First time Indonesia where to go?

[George Scherman]

We are a family of for adult divers and we'd love to go to diving in Indonesia, but it is daunting to try to figure out where. Reading about Raja Ampat makes it sound wonderful, but so does Komodo, Sulawesi, Flores, and on and on. It needs to be a land based location and we don't need luxury. Good viz and lots to see, preferably above and below the surface. We are all confident in the water, but don't have a ton of dives logged. This is not something we can afford to do every year, so we'd like to go somewhere great. What are your suggestions?

 

[Centrals]

Bunaken and Lembeh

 

[highdesert]

Bunaken, Bangka, and Lembeh

 

[ReneeDr]

On our Bucket list when we can save the $'s is Misool Eco Resort in Raja Ampat.
overview: misool eco resort, raja ampat, indonesia
We have heard so much about the quantities of fish there in amazing surroundings, healthy reef systems etc.
We enjoyed Bunaken too. Mostly wall diving there but at the end of each dive in the shallows were beautiful, healthy corals and small fish of every tropical color all around you.
Another Bucket List place for us is Papua Eco Resort out of Sarong and Raja4Divers on Palau Pef, a longer boat ride for Sarong. All these places out of Sarong have more difficult flight plans compared to Bunaken, Lembeh, Gangga Island and Bali, Wakatobi. The major, know carriers don't fly to Sarong and it takes us about 3 days to get there from the West Coast.

About things to do on land, Bunaken is very Primative and not much activity unless you enjoy walking to a local village. Lembeh is a bit bigger with a town on the main island of Sulawesi but land activities are not plentiful or easily accessed from the Lembeh dive resorts. Gangga has no land activities except a walk to 2 villages.

 

[Wingy]

Again Bunaken, Bangka and Lembeh - Alor rocks but you wont find much to do there other than dive. Komodo and Flores are best done by LOB. There are a couple of topside things you can do from Manado - take a trip out to Mt Tangkoko and trek and find the tarsiers and yaki, the flower village of Tomohon is nice and cool.
Given your dive numbers I would suggest Sulawesi for all round diving and bang for your buck.
Wakatobi and RA will cost you a lot!

 

[Luko]

How about Bali? It meets all of your requirements : one of the few places in indonesia that combines great diving (macro as much as corals as big animals) and great topside. The problem with all other places is that they're mostly diving only places, fantastc diving maybe but there's little to see and do topside... anyway, other than Bali dont expect to dive in the morning and do some sightseeing in the afternoon.
Otherwise Komodo is great when you combine a week diving then 4 days traveling Flores.

 

[pughio83]

Agree with luko Bali is best option, very varied from macro to molas to mantas, so much on land to do, great food, and you can avoid the southern tourist spots if u want. Lembeh is amazing but u go there for the diving really, personally bunaken wasn't for me. Bangka and Gangga on the list.

 

[George Scherman]

Thanks for all the replies. Where in Bali would you recommend? Are there big critters at lembeh and Bangka?

 

[clownfishsydney]

Tulamben in Bali is great. See my web site for more information Michael McFadyen's Scuba Diving Web Site. Most of the writings about the place concentrate on the wreck of the USAT Liberty, but that is just one part of the diving there. Even if you do not like wrecks, you will love it as it is really just a reef. Enjoyed it so much last year we are going back in 2014 for two weeks.

 

[JudyG]

Another vote for Bali, based on your criteria. Tulamben area of Bali offers some really great diving - wreck (Liberty), reef and great muck. If you are not photographers, muck not might be your thing, and for this reason, I wouldn't suggest Lembeh for you - it is great muck diving, but may not be of interest to all - plus, more difficult to get there. Bali also has numerous other topside activities and excursions - would recommend a couple of days in Ubud (no diving there), and there are several other areas of interest on this large island. Bali is also the easiest destination in Indo to get to - many international carriers go there, often through Singapore or Bangkok. Great food, beautiful scenery (especially away from Denpasar/Kuta which is overcrowded and very touristed). Over the years I've written some stuff up about diving in Bali - you'll find it here (on my non commercial website).

There are lots of dive resorts in Tulamben to choose from these days. We've stayed at Scuba Seraya several times and like it very much. There are less expensive options in the area.

And, for future, you should seriously consider doing a live aboard, to really get out to the best diving in Indonesia. I've done Banda Sea, Komodo and Raja Ampat - all are fantastic areas to dive. Komodo is technically the most difficult, due to possibility of strong current, but it is the easiest to get to from Bali.

Hope this helps,
J.