Indonesia for 34 days - How long is long enough on each?

[billt4sf]

My advice: Stay as long as possible in Raja Ampat. Especially consider Misool ECO Resort if you can afford it. Manado and Bali are not as good diving as Raja or Komodo. Bali is a unique experience topside.

All diving in Indo is subject to currents -- unpredictable sometimes. (Google Indonesian Throughflow to find out why). Be prepared with all your safety equipment (at least SMB, mirror, Dive Alert, whistle -- all one per diver), and know how to launch an SMB from under the surface.

- Bill

 

[charlier]

Excellent suggestions for everyone. RA and Komodo offer far better diving than Bali or Bunaken. Although RA and Komodo offer land-based resorts, a LoB provides more variety and access to the better dive sites.

It seems to me that jet lag during the first few days of the trip will take its toll and you might have delays and minor mishaps while flying domestic Indonesian airlines - leave Manado for a future trip. Lastly, what month are you planning for your visit - the seasonal monsoons will greatly affect your dive experience.

 

[billt4sf]

Excellent suggestions for everyone. RA and Komodo offer far better diving than Bali or Bunaken. Although RA and Komodo offer land-based resorts, a LoB provides more variety and access to the better dive sites.

It seems to me that jet lag during the first few days of the trip will take its toll and you might have delays and minor mishaps while flying domestic Indonesian airlines - leave Manado for a future trip. Lastly, what month are you planning for your visit - the seasonal monsoons will greatly affect your dive experience.

Jet lag is far worse coming BACK to the US in our experience.

 

[SlowSBC]

Hi!

I’ve been to all the places you listed and had a few questions. Is your plan to dive at every place such as Bali? Don’t forget to keep in mind your no fly days - ideally 24, minimum 18 hours before, especially after back to back diving days. You mentioned you haven’t done a liveaboard before. Are you open to them and/or what is your overall budget? I think this may determine where you will end up doing a liveaboard and where you will do land based. There are more options for liveaboards in Komodo which tends to keep prices a little lower because of competition and also variety/supply and accessibility. Raja and Komodo can both be done land-based, though I might say that if you are trying to cover a larger area in Raja, it’s easier to do it via liveaboard but is more expensive than Komodo options for the same amount of time.

Keeping in mind transit time, no fly (and dive days), and depending on what you plan to do in Bali, you can possibly reduce some time in Bali since you currently have it at 7. If you want to dive USAT’s Liberty and do the Nusas then see some of Ubud, beaches, etc., I would keep it the same. Komodo can be experienced in 4-5 days if you are diving 4 tanks a day. I would keep a Raja at 7. I’m not sure if you should bother with Manado if you plan to go to Bunaken because you would have already seen great stuff at Raja and Komodo that is similar and probably better. It might be interesting to spend the time at Manado to do muck diving in Lembeh if you have never done it. It’s a short trip for muck but you can determine if you like it or not without committing too much time to it.

What time of year are you going? That may also determine what your options are in each area.

Thanks for the information and sorry for the delay in reply but for some reason this site isn't sending email notifications to me all the sudden.

So the flights from Komodo to Raja were pretty tricky/long. I figured we can stop in Manado area and do muck diving as my wife and I really enjoy doing that (we really enjoyed it in the Philippines). There are direct flights from Monado to Sorong so we are going to take that.

We are not restricted by budget but the thought of being stranded on a boat for a week has never been appealing to us. We like intermingling with the natives in the countries we visit and roam the landscape. Also, my wife is not exactly sure if she would get sea sick or not.

We dive 3 times a day and sometimes a 4th night dive when we travel. We always account for a 24 hour surface before flying where we spend the whole day site seeings the things that were too far on dive days. This is how we planned our other dives in other countries. My main concern was transportation from Sorong to Raja Ampat to a resort. Since I have posted I have been contacted by many resorts and settled with one who said they will meet us at the airport, take us to the boat and take us to the island.

Thank you for spending the time to give the information you provided. You guys are always a huge help on trips we have taken to the other side of the world.

 

[SlowSBC]

My advice: Stay as long as possible in Raja Ampat. Especially consider Misool ECO Resort if you can afford it. Manado and Bali are not as good diving as Raja or Komodo. Bali is a unique experience topside.

All diving in Indo is subject to currents -- unpredictable sometimes. (Google Indonesian Throughflow to find out why). Be prepared with all your safety equipment (at least SMB, mirror, Dive Alert, whistle -- all one per diver), and know how to launch an SMB from under the surface.

- Bill

How fast can the current and dives get? The heaviest currents and toughest dives we did wre in Palau when we did around 80 dives over around 28 days (some 3 dive and some 4 dive days). That was also the first and only place we were advised (and needed) reef hooks. Amazing place to dive but not for the beginner for sure. Not sure if you have dived there but if you can give me a comparison I'd really appreciate it

 

[outofofficebrb]

We dive 3 times a day and sometimes a 4th night dive when we travel. We always account for a 24 hour surface before flying where we spend the whole day site seeings the things that were too far on dive days. This is how we planned our other dives in other countries. My main concern was transportation from Sorong to Raja Ampat to a resort. Since I have posted I have been contacted by many resorts and settled with one who said they will meet us at the airport, take us to the boat and take us to the island.

