March Family Dive Trip (Malaysia or Indonesia)

[Wibu]

Hello everyone!

I have a family of 4 divers, age 74, 11, 44 and 47, all certified with PADI, SSI, or Naui, 2 of us have the advanced diver certification. I don’t think my son can handle a liveaboard as my hubby and son aren’t that crazy about diving. My son just got his certification this year when he was ten so only had 4 open water dives.

I am looking for a destination that accessible from Hong Kong that doesn’t take days of travel. We want to see big fishes (megafauna) as we did a dive trip in Dauin, Philippines for muck diving and the corals were beautiful, so we are looking for something different. We also been to Fiji coral coast where my son got certified but the diving was somewhat disappointing. Also been to Cozumel. We want to go somewhere with schools of fishes that has shallow dives for my son. My dad doesn’t want to go to Philippines because of safety concerns. I am looking into Indonesia (Derawan and RA), and Malaysia (Sipadan). However from forums, people seem to speak negative of Sipadan and we don’t want to be doing only muck diving in Mabul. The islands in Indonesia seems to be very difficult to get to. The GBT seems to require 2 hr boat trip if not liveaboard from Port Douglas/Carins. I also want to try a night and a wreck dive, I didn’t get to do those when I did my advanced diver certification so the dive shop next to my resort didn’t offer them.

Any advise will be appreciated, we are looking for just doing 5-6 dives, and March 2026 spring break time.

 

[Centrals]

I have travelled several times a year to that country over last 30 yrs(except during the Wuhan Virus lock down). Safety is one thing that I never had any issue with.
Malapascua(well known for thresher shark) in Cebu Province. Both Cebu Pacific and PAL(code share with Cathay) has daily flight from HKG to CEB.
Dona Marilyn is a nice wreck in Malapascua.
"Evolution" is my recommendation but there are several reputable operators on the island.

Scuba Junkie offers combo trip to Sipadan and Derawan(Sangalaki).

Tricky part is the 11yrs old kid.

Northern Sulawesi eg. Bunakan, Bangga and Lembeh.
Entry through Singapore to Manado. Scoot has non daily flight.

 

[Mr.Poseidon]

I realize this is not what you asked, but I’m going to offer my opinion. I would look at the Wonderpus Liveaboard in Komodo, Indonesia. They specialize in 3-7 day trips, komodo offers suburb diving, they have kayaks on the boat, the seas are flat….almost like traveling on land, they are very attentive to your needs, and they run a very safe operation. I have dived with them on multiple occasions. If you have questions please feel free to ask. Good luck!

 

[Wibu]

I realize this is not what you asked, but I’m going to offer my opinion. I would look at the Wonderpus Liveaboard in Komodo, Indonesia. They specialize in 3-7 day trips, komodo offers suburb diving, they have kayaks on the boat, the seas are flat….almost like traveling on land, they are very attentive to your needs, and they run a very safe operation. I have dived with them on multiple occasions. If you have questions please feel free to ask. Good luck!

Thanks for the suggestion, 3 days liveaboard, I might be able to sell that to my family. Good to know the sea are calm, although we never got sea sickness, we never slept on a boat other than a giant cruise boat. I think the selling point it that they have a guide, I thought liveaboard means plan your own dive. Komodo diving is suitable for a kid? In this site, I read Komodo has strong currents.

Definitely an option, thank you again for your suggestion.

 

[Mr.Poseidon]

A little background, my dive buddies and I are in our 60’s and our vacation divers (only dive 1 trip per year) and we were always put off by Komodo current reputation. That said, since Komodo is a top dive destination, we had to take the plunge and booked with the Wonderpus. On our first trip, we asked ourselves, why did we wait so long. Other than Manta point (drift dive) it was the easiest diving we’ve ever done in our lives.

Please remember, this boat only holds 8 divers. If I you, I would tell them who you are and what you want.

What your really booking hear is the dive operation. In other words, I would NOT recommend Komodo with your child with any other operation (not that they don’t exist) but many of the other boats SEEK current seeking to dive Komodo in its prime. This operation seems to provide a Komodo experience and not seek the currents based on my 21 days with them (granted - we were not seeking current since were getting old and all had camera rigs).

In thinking about this more, they offer both dive and snorkeling options for their guest. Thus, in theory, your family may want to dive, while the other passengers may want to snorkel. Or you may want to dive, but the balance of your family wants to snorkel. It’s Mother nature, but there should be mantas if that has an appeal.

Also, the food was good, and the crew was very attentive. I also believe they are remolding the boat.

 

[Centrals]

I am pretty sure that some of the sites in Komodo are NOT suitable to inexperienced diver let alone a 11yrs old with only 4 dives under his belt.
There is suitable option in Indonesia for the whole family.

 

[diveUAE]

We (my husband, son (20) and daughter (12, nondiver and me), did a liveaboard with Wunderpus on the Mimic boat in Komodo). I second the praise of this dive op.

Mimic is their budget boat (sleep on deck, shared bathroom etc) and it’s the most memorable and wonderful lob we ever did.

We asked for dives with current and did “shot gun” twice, because we loved it. Had other dives with lots of current as well - so it’s not that Wunderpus avoids dives with current, they just have the flexibility to do whatever you ask for (current or not), as ours was a private charter. Would have loved their big boat I’m sure, but then we would have to share the boat and I felt as a family we wanted it to ourselves. They sent a snorkel guide for our daughter, so we could dive, while she snorkelled - some sites were not allowed/good for snorkeling, and she was ok with just staying on the boat).
She get seasick very, very easily, but never had a problem on board Mimic - this is of course because the weather was stunning, had there been a lot of wind, we would have been restricted in where we could go due to her (also part of why I booked a private trip).

With your ask for mega fauna Komodo makes sense (for mantas and reefs), but I would maybe wait until your son is a bit older and can do the dives with more current.

Also don’t do RA yet - especially for a short trip, RA deserves more days with the effort to get there.

Have a look at Bangka or Bunaken (no megafauna, but beautiful reefs, with plenty of fish and turtles).
Or maybe Gili islands? People says that great for kids with corals and turtles.

Sipadan was amazing when we dove it in 2008, but with an 11 year old i would not go - there can be strong currents and depth limit is an issue.

We loved Dauin, never heard of any issues in Visayas region? You could look at Bohol - lots of stuff to do topside as well as good diving, suited for an 11 year old. Also Moalboal is worth a few dives. Malapascua diving with the threshers is fantastic, but would not do it with someone with just 4 dives …
Bohol and Moalboal has a small chance of megafauna, mostly it’s fish and reef, but you could do Oslob for the whale sharks (look into the ethics and decide for yourself if you’d like to do it).

 

[matts1w]

Look at Gili Air, Lombok for your family. You can dive as much or as little as you want, the water is warm, the currents are mostly gentle, and you will see tons of turtles, sharks, rays, cuttlefish, and all the other usual critters. Its a great place for kids and there is much more going on than just diving. Its the perfect choice for those who want to dive all day and those who want some other options. I love it there.