Hello and thanks in advance for reading and advising on this post as it is somewhat complicated. My wife and I (both divers) are lucky enough to be traveling across Asia for an extended period of time (9 months)! Now that we have left the cold of China and Nepal we are working our way through SE Asia and trying to coordinate some of the fantastic diving that is around here. We want to make sure we hit the best (or at least the really good stuff) but need advice from people that have dove extensively here to help us decide where to go in each country given the options of what we will dive later on. Specifically, we will be arriving in Thailand in about 2 months and planned to dive the Phuket area. Our itinerary also includes Indonesia, Australia and South Pacific arriving there in the Feb-April time frame.
So, given that we will be in all of thouse countries-- we would like recommendations on:
1. A dive plan (locations) to dive Thailand, Indonesia, Australia & Solomon/Cook Islands, Guam and Samoa. By dive plan I mean hypothetically something like: skip Phuket since the reefs in Sulawesi are better instead dive XXX which is 10 miles away and then go to YYY for the walls. Make sense-- not just a list of the best sites, but a real dive plan
2. We don't really want to get too far of the beaten track as our trip is not just about diving, but we are willing to make an effort to go somewhere great.
3. We would like to maybe do a liveaboard in some places-- if we only do it in one or two countries which are the most important to do it in.
4. If we skip the great barrier reef (and Australia all together) is that okay?
5. We'd like to dive somewhere at least once where we have the chance to see really big stuff.
I know that lots of this depends on personal preference, so let us know what you think and why. Thanks in advance.
Seth
So, given that we will be in all of thouse countries-- we would like recommendations on:
1. A dive plan (locations) to dive Thailand, Indonesia, Australia & Solomon/Cook Islands, Guam and Samoa. By dive plan I mean hypothetically something like: skip Phuket since the reefs in Sulawesi are better instead dive XXX which is 10 miles away and then go to YYY for the walls. Make sense-- not just a list of the best sites, but a real dive plan
2. We don't really want to get too far of the beaten track as our trip is not just about diving, but we are willing to make an effort to go somewhere great.
3. We would like to maybe do a liveaboard in some places-- if we only do it in one or two countries which are the most important to do it in.
4. If we skip the great barrier reef (and Australia all together) is that okay?
5. We'd like to dive somewhere at least once where we have the chance to see really big stuff.
I know that lots of this depends on personal preference, so let us know what you think and why. Thanks in advance.
Seth
