Komodo vs. W. Irian Jaya/Raja Ampat

[Jimi]

Jimi, Raja Ampat islands are Indonesian. As for your description of diving in the Gilies, I think over 80% of the sites have bad corals and only the deeper reefs have better hard coral.Ah ok your profile says you're 13 with 8 dives in Lombok. The wreck is nice but a tech dive at 47m with very little in between. What was Blue marlin doing letting a junior OWD dive the wreck?
You must like partying since Blue Marlin turns into a big rave party every tuesday with the requisite drugs etc.
Did you do a liveaboard in Komodo or just dive from the Labuhan Bajo death traps?

I didnt do the Gili wreck, i did an extremly shallow wreck in norhtern bali. As for the party thing, i like the indonesian food (not hot dogs and chicken americanized b.s.) and the Blue Marlin is extremley drug-free, and i try to stay away from places that arent. 3rd, im not much for parties, im just pointing that fact out for people who are. AND, to shoot down yet another one of your poorly supported criticisms of me and my dive experience, yes, a lot of the reefs have been destroyed by the overpopulation of turtles in the area, but many, such as the wall or some of the sandy areas with coral heads dotting the landscape, havn't, and the latter of the two is infested with reef sharks, and that one was my favourite dive yet. Plus, about Raja being in indonesia, that is just another one of your points that's sole purpose is just to point out my alleged "stupidity" and to give yourself some sort of shallow security in knowing you're superior to someone else. I specialize in grammar, vocabulary, nuclear physics, and chemistry, not geography

-James

Ps, You must really like kids, you're so patient and supportive. I'd be joy to see how your kids turn out

 

[scubashooter]

Jimi
I'm sorry you took my post as an insensitive admonishment. It was not my intent. However, your original post was comparing Gili diving to Komodo, which is very misleading for those who have not been in the area. With 8 dives in Gilies, I'm glad you found your experience enjoyable and hope you have more. However, since I lived in Bali part of the year and have dived the area since 91, my thoughts on the diving are somewhat qualified. The Gilies area was destroyed by the combination of blast fishing, El Nino and to a very small extent divers and turtles. Furthermore, the original poster was asking about Komodo and Rajah Ampat.
And so you can write this in your log book, the wreck in North Bali you refer to is probably the USS Liberty wreck off tulamben. There is a smaller wreck that is shallow near Amed, but that's mostly for snorkelers. Good luck with your diving.

 

[Jimi]

Ya, it is the tulamben I was talking about. I had troubles with my crappy rental stuff, and it was hardly enjoyable. My reg just plain stopped working, so i had to breath off my octo most of the time, and the buttons on my BC kept getting stuck, so buoyancy was a pain in the a*s. And i know its about komodo and Raja, im just making a sidenote about an altermitive place, although ive been snorkeling (relativly deep; my doctor sed that i can hold my breath longer because i have an abnormally large lung capacity) in Komodo, and its reefs are about as pristine as they get. And you get to see big lizards.

 

[reefsong]

Scubashooter, it sounds like you may be giving more of a nod to Komodo than to Raja Ampat, maybe because of your description of fewer pelagics and a recovered Komodo? Now I'm starting to think that I need to factor in PNG before making any decisions. I've seen interesting references to Febrina and Golden Dawn......do you have any knowledge of either of these ops?
At some point, we'll just have to make a decision and go where we go, and just come back again for another trip, since we clearly can't do it all on one trip (or 2, or 3, or 4..........)!
But I would like to make our first trip there as good as I can make it, and I know that we will want to be on a liveaboard somewhere to do it.
So what do you think about Komodo vs. PNG liveabaord? Or maybe PNG doesn't need a liveaboard to do great diving there?
I'm like a kid in a candy shop, and I can make only one choice NOW and I want it to be fabulous for our introductory trip to Indonesia!

 

[pigletfish]

Hi, it's me again...
I have heard nothing but good things about PNG, but it definitely needs to be done by liveaboard. We are about to head to Australia for a couple of weeks (spending one week of the trip on a Coral Sea liveaboard), and we considered spending 1 week in Australia and 1 week on a PNG liveaboard. We had also looked at PNG before deciding on Komodo in 2003. PNG is definitely still on our list for the futue, but so far it has lost out both times because a) there are apparently not so many pelagics there and b) it is more difficult to get to (time and expense). But, again, everyone who goes there seems to rave about it...
Cheers!

