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.

 

[MacDuyver]

One diver's opinion:

Thailand
Thailand is interesting because the Gulf of Thailand is in the Pacific and the Andeman Sea is in the Indian Ocean. Thailand is a really long country from north to south, so things on the map might look close, but you're likely looking at a 10+ hour train ride from Bangkok to Phuket. Thai dive charters range for well run and professional to super sketchy. Check reviews ahead of time.
Gulf of Thailand:
Do not do Pattaya unless you are looking for deep diving and wrecks. I recommend Koh Chang and Samaesarn for divers looking for something advanced and a bit dangerous (the currents rip through that area), but otherwise, the algae bloom is usually really bad down to about 35-40 ft (for Pattaya, fly into Bangkok).
Koh Samui is nice and touristy, very comfortable but the conditions are hit or miss. they're either quite nice or clouded out. For Koh Samui, fly into Phuket or Bangkok and then hop Nok Airlines to KS)
Andeman Sea:
Phuket is Phuket. It's the beach destination in Thailand. It's a pretty big city, but the surrounding areas are gorgeous. Everything is beautiful but everyone else knows its beautiful so it's somwhat crowded. I recommend Koh Phi Phi if you're heading to that area.

Japan:
Don't sleep on Japan. Particularly Okinawa and the rest of the Ryukyu Islands (Ishigaki, Yonaguni, Miyakojima). It's great for diving. Okinawa and Ishigaki solidly challenge Oahu in terms of quality dive sites. Unlike Hawai'i, It's (surprisingly) affordable. Not cheap like the Philippines, but certaibly less expensive than most places in the US. To get to Okinawa, fly into either Seoul or Tokyo and connect to Naha. Dive shops in Japan are efficient and VERY professional. There is a tendency for dive charters to implement either a strict 40 or 50 minute limit on bottom time, so know that ahead of time.

Korea:
I've only dived in Busan and it's like diving in Oregon or Washington, but a little clearer. The water is cold as hell and rocky, but actually pretty cool if you're into cephlapods and crustaceans etc.

Philippines:
Very inexpensive, kinda sketchy. The Philippines in general though, is a straight up adventure. I don't recommend trying to dive on Luzon (northern most big island, where Manila is) unless you want to do shipwrecks exclusively. If that floats your boat, i recommend Subic Bay (about 3 hrs NW of Manila). the conditions in Subic are pretty murky but there's alot of sunken boats (and if you're a tec diver, a crashed F4 Phantom!). If you want significantly prettier dives with whale sharks, head down to Cebu in the central Philippines the area is beautiful and somehow less hot than Luzon even though its closer to the Equator. Malapascua Island is a hotbed for thresher sharks in particular. There are some well run dive operations in the Philippines... do your research though because most of what I found though is pretty "Do your own thing and don't die."

 

[diveUAE]

If you want somewhere with land based and things to see I think Bohol in Philippines is a good choice. Nice diving - especially if you book a trip to Balicasag. Lots to do/see topside. Fly into Cebu to avoid Manila.

We loved Amed/Tulemben in Bali, but entry is mostly from shore and we found it challenging to enter - might have been unlucky with the weather as we had kind of big waves and beach was rocky so found it hard to balance with all the equipment on. Liked Padang Bai better because of the boat entry.

I think Maldives is best done by liveaboard, but you could look into Seychelles - we had some nice dives there and topside it’s beautiful.

You could also look into Red Sea and combine with the Nile or Cairo/pyramids.

You could do Thailand, but best diving is in the Andaman sea and best done by liveaboard- when you feel ready for a liveaboard Thailand is a great place to start, as there are shorter trips (4-5 days).
With your level Koh Tao could be ok, just need to be careful about the dive op you choose.