Manado or Irian??

[takoyaki]

Hello all,
I'm looking to book a liveaboard to Indo this summer. I am torn between the Manado/Lembeh trips or Raja Ampat (West Papua). Does anyone have experience with both and can give me a bit of a comparison?
Thanks!

 

[Quero]

Hello all,
I'm looking to book a liveaboard to Indo this summer. I am torn between the Manado/Lembeh trips or Raja Ampat (West Papua). Does anyone have experience with both and can give me a bit of a comparison?
Thanks!

There *are* a few liveaboards that sail in the Manado/Lembeh area (I just boarded the newest, Odyssea I, last week for a peek). However, it's certainly cheaper and probably more practical to split your trip to that area over two land-based resorts (3-6 days at Lembeh + 3-6 days at Bunaken, for example) than to do it from a liveaboard. Raja Ampat/West Papua/Irian Jaya on the other hand, lends itself to the range of coverage a liveaboard can offer.

 

[takoyaki]

Thank you Quero!
Strangely, the Odyssea website only mentions the liveaboards as a future enterprise and doesn't give trip details or prices. How many days was it? And how much is the normal price? I assume you didn't pay it, but I probably will have to!
I noticed in your profile that you dived in Burma. What boat were you on?

 

[ddavid]

Manado; like Quero mentioned; split it up between Bunaken & Lembeh; both unique & special in their own way.. enjoy..!

 

[Kevrumbo]

I've heard for superb species rich, diverse and undiscovered diving --Raja Ampat Islands off of the northwest coast of Irian Jaya is the place to be:
http://www.iriandiving.com/Main-page.html

 

[leeaf]

I've just returned from a trip to Raja Ampat, Bunaken and Lembeh. As suggested above the way to go is do say 3 days diving at both Bunaken & Lembeh as well as the RA liveaboard. You have to go through Manado to get to Soring so it is no problem to do some diviing while you are there.

I stayed at Santika Hotel Manado and dived Bunaken with the in house operation (Thalassa Dive). These guys will also go up to Bangka Is for a little extra.

In Lembeh I stayed at Lembeh Resort. the other option is Kunkunan Bay Resort but somebody who stayed at both thought the LR dive guides were much better.

I used the ****kira for the RA trip. Other more expensive options are the Pindito and Kararu. Around the same cost are Ondina and Shakti. The ****kira was fine and it would be hard to get a better dive guide than the head guy on ****kira, Herry.

 

[swisstrav]

once you travel through manado you might do both sites. was on ****kira and can recommend it. harry is a great tourleader/diveguide. the ****kira is very comfortable. they serve good food.

stayed at divers lodge lembeh. however would not recommend this place. next time it will be lembeh resort or any new resort beeing built right now