Thank you for spending the time to give the information you provided. You guys are always a huge help on trips we have taken to the other side of the world.

You're so welcome! I'm always happy to wax poetic about Indonesia to anyone that will listen. If you are considering going to Manado to muck dive, I highly recommend NAD Resorts. They, too, for a very nominal fee, will pick you up from the airport with a private transfer, take you to the pier to cross Lembeh Strait, and get you direct onto the property. The manager is Sonja and she's fantastic. The food is good and the rooms are comfortable. They also have an excellent camera room and their facilities are very close to one another while providing a very local Indonesian feel. The dive guide ratio is 2 divers to 1 DM so it's fantastic. I want to say each boat has a max of 8-10 divers if you even get that full and they start towards different areas to avoid crowding each other but everyone ends up back at the boat getting to see lots of cool things.

How fast can the current and dives get? The heaviest currents and toughest dives we did wre in Palau when we did around 80 dives over around 28 days (some 3 dive and some 4 dive days). That was also the first and only place we were advised (and needed) reef hooks. Amazing place to dive but not for the beginner for sure. Not sure if you have dived there but if you can give me a comparison I'd really appreciate it

There were a few drift dives in Raja Ampat. On some of these dives, the most challenging part for some of the divers was the negative entry and making sure that we made the split point, otherwise you would be screwed if you went over the top of the reef instead of to either side of it. Once you get past the split, it's pretty relaxing...Just go with the flow. Not all dives that had crazy current at the split ended up being drift. Some ended up being really calm. Others, a regular drft. I brought my reef hook and only used it once - it wasn't even really necessary but I brought it just in case and thought I could save on some air consumption and get longer bottom time. The currents are not as bad as they were in Komodo, though. This was in October for Raja and September for Komodo that I am referencing. I think Raja Ampat is more beginner friendly than Komodo as well.

 

[SlowSBC]

Again, thank you so much for sharing this information. We are itching to get there and browse around underwater.

 

[billt4sf]

How fast can the current and dives get? The heaviest currents and toughest dives we did wre in Palau when we did around 80 dives over around 28 days (some 3 dive and some 4 dive days). That was also the first and only place we were advised (and needed) reef hooks. Amazing place to dive but not for the beginner for sure. Not sure if you have dived there but if you can give me a comparison I'd really appreciate it

There is current on most dives. Let's call it usually slow to moderate in most cases. Let's say it's not usually up or down. Guides will check the current on all dives before jumping in. At the beginning of a trip, they will have a dive or two with little or no current so everyone can get wet once first. Sometimes negative entires are called for - you can always sit that dive out if you want to. OTOH they are not that hard, its good to do a few BEFORE you have to.

At the same time, 'unpredictable' is the operative word. Sometimes it can be really bad up and down currents, I experienced that once and no one was comfortable. It just shows you that no guide can promise what the ocean will deliver.

If you have used a reef hook, and then been able to let loose into a blue water drift and come up safely -- that's great! More than most of us have done before coming to RA.

I don't want to scare anyone off necessarily, but it surely would be good to have some experience with current and drift dives before coming here. And definitely bring all your safety gear: SMBs (one per diver), whistle, mirror, maybe a Dive Alert, strong torch, etc. A Nautilus Life Line or a satellite emergency beacon would not be silly, though most likely it will be a waste of money - we hope!

Others feel free to chime in if I have not described it appropriately.

- Bill

 

[SlowSBC]

There is current on most dives. Let's call it usually slow to moderate in most cases. Let's say it's not usually up or down. Guides will check the current on all dives before jumping in. At the beginning of a trip, they will have a dive or two with little or no current so everyone can get wet once first. Sometimes negative entires are called for - you can always sit that dive out if you want to. OTOH they are not that hard, its good to do a few BEFORE you have to.

At the same time, 'unpredictable' is the operative word. Sometimes it can be really bad up and down currents, I experienced that once and no one was comfortable. It just shows you that no guide can promise what the ocean will deliver.

If you have used a reef hook, and then been able to let loose into a blue water drift and come up safely -- that's great! More than most of us have done before coming to RA.

I don't want to scare anyone off necessarily, but it surely would be good to have some experience with current and drift dives before coming here. And definitely bring all your safety gear: SMBs (one per diver), whistle, mirror, maybe a Dive Alert, strong torch, etc. A Nautilus Life Line or a satellite emergency beacon would not be silly, though most likely it will be a waste of money - we hope!

Others feel free to chime in if I have not described it appropriately.

- Bill

Thank you very much for all this information. We do have our own SMB's, dive alerts, dive mirrors and a strong torch we carry on our pocket on all dives. We do not have a satellite beacon and hope to never need them. Thank you again

 

[Centrals]

Getting in/out of Bali could be problematic if Mt Agung is still "active". And if I have to go to Indonesia over next few months I will avoid Bali unless Mt. Agung has gone back to "sleep".

Land based option in Komodo offer flexibility over LOB. I believe Scuba Junkie Komodo has good review.
Negative entry can be challenging/intimidating to some and please don't let anyone to talk you into doing something that you are NOT happy. No peer pressure! It is a holiday afterall.