Late December Diving in Indonesia: anywhere on par with Raja Ampat?

[Laval]

I would recommend Sorido Bay Resort, which is in the heart of the Dampier Strait - the best of Raja Ampat. You can check my YouTube chanel. I have many videos about diving in that area. I’ve been there three times already, and going again in January 2025.

 

[mokoalordive]

Hello, we are planning our 2024 Dec diving trip during the Christmas/New Year Holiday, for about 2 weeks.

We took 2 December dive trips to Indonesia before: South Komodo+ Bali (2019), and Raja Ampat (2022), both LOB+ a few days of land based. We enjoyed them both, esp R4. We also took recent Dec dive trips to Maldives, and will go to Fiji in a couple of weeks.

We like warm water reef dives with coral gardens and marine life diversity, not (yet) into micro or muck dives.

We did some research on SB for Dec in Indo , considered these and have some concerns/questions :

1) Alor: water can be cold and late Dec is out of season.
2) Triton Bay: visibility can be an issue (??) and no 24 hour electricity
3) Wakatobi: is the diving quality as good as or close to R4? We do not care much about the luxury side of the resort but will go there if the diving is really good.
4) Anywhere else? We are also considering Tufi in PNG (NOT part of Indonesia), unsure if Dec is rainy season there thus not the idea diving time.

What's your suggestions for diving destinations in last two weeks in December in Indonesia, or the general Coral Triangle Area if we need to expand the scope? Somewhere with diving quality on par with or close to R4?

Thanks!

Alor you can dive all year round! Visibility can be lower than average of 25-30m in season. But diving is still good also "off"- season

 

[hiker11]

Hello, we are planning our 2024 Dec diving trip during the Christmas/New Year Holiday, for about 2 weeks.

We took 2 December dive trips to Indonesia before: South Komodo+ Bali (2019), and Raja Ampat (2022), both LOB+ a few days of land based. We enjoyed them both, esp R4. We also took recent Dec dive trips to Maldives, and will go to Fiji in a couple of weeks.

We like warm water reef dives with coral gardens and marine life diversity, not (yet) into micro or muck dives.

We did some research on SB for Dec in Indo , considered these and have some concerns/questions :

1) Alor: water can be cold and late Dec is out of season.
2) Triton Bay: visibility can be an issue (??) and no 24 hour electricity
3) Wakatobi: is the diving quality as good as or close to R4? We do not care much about the luxury side of the resort but will go there if the diving is really good.
4) Anywhere else? We are also considering Tufi in PNG (NOT part of Indonesia), unsure if Dec is rainy season there thus not the idea diving time.

What's your suggestions for diving destinations in last two weeks in December in Indonesia, or the general Coral Triangle Area if we need to expand the scope? Somewhere with diving quality on par with or close to R4?

Thanks!

I'm curious where you ended up choosing to go on your trip. My husband and I are looking to go a couple places in the Coral Triangle for Christmas in 2025. We have similar experience (RA, Komodo, Fiji) and preferences (coral gardens, warm water reef dives, not into muck). We're leaning towards Wakatobi for one week/10 days but we're trying to find someplace for another week that is easy to get to from Denpasar or is on the way home to CA. Weather/ conditions are iffy in some places in the Coral Triangle in December from what I've read.

 

[Laval]

I'm curious where you ended up choosing to go on your trip. My husband and I are looking to go a couple places in the Coral Triangle for Christmas in 2025. We have similar experience (RA, Komodo, Fiji) and preferences (coral gardens, warm water reef dives, not into muck). We're leaning towards Wakatobi for one week/10 days but we're trying to find someplace for another week that is easy to get to from Denpasar or is on the way home to CA. Weather/ conditions are iffy in some places in the Coral Triangle in December from what I've read.

If you're looking for incredible diving in December/January, I highly recommend Raja Ampat's Dampier Strait. Based on my own experience, conversations with numerous experienced divers, and Undercurrent reports, it consistently ranks as a top destination during that time.

My preferred way to experience Raja Ampat is from a resort base, and Sorido Bay Resort is my absolute favorite. I've stayed there three times over the Christmas/New Year period, each time for 17 nights, and even that felt too short! The diving has always been consistently fantastic.

In fact, I'm actually on my way there again right now! I'm currently in Denpasar and flying overnight to Sorong tomorrow. After a short 1.5-hour speedboat transfer, I'll be back at Sorido Bay.

I have several videos about this resort and diving in this area on my YouTube channel. Below is a link to my most recent video about diving in the Dampier Strait.

If you're open to liveaboards, Palau is another good option. I visited Palau a year ago and found it very good. There was also a convenient flight from Taipei at the time.

Hope this helps with your planning!

