Easy to reach Pacific reef destinations

[rmorgan]

N inoy A quino I ntl A irport (NAIA) is most definitely in the Philippines

Learn every day! Thanks, bmag78

 

[PatW]

Fiji is a single flight from Los Angeles. You can dive on the main island or take a flight to one of the other islands. Fiji is not in the coral triangle. I dove in Taveuni and it had some nice corals, clown fish, some nudibranchs, ribbon eels and so on. So well worth the trip.

I have not dove Hawaii, but that is a single flight from Los Angeles.

 

[The Chairman]

Hawaii and Socorro get me out of the Caribbean but aren't really reef destinations.

But the Socorros are magic!

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[runsongas]

@bmag78 MNL is the IATA airport code which hasn't changed, most non-filipinos would use that abbreviation instead

 

[bmag78]

@bmag78 MNL is the IATA airport code which hasn't changed, most non-filipinos would use that abbreviation instead

Thanks for that.
I was responding to the post about having already arrived in Philippines where NOBODY calls the airport MNL.....IATA be damned.
In country It's NAIA. Ask a taxi driver to take you to mnl and see what happens

 

[Centrals]

Manila airport has FOUR independent terminals and non of them is within walking distance. MNL or NAIA has no meaning if you do not specify the terminal.

 

[Johnboy70_99]

That's just time in the air. Getting to NAIA and waiting can take longer than any flight in the country LOL.

Depends on where you are coming from. But unless you are already in Batangas, it’s not that long. And the op is flying in to Manila so they will be there already.

 

[JonnieB]

Thanks, I should have qualified "easy to reach" so it wasn't taken too literally. As much as I'd appreciate recommendations for diving similar to Raja Ampat in Nebraska, that just isn't realistic.

As far as I know, any Palau trip, similar to any Philippines trip, is going to involve a flight through Manilla. So probably similar travel cost and time as Tubbataha. I don't have much appreciation for wrecks, and for a coral, Tubbataha is probably better.

You do know Tubb is only dived 2-3 months of the year, right? It can also be hit or miss the week your LOB is there. It's a long way to go (and expensive) for hit or miss diving. I think for nice reefs, ease of travel, and value, Thailand or Bali is hard to beat. A LOB to Andaman Sea north or south will have a lot of nice reef dives. If you have the time/funds, do both for a 10-14 day dive safari. The flights aren't too bad...get to the west coast and then Tokyo, Hong Kong, or Singapore and then Phuket. Alternatively, the reefs around Nusa Penida/ Lembongan in Bali are very nice. Then there is all the diving along Bali’s NW coast. You could also swing by Komodo National Park for shore based or LOB diving. It's all good and have gun deciding.

 

[Centrals]

Tubattaha is a top site in SE Asia and is relatively expensive.
What LOB in SE Asia can be regarded as cheap? Similan! No wonder every now and then a boat will decide to make a detour to the bottom of the Andaman Sea.

 

[runsongas]

cost of the liveaboard doesn't really determine how likely they are to get into trouble and sink. look at vortex and the siren fleet. siren fleet might be cursed by their name.