Multistop dive travel February-April 23?

[Andrea1]

Hi together,
after a 3 year hiatus due to corona and family issues, my husband and I are looking for inspiration for travel destinations for late winter/spring in 23. We like warmer waters, sharks and wrecks. In the last years we did several trips with multiple stops, focused on diving with additional stops and routes to see the world- the trips usually took about 15-18 days. To give you an idea, these were the major tours so far:

Mexico: playa del carmen diving cenotes (bullshark but they werent there), but some whalesharks - cozumel - isla mujeres sailfish snorkeling

Honduras/Belize: Roatan (also Shark dive) - fly to Belize (Blue Hole), cave hiking.

Philipines: Moalboal sardines ball - malapascua thresher shark - coron wrecks

Mexico: Socorro liveaboard - La Paz (whalesharks, see lions)

California: Isla Guadaloupe (GW) - rental car from San Diego to SF (diving in Catalina)

Florida/Turks: One week diving in Club Med Turks - rental car from Florida keys to North Carolina (no diving bc bad weather but great scenery and seafood).

And we have also been to Red sea, Palau, Bimini (Hammers), Maledives, Bahamas (San Salvador, Club Med), Grenada.
Never been to Africa, Australia, South America, Hawaii for example.

We are not the youngest anymore (54/61), and albeit having a lot of dives over the years, we are no hardcore divers and like to have a guide, we dont need luxury but a small pool and A/C. We like liveaboards. We dont like shoredives a lot, but do it if something special to see. We need something with foreseeable conditions, because of the usually long travels and no flexibility. We are not really on a budget, but something like "Turneffe Atoll resort 3 days for 5000$" is not possible. We dive with our own equpiment, so have an issue with transportation sometimes. All of the above mentioned trips were great, we dont do the same trip twice, but we incorporate nice places sometimes in another trip.

I'm combing this forum here by myself, but If someone does the same kind of travels, or just has any idea, it would be very interesting - please share - and please excuse my poor english.

Andrea from Vienna/Austria

 

[Centrals]

Indonesia: Manado and Raja Ampat
Thailand: Similan and Koh Lanta
PNG

 

[Andrea1]

Indonesia: Manado and Raja Ampat
Thailand: Similan and Koh Lanta
PNG

Hi,
thanks, I've been in Similan years ago, islands very nice, diving not really, paired it with Phuket, really good dives there: mating Leopard sharks.
Actually never dove in Indonesia and PNG, very big countries and so i was allways overhelmed with the multitude of spots and didnt know where to start with research...i will check Manado and Raja Ampat.

 

[Doc]

You have really been around.

Surprising that you have not been to Raja Ampat.

South Africa would be a ‘get your ticket punched’ kinda place for a cold water Great White introduction, but you like warm water.

Wrecks? Scapa Flow. I believe the word Scapa translates to: stupid cold. How about Truk/Chuuk?

Another ‘ticket punch’ dive would be the Galapagos, which is marketed in Europe as a land based experience, something which North Americans cannot fathom. I’d put it in the ‘cool’ water category, not cold, per-se.

All that Caribbean travel and you missed both Tobago and Los Roques. That’s a shame, but not worth it for you at this point.

[Your English is better than my German, alas- never been to Vienna but have spent many years skiing the Tirol, way less English spoken there! That was many years ago, but I believe all the pretty girls lived in Austria.]

 

[scubadada]

Maybe something in the eastern Pacific, Cocos, Galapagos, Malpelo? Cocos and Malpelo take 10-11 days because of the crossings, like Socorro. You could combine with some land-based activities

I enjoyed Cocos, Galapagos, Revillagigedos, and Malpelo, all great, complimentary. I do not repeat trips either, I have made an exception and will be going back to Malpelo next summer.

 

[Centrals]

Fly to Singapore for couple of days to recover then:
Fly to Manado, there are three areas and two are well known for macro.
Direct flight from Manado to Sorong to board the LoB to R4.
Back to Singapore and fly to Port Moresby in PNG.