 

[DivingChipmunk]

I'm curious where you ended up choosing to go on your trip. My husband and I are looking to go a couple places in the Coral Triangle for Christmas in 2025. We have similar experience (RA, Komodo, Fiji) and preferences (coral gardens, warm water reef dives, not into muck). We're leaning towards Wakatobi for one week/10 days but we're trying to find someplace for another week that is easy to get to from Denpasar or is on the way home to CA. Weather/ conditions are iffy in some places in the Coral Triangle in December from what I've read.

We first booked a LOB in Solomon Island, but that trip was cancelled by the LOB. Then we booked a Palau LOB on a new boat, Solitude Gaia, plus 3 days of land based diving before the LOB.
Palau is not Raja Ampat, but we enjoyed the diversity of the diving there, wrecks, walls, drifts, caves, sharks, mantas, reef corals and fishes, and had a great time on the boat.
Now we have to find a plan for 2025.

 

[Cali_diver]

If you have the means to go back to Raja you should go... I just got back from there and I have been there more times than I can count on my hands. It is always different and always amazing.

 

[hiker11]

If you have the means to go back to Raja you should go... I just got back from there and I have been there more times than I can count on my hands. It is always different and always amazing.

We've been to RA two years in a row now.... just got back. It is great diving. That said, we actually liked Komodo more than RA. As good as it was, we're looking for someplace *other than* RA as we like going new places.

 

[Cali_diver]

What time of year do you want to travel @hiker11 ? I have been all over Indo and love it all! I just want people to understand that dive locations are seldom the same from trip to trip especially in places like Indonesia. I do mostly Back to Back trips so I get to see the same sites/areas a couple weeks or even days apart and it can be drastically different each time. I really love Komodo especially in December/Jan when no one is there and conditions between north and south are flipped. But I think that most people would choose Raja over Komodo for that time of year.

 

[hiker11]

If you're looking for incredible diving in December/January, I highly recommend Raja Ampat's Dampier Strait. Based on my own experience, conversations with numerous experienced divers, and Undercurrent reports, it consistently ranks as a top destination during that time.

My preferred way to experience Raja Ampat is from a resort base, and Sorido Bay Resort is my absolute favorite. I've stayed there three times over the Christmas/New Year period, each time for 17 nights, and even that felt too short! The diving has always been consistently fantastic.

In fact, I'm actually on my way there again right now! I'm currently in Denpasar and flying overnight to Sorong tomorrow. After a short 1.5-hour speedboat transfer, I'll be back at Sorido Bay.

I have several videos about this resort and diving in this area on my YouTube channel. Below is a link to my most recent video about diving in the Dampier Strait.

If you're open to liveaboards, Palau is another good option. I visited Palau a year ago and found it very good. There was also a convenient flight from Taipei at the time.

Hope this helps with your planning!

Just got back from RA/Komodo so we're looking for something else (second year in a row to dive in RA). I think Palau is a lot of travel from Denpasar so that doesn't work to add on to a Wakatobi trip.

What time of year do you want to travel @hiker11 ? I have been all over Indo and love it all! I just want people to understand that dive locations are seldom the same from trip to trip especially in places like Indonesia. I do mostly Back to Back trips so I get to see the same sites/areas a couple weeks or even days apart and it can be drastically different each time. I really love Komodo especially in December/Jan when no one is there and conditions between north and south are flipped. But I think that most people would choose Raja over Komodo for that time of year.

Like the OP, we were starting to plan a trip for Christmas, so late December/ early January 2025. We were just in RA/ Komodo for 3 weeks this last December 2024 and in RA the December before that 2023. So I'm looking at other places besides RA/ Komodo since we've done that two years in a row. I was keen on going to Wakatobi for 10 days and then add another week diving some place else that wasn't a major pain (or expense) to get to from Denpasar (where you pick up the private plane to Wakatobi). At first, I was looking at Sulawesi, but upon further research became aware that it wasn't the best weather/visibility-wise. So I'm just trying to figure out the best 2 locations for diving for a 3+ week trip. Say Wakatobi + ?? OR someplace else like Palau + Philippines? December is not the time for diving in many locations We prefer land based rather than LOB.

 

[Cali_diver]

So Wakatobi is mostly reef diving so are you looking for something different or more of the same? January is the wet season just about everywhere in Indonesia so you always risk rain and swells. I have been to Lembeh(mostly critter diving) in January and have had amazing weather. Anilao in the Philippines has amazing macro/critter diving and doesn't require another domestic flight after the non stop DPS - Manila. Dumaguete/Dauin area requires another domestic flight and gives you a bit of everything including Apo islands. I personally would take everything above over Palau but I have had a couple bad trips there so I am not a fan.