Help laying out our first (possible) SE Asia trip

[ReadyTo Dive]

There are many threads on this same question already but I didn’t find one that matched my exact set of circumstances; apologies if I somehow missed it. Also apologies in advance for any other obvious ignorances on my part.

We (wife and I) have between 7–9 days to spend during the week of Valentines Day 2020. We originally thought/begun to plan our 3rd trip to Cozumel but have always wanted to dive the colorful reefs of Raja Ampat/similar. Neither of us have ever been to SE Asia but today I thought I would ask if there were such a plan/itinerary that could accomplish the following for around $4000+/- USD:

Ideally we would like to:

Fly from DFW to Indo on Feb 7 or 8
Fly back on Feb 15 or 16
(SW and AA are the preferred airlines we currently have points and/or credit with to help with expenses)

Most likely stay and dive with the same facility/op since neither of us speak the language nor will we have someone with us who speaks the language. AI possibly? Definite bonus points for being able to do 2-3 above water excursions/similar.

We will (of course) require transportation to/fro and regarding the accommodations we simply need air-conditioning and access to western food. We can pretty much work with everything else as long as it is clean and safe.

We travel to dive so this is what is most important to us. The wife prefers calm 150’ viz water and bright pink soft corals draped in seahorses (lol) and I am mostly chasing pelagics. Would prefer to avoid heavily polluted areas where are you must dive/wade through mountains of plastic to access the reef (videos of Bali I believe? Unsure/ignorant). Both of us have a over 100 dives apiece ranging from the Flower Gardens to Grenada to Dominica to greenwater TX lakes.

Again this would be our first SE Asia trip and while we have dove all over the Caribbean we will not be traveling with a guide/experienced person so we should probably stick to the “more traveled roads” especially being we won’t likely have time to do a LOB.

Thank you one and all for taking the time to read this and for any replies/itinerary suggestions.

 

[diveUAE]

That’s a tight time frame.

I would not try to reach Raja Ampat, but maybe fly into Phuket/Thailand and do a short LOB to Similan/Koh Bon/Richelieu Rock (with Richelieu Rock being by far the best of the trip).

Not so many seahorses, but nice corals and a good chance of whale sharks and mantas.

We did a 4d/4n LOB in 2018 from Khao Lak with Similan Seven Seas (on board the MV Lapat, now they use MV Camic), had a great trip and are looking to go back in 2020. There are others, who offer 5 days trips as well.

Plenty of things to see in/from Phuket and/or Khao Lak.

February is the “wrong” season for Bali (and Komodo), but it could be done. We found the diving in Bali great - on par with Koh Bon at least. Look at maybe basing yourself in Padang Bai to have access to different dive sites.

You could also look for a Maldivian LOB, but we did not see any seahorses there.

 

[diveUAE]

Oh, and don’t worry about the language- I’ve never been to a dive area, where they do not speak English;-)

Food will usually be a combination of western and local.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Forget Raja Amat for now, to far, from DFW your looking at about 50hrs transit time.

With that tight time frame I would pick Puerto Galera in the Phillipines. Really good diving, lots of tourist infrastructure, shorter to get to than Indonesia. No extra in country flights, just a 3 hour car ride then a ferry. I don't really know much about the topside there.

If you do want to go to Indo go to Bali again no more in country flights required. Bali does have great diving and great topside.

Don't worry about english, and western food is everywhere.

Head on over to the Indo or PI board for more info.

 

[drk5036]

I agree with what others have said; Raja is too far for you to get to given the time-frame. If it's your first trip to southeast asia, it's hard to beat Thailand for the combination of quality diving and topside entertainment. As @diveUAE said, a liveaboard from Khao Lak would be what I would recommend, and make sure they're going to hit Richelieu.

I've also really enjoyed my diving in the Philippines, but I've only ever dove in Cebu. Really cheap and good diving.

 

[Luko]

On the contrary of what is said it is not the wrong season for SOUTH komodo, you could easily get a short liveaboard to south Komodo (like 5 days), while all other liveaboards are plying Raja Ampat.
With Komodo you'd have some of the best diving in Indonesia for not too expensive, some land excursions like Komodo dragons or trekking Padar island, then you could fly back to Bali and stay 3 days for temple/culture sightseeing. Diving there would be a possible option but february is definitely not the best season too.
(FWIW I have been diving Bali at least once a year for the past 10 years, this august when we were diving for manta rays I asked the youngsters who were talking about environmental concerns whether they had seen the infamous trash video on the internet.. or course all of them had seen it. So I asked them where they thought it was taken... everyone made their own assumption. Big surprise when I told them it was right where they were diving 20 minutes before. ) .

Thailand is another option, although the diving is clearly not as good as in Indonesia. Food is excellent -but the spiciest of all- and the general quality of accomodation is high. That said you will have a lot of tourists/divers at the time there.
I wouldn't recommend the Philippines for topside attractions, nor for pelagics Tubbataha excepted, nor for meh food. Philippines is mainly macro country.

 

[chillyinCanada]

Far too short a time period for Raja Ampat. Flights, aircon facilities and Western food could be quite difficult to come by too, for your budget.

If it must be Indo and aircon and western food and enough English spoken, then my vote also goes to Bali. Still tight for Bali. Anyway to stretch it a couple more days?

February isn't the ideal time for Bali but I was there last winter in both Jan and Feb. Most days were pretty good though we had some really rainy nights. The viz wasn't absolutely outstanding but it was still pretty good for the most part.

I can't speak to South Komodo, unfortunately but it is extra time there and back from Bali.

 

[Centrals]

There are direct nonstop flights from several cities in USA to Philippines(PAL).
Feb is the perfect time to visit the country albeit the water would be a bit cooler than usual. There is no typhoon to worry.
English is widely spoken and understood.
Anilao + Puerto Galera suit the bill.
BTW,Philippines is NOT mainly macro country because I have been diving in this country from top to the bottom over last 23yrs.

 

[Dan]

I’ve been to Raja Ampat 7x. The 8th time will be in January, 2020, Raja Ampat 14-25 Jan 2020 with Amira $837 off

9-day trip for 30-hr flights, going half around the world is very tight, but I have done it. I’d recommend going for 2 weeks with Bali on the 2nd week. February is still the right season to be in Raja Ampat.

Check out:
Raja Ampat Dive Lodge – Grand Komodo

Flight wise, you can use AA from DFW to CGK with 1 stop in NRT, roundtrip for < $1000 each, as shown, below.

For domestic flight, CGK-SOQ, check out: Flights & Hotels - Online travel - domestic & international - Cheap Prices