Land based suggestions for 2025

[StenieJ]

Husband & I are newer divers, with less than 20 dives. Mostly warm water - Mexico & Belize, but were certified in Monterey CA & 1 dive in Catalina CA. AOW certified. Plan to get more dives under our belt around home in Nor Cal this year.

Husband wants to see other places in the world besides the Caribbean, so I've been looking at Asia. There are so many places to consider and so much conflicting information when googling. Hoping for ideas from people who have been there. We've looked into Bali, Maldives, Thailand to start off with, but we are open to anywhere. A lot of places in Asia seem to have excellent diving BUT only if you access by liveaboard. We are not looking at doing liveaboards, only land-based accommodations.

-We can do any time of the year, will have up to 2 weeks including travel
-we want to split our time: dive / relax / dive / explore / dive / read by the pool etc.
-would love a place where it's possible to explore the area, experience culture & food.
-good with resorts or smaller accommodations
-a place that fits our dive experience / level
-a plus if the travel is easier

Budget is mid-range, not looking to spend $$$$ but not going hostel level. Clean and comfortable is the hope, on the beach.

I will appreciate & welcome all suggestions - Month & location we should look into. As long as our English & google translate is good enough to communicate with, we are comfortable traveling & staying.
One year I will talk him into a liveaboard, 2025 just isn't the year.

 

[Centrals]

Philippines.
There is non stop flight from either LAX or SFO to Manila.

Anilao + Puerto Galera.
Best time of the yr is from Jan to Apr, water will be relatively cold.

Plenty of info in SB or other sources.

 

[bmag78]

El Galleon in Puerto Galera ticks all the boxes. Have a look at their website
Two weeks including travel this is fine

 

[sharkbear]

I would recommend Bali as a wonderful diving and cultural destination. Take a look at alamBatu and Villa Markisa. Another great option is Fiji. A dive travel advisor at an agency such as Bluewater Dive Travel could help you find the best fit as well.

 

[Pressurehead]

Husband & I are newer divers, with less than 20 dives. Mostly warm wat

Amed Bali , some nice easy dives for new divers, plenty of people on this site can recommend a dive shop that will fit your needs.

 

[runsongas]

fiji is more sanitized, philippines will be somewhat better diving and cheaper but grittier. not sure there are resort options for komodo/RA with pools until you get really expensive. plenty of resort options in bali but the diving isn't as good as komodo/RA. fiji is better if you want to try other activities like surfing, ATV riding, etc. fiji and bali have better cultural activities than philippines. learning a bit of bahasa helps for indo.

i would say indo is better left for when you are ready for a liveaboard for komodo/RA. and then it comes down to philippines if you want to go more budget or fiji if you don't mind spending a bit more for less chaos and more non-diving activities.

forgot to add, if you have united miles, palau is an option too, but i think liveaboard is better there also so you aren't wasting time on boat rides all week. maldives is not really worth the hella long plane ride unless if you really want to see big sharks but don't want to do feed dives in the bahamas or a remote site like socorro/galapagos/cocos/malpelo.

 

[living4experiences]

Puerto Galera in the Philippines. The Philippines is very reasonable for a dive vacation. You'll fly to Manila then transit over to Puerto Galera.

It's not Asia, but Fiji offers a lot of diving for your experience level on many islands. The cost of diving there is higher. You can get there direct from LAX or SFO in 10 1/2 hours on Fiji Airways. I just came back from Fiji and loved it!

 

[rmorgan]

Consider North Sulawesi, and in particular Murex’s Passport to Paradise. Three very different types of diving (turtle-encrusted walls at Bunaken, beautiful reefs at Bangka, top-tier muck at Lembeh) with boat transfers between the resorts. However, like L4E says, the easiest travel is Fiji—nonstops from SFO, and very nice diving.