can be as much as USD 2,-.

 

[Asanoth]

Don’t even bother to go to Medan. The only place that’s worth visiting is the Orangutan sanctuary. Save your money and go to Nusa Tenggara.

That seems rather harsh... We want to go either to Sabah or Sumatra for land stuff, especially terrestrial wildlife, and I found opinions that either is better, so I would say it comes off comparable. We incline towards Sumatra as our budget is quite stretched already. You are the very first I encounter who says Sumatra is not worth a visit. How so?

 

[Dan]

I have been there, visiting relatives, who took me to the best places there (trekking to Bukit Lawang Orangutan Sanctuary, visiting Parapat, Lake Toba and Pulau Samosir, hiking up mount SiBayak at night to see the glow worms, etc.) which is not much to see, in comparison to Nusa Tenggara. With your limited budget & time, just spend them in Bali & Komodo.

I have been to Bali about 15 times & Komodo 4 times. I’ll be back there again in August. We plan to cruise & diving along the way from Bali to Komodo & back to Bali.

 

[Dan]

Here’s one diving trip that is worth to consider:
Going from Bali to Komodo & back to Bali on Mermaid 1, besides diving in Sangeang, Banta & Komodo, you also will dive / snorkel with whale sharks off Saleh Bay in Sumbawa,

 

[Asanoth]

Mermaid 1 LoB is about the whole budget we have for Indonesia Your Sumbawa whale sharks are intriguing though I have not heard of that before and we missed them on the Phillipines, being too far from Donsol/Leyte and not wanting to do Oslob.

After doing some reading, we decided to skip Weh. We fly to Padang, spending some 3ish weeks on Sumatra on land, flying to Labuan Bajo. There we try to snatch a bargain for LoB, and if not, maybe dive from land. About 7-10 days spent on Flores incliding Komodo NP, move to Sumbawa, do whale sharks and possily other locations, which will at least cut the horrendous journey in half. Visit Lombok for a week, possibly adding a day of diving, move to Nusa Penida, if sunfish will have arrived already and spend the rest of days on Bali north, adding some more shore diving if we have time and money. In total we have 57 days in Indonesia before flying out.

What do you think? Any specific tips for our locations? Is there possibly some under the radar great diving on Sumbawa?
Thank you.