Diving honeymoon destination

[mattia_v]

I'm looking for suggestions for our honeymoon, probably December/January 2018. Budget is a 'semi' concern (i.e. Wakatobi = bit too rich), and ideally we would mix 7-10 days of diving and another 10-12 lazing on a tropical beach, or a bit of travel. We're both avid divers, not very experienced yet (100 dives), but want to make it special. The Liveaboard is not optimal honeymooning, hence the second part of the trip which need not include any diving.

We went to Raja last year (resort based), go to Bonaire almost annually. Options we were considering were the Maldives (Liveaboard) combined with Sri Lanka (land based, travel around, beach), head back to Indo (Liveaboard for part, romantic resort/Borneo/jungle for part 2). We should have 3 weeks.

I'm open to suggestions for general locations and specific boats/resorts.

 

[Wingy]

New Caladonia ?

 

[Bubblesong]

We went to Belize; ambergris Caye First Week, Second week at a eco-resort in the middle of a still buried Mayan Plaza, in the middle of the rainforest. Quite private, very interesting: we chased a tarantula around with our flashlights, saw loads of rare jungle critters, howler monkeys, jaguar, hummingbirds. Don't let them drop you at the canoe pond, too small, although awesome if you are into photographing critters.

 

[Dan]

You may check out Nabucco in East Kalimantan. Home - Nabuccoislandresort. The resort is in Maratua Atoll. There are 2 other interesting islands, Kakaban & Sangalaki, about an hour boat ride from Maratua Atoll. Kakaban is where you can snorkel with stingless jellyfish, like you see in Palau. Sangalaki is where turtle nesting & manta cleaning. See the video below for more detail:


One of the dive sites I like the most is called "The Channel" or "The Big Fish Country" in Maratua Atoll, where you can dive with tons of schooling barracudas there, as shown in the video, below.


For a land tour, you can visit the BOS (Borneo Orangutan Survival) Foundation, Borneo Orangutan Survival - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, where Harrison Ford spends some of his time there, Harrison Ford Visits Nyaru Menteng | BOS Foundation. I spent a couple of days after diving in Nabucco in BOS Samboja Lodge, Borneo Samboja Ecolodge :: About BOS Foundation :: BOS Samboja Lestari, near Balikpapan to see the orangutan & sun bear sanctuaries, before going back home.

 

[Fossil_Diver]

It's not a very exotic destination but Florida is nice if you want to dive and do other touristy/honeymoon stuff.

 

[choiahoy]

Bali!

 

[chillyinCanada]

Maldives, Sri Lanka sounds fun. Get the higher end rooms on the Carpe Vita. The Sri Lanka portion will take some of the financial sting out of the lob cost.

You might want to consider Grenada. The beach there is unbelievable, the diving with Aquanauts is really good. I don't recommend staying at True Blue Bay though because it doesn't enjoy any of the many amazing beaches to be found on Grenada. There's also so many things to do on Grenada, as it's a spectacularly beautiful island with many opportunities for hiking, seeing waterfalls and I believe there is also river rafting.

 

[sunshower]

I don't know if it fits with your budget but South Africa strikes me as a great place for what you're looking for. Rocktail Camp would be great to start with; don't think camping, think glamping at a remote beach. Then head to safari time; something like Phinda Game Reserve. Maybe work in Capetown somewhere. Lots of potential there.

 

[Tippytoes12]

We will be celebrating 20 years of wedded bliss in December 2017. To celebrate we are going to Sri Lanka for about 7 nights , the going to a dive resort in the Maldives for about a week followed by a weeks liveaboard.

Raja Ampat in my opinion has better coral and a greater variety of fish. But the Maldives is better for whalesharks , reef sharks and mantas. It is also way easier to get to.

Indonesia , apart from Raja Ampat, can be wet in December.

Hope this helps a bit !

 

[mattia_v]

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far!

We loved Raja and I wouldn't mind heading back there again (and I'm sure we will eventually), but I might wait a little longer. The 'less travel time and jet lag' aspect also plays a bit of a part. We also love the bigger stuff, so I'm willing to trade off a bit of coral beauty for that.

That said, other bits of Indo (Nabucco looks nice...) are also tempting. Bali was a bit too 'busy' for what we are looking for, though I did enjoy it.

New Caledonia is....reeeeally far away. But tempting!

South Africa is an option for us, though I've travelled there a fair amount (4 month internship around Cape Town, Kruger and brederivier the second trip there) and for Safari, Tanzania (Serengeti) simply outclassed it.