 

[cdiver2]

Hi, it's me again...
I have heard nothing but good things about PNG, but it definitely needs to be done by liveaboard. We are about to head to Australia for a couple of weeks (spending one week of the trip on a Coral Sea liveaboard), and we considered spending 1 week in Australia and 1 week on a PNG liveaboard. We had also looked at PNG before deciding on Komodo in 2003. PNG is definitely still on our list for the futue, but so far it has lost out both times because a) there are apparently not so many pelagics there and b) it is more difficult to get to (time and expense). But, again, everyone who goes there seems to rave about it...
Cheers!

I don't know where you got your information from on PNG diving but you are wrong. There is some great diving from shore based resorts. In fact a couple of the live aboard were diving the same sights we were diving from http://www.walindi.com/

 

[reubencahn]

Scubashooter, it sounds like you may be giving more of a nod to Komodo than to Raja Ampat, maybe because of your description of fewer pelagics and a recovered Komodo? Now I'm starting to think that I need to factor in PNG before making any decisions. I've seen interesting references to Febrina and Golden Dawn......do you have any knowledge of either of these ops?
At some point, we'll just have to make a decision and go where we go, and just come back again for another trip, since we clearly can't do it all on one trip (or 2, or 3, or 4..........)!
But I would like to make our first trip there as good as I can make it, and I know that we will want to be on a liveaboard somewhere to do it.
So what do you think about Komodo vs. PNG liveabaord? Or maybe PNG doesn't need a liveaboard to do great diving there?
I'm like a kid in a candy shop, and I can make only one choice NOW and I want it to be fabulous for our introductory trip to Indonesia!

We did northern PNG from the Golden Dawn last year. The GD is a great boat with a wonderful crew. It is a very intimate boat with a great feel. I would highly recommend it. If you want more info on PNG, you should probably do a search in the Australia/Pacific forum as there is a lot of info there. You should also check the DiversionOz.com website as it has a host of useful info on PNG. If you decide to book PNG, they are excellent agents as the staff has personal knowledge of nearly all the boats and resorts and can give good recommendations.

I went through this same process last year and decided on PNG over Komodo. The tie-breaking factor was my son's age and Komodo's reputation for difficult currents and chilly water. (As it was, we ended up diving some very difficult currents in PNG.) I loved PNG and will definitely go back, in part to dive the other areas. PNG is a large place with a number of very different diving areas that are all excellent.

This year, we're doing Komodo and Lembeh so I'm not yet qualified to make a comparison. I'd throw in one other destination to consider, the Solomon Islands. The Solomons consistently get raves. Both the Bilikiki, a liveaboard, and Uepi Island, land based, are said to be great. A friend of mine, who has dived all over the world said the Solomons were the most joyous diving he had experienced. I'm not touting it over PNG or Komodo. Just one more to add to your list. Good luck, but you probably can't make a bad decision.

 

[reefsong]

Wow!! "Joyous" diving.............it's amazing what those words did to my memory banks. I've had many really nice dives and some were extraordinarily beautiful, as in Fiji. But "joyous" brings back memories of my first trip to Palau. Those were truly the happiest u/w experiences I've ever had. The images still dance in my mind. I guess I'm looking for a Palau experience in Indonesia. Maybe I just need to go back to square one, where I started, with Komodo, book it, dive it, love it, and then come back for another great trip, somewhere else. How truly fortunate we are!

 

[reubencahn]

Wow!! "Joyous" diving.............it's amazing what those words did to my memory banks. I've had many really nice dives and some were extraordinarily beautiful, as in Fiji. But "joyous" brings back memories of my first trip to Palau. Those were truly the happiest u/w experiences I've ever had. The images still dance in my mind. I guess I'm looking for a Palau experience in Indonesia. Maybe I just need to go back to square one, where I started, with Komodo, book it, dive it, love it, and then come back for another great trip, somewhere else. How truly fortunate we are!

I'm sure you won't go wrong. All these locations are so special. We just have to get there before they're gone.

 

[dawhale]

I dove the Komodo area last August , for two weeks , and it was some of the best diving I personally have done. I used Grand Komodo Tours http://www.komodoalordive.com/ and highly recommend this dive operator. They pioneered the diving in this area . We did one week on the MV Temukira and a week on the MV PutriPapua . Both boats are comfortable with excellent crews , good food and well laid out for diving. I would be glad to answer any further questions you may have. Dawhale