Micronesia, Philippines or Indonesia in May/June?

[ehrmanna]

I can take a 2 week vacation (from New York City) in May or June. Have no idea where to go. Thinking about Micronesia, Philippines or Indonesia. Here's a bit more of what I am looking for.

* Combination of great diving and great beaches.
* Would consider doing a live-aboard 1st week, nice beach 2nd week.
* If there are other adventure activities nearby, even better.
* I don't need fancy AT ALL. Looking for value for money.

Based on this (limited) information, can anyone offer up suggestions? Anything to steer me in the right direction would be much appreciated! One other thing to consider: I am a single woman in my 30s traveling alone so no places filled with honey-mooners please!!

Thanks!

 

[Wisnu]

Ehrmanna
Simply, Bali for great (muck/strange critters, coral, fishes) diving and great beach - w/ lot of topside activities (u'l get what ever u want); scenic places, great cultures, easy access - direct flight to Manado for Bunaken & Lembeh great diving, budget/basic to the most luxury accomodation are plenty + LOB to Komodo or Raja Ampat - but not cheap.
You can spend your full 2 weeks at Bali only without boring w/ less than $1000 for basic accomodation, meal & diving/other activities.

Cheers

 

[IceIce]

Ditto to Wisnu.
Bali and Komodo for LOB.
But then again, I can't compare them to places outside Indonesia and Malaysia because I don't know.

 

[silent running]

I can take a 2 week vacation (from New York City) in May or June. Have no idea where to go. Thinking about Micronesia, Philippines or Indonesia. Here's a bit more of what I am looking for.

* Combination of great diving and great beaches.
* Would consider doing a live-aboard 1st week, nice beach 2nd week.
* If there are other adventure activities nearby, even better.
* I don't need fancy AT ALL. Looking for value for money.

Based on this (limited) information, can anyone offer up suggestions? Anything to steer me in the right direction would be much appreciated! One other thing to consider: I am a single woman in my 30s traveling alone so no places filled with honey-mooners please!!

Thanks!

Hi ehrmanna, I second the Indo recomendation I've been to Komodo/Lombok twice during that time and liked it a lot-10 days of liveaboard and time spent on Lombok, which is fun. I would also look into Maluku divers in Ambon. The diving sounds top notch/unspoiled and topside looks beautiful. I will be going there hopefully sooner than later. BTW, I also live in NYC.

In my experience, the diving in the Philippines is only a little cheaper than Indo, but not nearly as good. Topside, they're both pretty. But you get what you pay for-surprise. Micronesia is more expensive than either Phi or Indo, but probably not as good as PNG, if you're going to spend that kind of money. I've been to PNG 4 times and the diving beats every place else in the SP I've been-Indo & Phi-hands down. Feel free to PM for more details. Happy trails, -Andy

 

[*Floater*]

I can't speak for Indonesia since I haven't been there, but Philippines is simply amazing and the diving and dive courses are cheap.

If you go to Philippines consider Puerto Galera or Anilao, both are within about 3 hours away from Manila. Those are the resorts I know. Subic and Coron are good for wrecks, though I don't have much experience with them. Feel free to PM me if you want details on my experiences and places I've used.

Enjoy.

 

[Bora_Horza]

Lots of good options in this part of the world! Some ideas:

Philippines: fly into Cebu (less hectic than Manila) then lots of places nearby with nice diving. At the north tip of Cebu island is Malapascua - a pretty island with some good dives - monad shoals for threasher sharks, and the 'tunnel' dive at Gato island are highlights. Do a 'search' on scubaboard for more info. Or catch a 2 hour ferry across to Bohol and go to Panglao island/Alona beach - more decent diving. IMO the best diving in the area is Apo island, off Dumaguete, Negros. You can get to Dumaguete by ferry from Cebu, or go to the bus station and get a coach there (coach > ferry to Negros > coach to Dumaguete combo ticket). Also see http://www.apoisland.com

Indonesia: fly into Bali, chill for a day or so, and book plane tickets to Labuanbajo. Or another great way to get to (or return from) Labuanbajo/Flores is by Perama boat - a 3 day cruise from Lombok with snorkelling and sightseeing. Its a backpacker type experience, really fun, see http://www.peramatour.com/ for schedules and prices (under 'Hunting Komodo by Camera). You can get from Bali to Lombok by ferry, but this takes a whole day (7-8 hours), or get a $US30 or so flight to Mataram.

Diving in the Komodo National Park can be done from Labuanbajo, about 4 diveshops in this town, I've been with 2 of them, Reefseekers (http://www.reefseekers.net/ ) and Bajo Dive (http://www.komododiver.com/index_en.html ), both good. Diving the Park is excellent, it takes a couple of hours to get to the good sites from Labuanbajo - but WELL worth it. Gardena hotel is a decent place to stay, centrally located, and going to the Paradise restaurant/bar (out of town a bit, overlooking the bay - great view!) is a good place for an evening beer. Or you could stay out on one of the islands, like http://serayaisland.com/ . One warning though - make sure you're back in Bali to catch your flight home at least 3 days beforehand, as transport schedules can be subject to delays, cancellations, etc! Have fun whatever you decide...

 

[Travelnsj]

I got back last month from East Timor www.divetimor.com and Bali....my favorite dive trip ever!.....But my favorite diving is still Palau I use www.palaudive.com.....I have been to Palau 7x and going back in 07 again. Being I loved Timor and Bali so much....doing Bali and Wakatobi next year.....gotta see if it can beat Timor!