 

[Manuel Sam]

If you can only do late Winter/Spring, I would propose the following that you don't seem to have done before, based on it being a good time of the year (diving-wise) at these destinations:

I've done and like Centrals' idea of Manado plus Sorong for a Raja Ampat liveaboard. From Manado, you have choices, and if macro and muck diving appeals to you, then you can't do a lot better than Lembeh. Another add-on to this trip could be Ambon, altho it might be deemed too similar to Lembeh. But the reason to do it in addition to Lembeh is because sightings of Rhinopias are more frequent there than in Lembeh, and there is a google in 1 chance of seeing the Psychodelic Frogfish, which, as best as I know, has only been reported here. There are nonstop flights between all three.

Other ones I have done and recommend:

Bahamas trip combining Cat Island for Oceanic White Tips with a Tiger Beach liveaboard.

French Polynesia.....Rangiroa and Fakarava Atolls for sharks and lots of fish. Can also combine those two with any of the Society Islands (Tahiti, Moorea and Bora Bora are the most popular) for leisure and scenery. If money were no object, you could also add Hawaii to this trip (there is a nonstop flight between Papeete and Honolulu).

 

[Centrals]

A bit more adventurous:
The Federated States of Micronesia.
Add Marshall Islands to extend the fun.

 

[Andrea1]

You have really been around.

Surprising that you have not been to Raja Ampat.

South Africa would be a ‘get your ticket punched’ kinda place for a cold water Great White introduction, but you like warm water.

Wrecks? Scapa Flow. I believe the word Scapa translates to: stupid cold. How about Truk/Chuuk?

Another ‘ticket punch’ dive would be the Galapagos, which is marketed in Europe as a land based experience, something which North Americans cannot fathom. I’d put it in the ‘cool’ water category, not cold, per-se.

All that Caribbean travel and you missed both Tobago and Los Roques. That’s a shame, but not worth it for you at this point.

[Your English is better than my German, alas- never been to Vienna but have spent many years skiing the Tirol, way less English spoken there! That was many years ago, but I believe all the pretty girls lived in Austria.]

Thanks for the suggestions.
About Raja Ampat I will have some questions in a post to come.
We had the Great Whites in Guadaloupe and I really would like to repeat that, but it was so nice and very hard to fulfill the expectations now - would there be any advantages in South Africa compared?
Truk is on the list since I have been in Coron/Philippines and enjoyed the wrecks so much, maybe I didn't find something to pair with yet - maybe I don't have to pair it at all.
Galapagos always seemed too rough, too cold and too expensive. But I never thought about doing it land based.
Why should we go to Tobago/Los Roques and why is it not worth it now?

 

[Andrea1]

Maybe something in the eastern Pacific, Cocos, Galapagos, Malpelo? Cocos and Malpelo take 10-11 days because of the crossings, like Socorro. You could combine with some land-based activities

I enjoyed Cocos, Galapagos, Revillagigedos, and Malpelo, all great, complimentary. I do not repeat trips either, I have made an exception and will be going back to Malpelo next summer.

That's about the principal situation: Before the pandemic, we did about 2-3 dive travels a year, lots of them with quite a booking in advance, because this kind of trip fills up fast. This means always something to plan for the future and always something in near future I had already booked. Now I have to come back in the rhytm so to speak.
I have been in Socorro November 2016, and i liked it a lot. I enjoy being on a LOB, not only for the convenience of short ways and no carries, but also for the physical comfort being on or in the water all the times (when I dive land based, after a while the change between sea the hole day and land in the evening becomes exhausting). I also like the longer oversea trips coming and going from the divesite, it's nice to sleep on a boat.
Back then, it was like a kind of peak of a personal dive history. I always thought, its kind of the same like Malpelo and Cocos, and having done Socorro, there's no "need" to do the others. Today this feels different somehow. So I will start again and do some research about them...thanks for reminding me about that.
May I ask, why you repeat Malpelo, and not Cocos or Socorro?