Id go somewhere in Indonesia. If you need cheaper and easier to get to then Philippines.
Looking for advice... First SE Asia trip, where to start???
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BTW, a very well phrased OP, well defined, not the usual eye-rolling silliness.
Enjoy your adventure.
Enjoy your adventure.
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
LiveaboardCom
Contributor
If you're looking at Indonesia in fall 2020, how about going off the beaten path to the Forgotten Islands?
It's a remote island chain that is rarely visited and has pristine dive sites, lots of coral, big schools of fish and pelagic (including whale sharks).
June to Nov is the dry season and the Indo Aggressor offers Forgotten Island safaris during just October and November each year.
It's a remote island chain that is rarely visited and has pristine dive sites, lots of coral, big schools of fish and pelagic (including whale sharks).
June to Nov is the dry season and the Indo Aggressor offers Forgotten Island safaris during just October and November each year.
Mustard Dave
Contributor
If you go to Indonesia, I can strongly recommend Bali Dive Cove if you need a dive operator. I know the owner very well from when I used to dive with her in Malta. She's a great guide and great fun.
Bali Dive Cove - Diving
Bali Dive Cove - Diving
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Moved from Basic
Bali is easy as far as number of flight connections, making total airfare and travel time attractive. There is better diving elsewhere in Indonesia, but requires another hop. If a hop isn’t daunting, you could do a combination of Bali and Komodo. The flight between Bali (Denpasar) and Flores is short.
GirlonFire
Contributor
I just spent 19 (40 dives) days around Cebu: Panglao, Malapascua and Moalboal.
I could spend a month in Panglao. The dive sites are varied and there are so many options for dive ops. I dove with Alona Divers and Haka Divers. Can recommend both. AD is right on the water near the main area of Alona Beach. Haka is about a 10 minute drive but they have a shuttle.
In Malapascua, I recommend Thresher Shark Divers and in Moalboal, Quo Vadis.
Diving is cheap, decent lodging can be found for $40 and up of course. I’m not a hostel person so opted for a little higher end but overall spent far less than $6k.
The biggest expense was using a private car vs buses. It saves a lot of time. Consider it can take 3-6 hours from cebu to Maya (closest point to Malapascua) but 2.5 in a car.
I could spend a month in Panglao. The dive sites are varied and there are so many options for dive ops. I dove with Alona Divers and Haka Divers. Can recommend both. AD is right on the water near the main area of Alona Beach. Haka is about a 10 minute drive but they have a shuttle.
In Malapascua, I recommend Thresher Shark Divers and in Moalboal, Quo Vadis.
Diving is cheap, decent lodging can be found for $40 and up of course. I’m not a hostel person so opted for a little higher end but overall spent far less than $6k.
The biggest expense was using a private car vs buses. It saves a lot of time. Consider it can take 3-6 hours from cebu to Maya (closest point to Malapascua) but 2.5 in a car.
Efka76
Contributor
I dived in Boracay, Koh Tao, Phuket and Puerto Galera. Nothing can equal to Puerto Galera: super good and comfortable diving, very rich of different sea creatures. Also, cheapest place I have ever been.
outofofficebrb
HARRO HUNNAYYY
Puerto Galera is an excellent choice for someone going to SE Asia for the first time. You can fly direct to Manila or there are many easy connections through gateway airports then even arrange private transfer with your resort door to door from the airport if you don't want to think about it and just have someone else take care of it. It is less daunting and you lose less transit time as you would going to a place like Raja Ampat in Indonesia or the Visayas in the Philippines. Pricing is excellent and affordable. It is arguably some of the best value for diving, especially given the quality of diving. @Trailboss123 was just there recently at Asia Divers and El Galleon. When I went in 2018, I had 6 nights and 4 guided boat dives a day on nitrox with full board (3 meals a day) in an ocean view room with private round trip Manila transfers for about $1200 USD a person. There is enough in PG to entertain an experienced diver and a new diver. There is great wide angle as well as decent macro. Boats come back between dives and all sites are within 5-10 minutes away, or even less than 5 minutes. The exception is Verde Island - which I HIGHLY recommend that you go to. Pay for the speedboat so you can get back in time for the next dive and fit in all the dives you want to do unless you don't mind a slow bangka. It is one of my favorite dive sites ever.
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