Greetings from East Timor

[Mantaman]

Greg could you fill us in on how to get to East Timor. Where do flights originate that land there? Singapore? Jakarta?

Is there dive operators with equipment? Dive boats?

Are there modern accomodations?

Costs?

THanks Kim (kim2@love2dive.com)

 

[415Gem]

I heard good things about the diving in East Timor while spending time as a scuba bum in Thailand and Malaysia last year. I'm curious how the price of living and the quality of diving compare with locations on Indonesia and the Philippines since I will be heading in that direction for 5 months. You make it sound mighty tempting to include some time in East Timor. Also, is there any good surfing to be had there?

I just joined SB and am intrested in Thailand and Malaysia. Any indispensible towns dive sites? Any favorites? Kevin

 

[pataussiediver]

Pat,

We can see the islands of Alor, Wetar, and Kisar from the north coast of Timor. We talk about planning a boat trip to check out the diving, but have yet to go. There are no regular direct means of transportation from Timor to these islands. We do go to the East Timor island of Atauro, just north of Dili and it is home of some very spectacular walls.



In order to get to Alor you can go overland from East Timor to Kupang in West Timor and then take a ferry to Alor. There is an Indonesian embassy here in Dili where you can get your tourist visa for Indonesia. The visa takes one week to process.



I hope this helps. But, once you have tried Timor you may not want to go elsewhere. The diving here is great!!

Hey, thanks for your help.
Even the indonesian Consulate couldn't give me that information, and they (indo's)have no tourist bureau here.
Is it safe to go to Western Timor, and the Islands North? They probably don't like us Aussies a hell of a lot now we've helped the east Timorese (finally)

 

[Yeoh Chee Weng]

Hi there, I'm from Malaysia and I've dived at Redang & Tenggol which are islands on the east coast & Jarak on the west coast. The other popular islands there are Perhentian (which I'm heading there in 2 weeks' time), Lang Tengah, Tioman, Aur. In terms of price the cheapest would be at Perhentian & Lang Tengah islands where there are many backpackers. However, visibility is better at Redang's, Tioman & Aur. Dive sites on the west such as Jarak, Payar & Langkawi are poor choices because of extensive damage to corals, dying reefs due to pollution and overfishing. Die-hards dive there only when the east coast is out of bounds during the monsoon months of Nov-Feb. The best sites are in East Malaysia: Sipadan, Mabul-Kapalai & Layang-Layang - these are costly at US$150 per day for full board and lodging plus 3 boat dives and unlimited shore dives. The same package would cost only a third at Perhentian and half at Redang & Tioman (avoiding 5 stars resorts - they don't cater specially for divers).

 

[Yeoh Chee Weng]

Hi Calypsonick,

You're probably right, that's why SB is such a great place to meet up with fellow divers. Thanks for the tip, I'll remember to contact you when I head for Timor. The dive operators that I have gone to in Redang, Tenggol & Perhentian do not usually charge for tank fills. Rather they charge PER DIVE which includes a divemaster, boat, weights, tank and prices vary widely between US$15 to US$21 (excluding gear). If you do without the divemaster and dive from shore then you expect to pay US$7. However, there are few places where you can do shore dives in East Malaysia. Even these few places are mainly for muck diving and you have hordes of snorkellers to contend with.