Is Indonesia in January a Terrible Idea?

[Miki Brunou]

True.
Conversely:

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey."
John Ruskin Quotes"

Shop wisely, read the reviews carefully. Enjoy the diving!

Yeah, I'm more than willing to pay for safety and the best guides I can afford when diving, but when it comes to flatscreen tv's and air condition, I find them less necessary when travelling

 

[Miki Brunou]

Anyway, I would love to try out diving in Bunaken before heading to RA. I don't mind a little rain now and then, as long as the diving is not affected too much.

 

[gypsyjim]

The last time I was there, the place was over fished & no pelagic like you would see in RA. How is it now?

It was some of the most spectacular diving I have ever done

That may not mean much as I'm not the world traveler some of the other people are, but I have dived a little in Australia and I have dived in the Maldives and extensively in the Caribbean. As I said I would return to Bunaken and that Resort in a heartbeat, but I am trying to get to diving many other places as much as my meager budget will allow.

 

[gypsyjim]

Raja Ampat is on our short list for 2018.

 

[Miki Brunou]

It was some of the most spectacular diving I have ever done

That may not mean much as I'm not the world traveler some of the other people are, but I have dived a little in Australia and I have dived in the Maldives and extensively in the Caribbean. As I said I would return to Bunaken and that Resort in a heartbeat, but I am trying to get to diving many other places as much as my meager budget will allow.

Would you consider the best dive sites in Bunaken way too difficult for a beginner who has just completed her open water course?

 

[gypsyjim]

At our age, and with various health issue sending warning signals, we see the need to move on to some of the bucket list stuff, while we are still able to do so.

I started this thread last week, after a conversation with a young lady who has been battling cancer, and was discussing her upcoming backlist, Lembeh trip.
(Boy, my auto correct sure does not like the word Lembeh!)

We need to keep pulling things out of that bucket list, and attending to them, before it one day becomes too late to do so.
What would be your BucketList#1dive trip?

 

[gypsyjim]

Would you consider the best dive sites in Bunaken way too difficult for a beginner who has just completed her open water course?

No, not at all.

We experienced no truly hard currents, as the op picked sites to avoid that.
None of our dives were deep, as the top of the reef is where the most life is.
My girlfriend, Colleen, was having back issues at the time, and she often was calmly snorkeling the reef top during many of our dives, and could watch us very clearly from the reef top, which can be quite shallow.

 

[Luko]

"There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey."

Completely agree. Usually the quote I use for this is "pay peanuts, get monkeys".
This is also why I didn't recommend cheaper operations, I consider TwoFish as a very reliable and reputable operation in terms of diving, also their UK owner Nigel drives all his operations (Manado, Lembongan, Amed) with customer satisfaction in mind.

It was some of the most spectacular diving I have ever done

If you liked Bunaken, wait until you see Raja Ampat... you can't even imagine at this time.

Would you consider the best dive sites in Bunaken way too difficult for a beginner who has just completed her open water course?

Most of the sites are accessible for beginners, the downside is maybe that you often dive vertical walls. The diveguides will avoid too much current, and there are also interesting sites on mainland (such as Popoh area).
Now probably some the BEST sites in Nain are a bit too deep, like Batu Kapal.

 

[gypsyjim]

If you liked Bunaken, wait until you see Raja Ampat... you can't even imagine at this time.

So we heard from a couple of divers on the trip with us at Siladen.
It was their review of RA that moved it into our "bucket". They loved Bunaken, but told us that we really owe it to ourselves to visit Raja sometime.

 

[Kate Rister]

So I emailed a few dive resorts in Bunaken and they basically all advised against visiting in January Someone else suggested Similan/Surin from Khao Lak, but isn't that all overfished basically?