Live to Dive

[billt4sf]

When my wife retires two years hence, we have the idea to move for a year or so to a place where we can dive a lot. I was thinking that this group might give us some ideas.

The idea is to rent our house in San Francisco and use that money to fund housing costs and some activity costs in the new location. We will have our retirement income also.

In thinking about a “dive life”, we would want to have great diving (cheap boat dives or lots of shore diving, and BTW we are moderately skilled divers - not advanced), a stable government, good housing (a nice place to live, doesn’t have to be extravagant), an active life topside (for us, and so our non-diving friends will come visit), and a climate we can deal with. And of course good medical care since we are of retirement age!

I can’t be the first person to think of this. I am betting that there is some great experience out there that we could tap into! Our current fantasy is Bali, so I am posting in the Indonesia forum, but we are completely open at this stage.

I’ll take suggestions, comments or any constructive criticism.

Thanks in advance.

Bill & Emily

 

[clownfishsydney]

Tulamben area is fantastic, but not sure a year there would keep you interested. Cheap as well.

 

[DiveExploreIndonesia]

Bali would probably be a good choice as you can find nice places to rent fairly cheaply and you would have plenty of options for things to do out of the water. About the diving, if you want do a lot of dives you're probably going to need to move a bit. Bali itself might become a bit repetitive after a while but at least it's very well connected with loads of great diving destinations just short flights away (Raja Ampat, Komodo, Alor, Sulawesi...) and the price of the tickets is not too high....

 

[billt4sf]

DiveExplore, that's just what we have in mind. Is there a good site for looking into intra-Indonesian flights? Also, is it safe for westerners to travel throughout Indonesia? (A country I have long wanted to get to know).

- Bill & Emily

 

[highdesert]

Consider that if you're going to live there, the majority of your time is going to be spent just living in and dealing with Bali as an ex-pat. The diving part is the easiest part of the equation.

You might check out sites like these:

If you're on Facebook ... https://www.facebook.com/groups/balicommunity/

Others ... Bali expat Community for Bali expats | InterNations.org

and Information and advice for living in Bali - Bali Expat

 

[Manuel Sam]

I am very lacking in "great experience", but throughout this past winter, the very same thought of finding somewhere warm to spend some of my retirement years was very prevalent.

I thought of Guam and American Samoa as places that probably have decent diving to go with nice weather, and the sense of security that comes with being in an American territory.

Bali is indeed a great place for diving - in fact, I am going there in two weeks - and the dollar goes far. And as was already pointed out in regards to Indonesia, there is a myriad of different islands that you can dive at. The same could be said about the Philippines.

Good luck.

 

[drrich2]

...and the sense of security that comes with being in an American territory.

You know, way back when I found an online forum talking about living in foreign locations, and read over some thread content on St. Thomas. Evidently that 'American territory' doesn't equate to security where crime is concerned. I don't know about Guam or American Samoa; I'm just saying, research your destination. I'm not sure flying a U.S. Flag means as much as I would've thought.

Richard.

 

[Centrals]

In thinking about a “dive life”, we would want to have great diving (cheap boat dives or lots of shore diving, and BTW we are moderately skilled divers - not advanced), a stable government, good housing (a nice place to live, doesn’t have to be extravagant), an active life topside (for us, and so our non-diving friends will come visit), and a climate we can deal with. And of course good medical care since we are of retirement age!

Singapore has stable and not too corrupted government, good housing(expensive), active life topside, hot climate(no typhoon) and very good medical care.
Dirt cheap to fly to anywhere in SE Asia for diving.

Philippines is probably better than Indonesia because most Pinoys speak/understand basic English. However, good medical care means living in big city.

 

[Mike Veitch]

Bill - you can check online on both Garuda and Lion Air websites for schedules and prices but can be difficult to buy online, better to buy them if/when you move here.
For medical care, Bali is not really great for anything major, you would be better off to fly to Sing or Bangkok for anything serious.

Housing rent in south Bali, Sanur, Seminyak, Canggu etc etc is not cheap, but as soon as you get out of the city then the rents get much cheaper. Living further away from the traffic would be better anyway, somewhere like Amed would be a nice place to live.

 

[Tippytoes12]

There is a big expat community of people of retirement age in Thailand , and of course many different topsided activities. The Philippines is very beautiful and the people are wonderful. If it was me I would go to Indonesia.

Have a wonderful time x