Need a little help picking a destination for our 1st trip to other side of the world

[EL Pistoffo]

It has been a long time dream of mine to take a vacation to the South Pacific or Asia region for some time now. Having a close relative working in the airlines has made that trip an affordable possibility now. My relative, my wife and I are divers so diving of course is part of the plan. We are looking for a destination that is enjoyable both on land as well as underwater. We are not young bucks anymore so the party scene is not what we are looking for. A beautiful destination with good food, fantastic sights and culture to see and good diving are on the list.

I've considered your usual spots like Tahiti and Fiji but maybe there are other less known gems out there. We would be doing this maybe later this year but most likely next year. My relative has traveled much of Asia and the world for that matter but hasn't primarily done a lot of diving during his travels so he has familiarity with many destinations but not their diving. Frankly, just about anywhere would be a new and fascinating experience for me. If you only had one shot at a trip to Asia or South Pacific, what would be the ONE place to go?

Your thoughts?

 

[ukdave0]

Indonesia!
But that doesn't narrow it down much. Personal preferences come into play.
Easy to get to, beautiful, culture, good diving = Bali shore based diving.
A little harder to get to, great diving, beautiful = Komodo liveaboard.
Hard to get to, great diving, awe inspiring beauty = Raja Ampat, liveaboard or resort.

 

[WhiteSands]

Indonesia can be uh...challenging...for a Westerner. You must be prepared to grease hands whenever issues crop up. If that kind of thing bothers you and you're taking care of your own travel arrangements, you might want to avoid the more remote places. Raja Ampat is spectacular, but avoid Lion Air.

Take your pick of Palau, Malapascua, Tubatahan, Sipadan, Similans...

 

[Centrals]

Maldives, Palau, PNG, Truk(wrecks only). For the first three, liveaboard(expensive) only.
The Visayas region in central Philippines and the area around Manado in Sulawesi in Indonesia are also very good and a lot economical as well.

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Wow, so many beautiful choices. It's getting harder now.

A live aboard for a few days would be a possibility. I don't know if I want to be limited to just being on boat for the whole trip.

 

[victor]

You want to see culture, beautiful scenery, and dive. How long have you got, that might be the deciding factor.
Be warned if you go to Asia this is very likely not to be your only trip.
You can always re-mortgage the house, get a second/third job, sell the children, etc.
It is a very addictive place to visit and one vacation will not be enough.

 

[gekodivebali]

Well said Victor. It's funny to see how many travelers (divers and non-divers alike) keep on coming back. Often way sooner than they'd originally planned!

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Not sure on length of stay yet. I guess it depends on how much the lodging, food and dives will cost me. At least 1 week probably 2 weeks but that's all I got. I was checking out the South Pacific but the costs seem astronomically high in much of that region.

 

[jamesdiving]

[QUOTE="EL Pistoffo;7020475"I was checking out the South Pacific but the costs seem astronomically high in much of that region.[/QUOTE]

Much of the South Pacific is very very remote from major land masses so transport costs - both for passengers and any goods not growing on the islands naturally - are high. Much of the reign is marketed, from a tourism perspective, at honeymooners and other visitors on mega budgets looking for ultimate luxury. There are cheaper options but I don't know how many or how nice they are.

SE Asia by contrast is generally very cheap. It's possible to spend a lot but for that you get a hell of a lot. It's also possible to stay in a nice place, eat nice food and dive with a good, professional operator for very reasonable sums of money, particularly in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. There are great diving areas in all three of those countries - that said, a lot of the very best reef diving on earth is in Indonesia from Bali eastwards.

If you don't know why, Google "Coral Triangle". For whatever reason, marine biodiversity has its epicentre in the roughly triangular area between Bali, the eastern end of New Guinea and the Philippines. Put simply, the further away you are from that area, the less marine species there are.

I learned to dive and worked as a DM in Key Largo, Florida. It has some very nice diving and a lot of fish compared to much of the Caribbean. I moved to Singapore 3 years ago and have dived a lot in SE Asia since then. Returning to Key Largo now is like diving in a lake - it seems devoid of life.

If you want the very best reef diving in the world, head to eastern Indonesia or PNG. With a couple of weeks to spare you could cheaply and easily do a great trip around Indonesia taking in some of the following:

- Bali for volcanoes, temples, culture and relaxation
- Komodo for incredible diving, great scenery and dragons
- Raja Ampat for arguably the richest reefs on earth, plus potential tribal culture and birds of paradise
- N. Sulawesi for jungles & volcanoes plus great muck/critter diving at Lembeh and/or wall diving at Bunaken
- Java - particularly Yogyakarta for the temples at Prambanan and above all, Borobodur

 

[EL Pistoffo]

Much of the South Pacific is very very remote from major land masses so transport costs - both for passengers and any goods not growing on the islands naturally - are high. Much of the reign is marketed, from a tourism perspective, at honeymooners and other visitors on mega budgets looking for ultimate luxury. There are cheaper options but I don't know how many or how nice they are.

SE Asia by contrast is generally very cheap. It's possible to spend a lot but for that you get a hell of a lot. It's also possible to stay in a nice place, eat nice food and dive with a good, professional operator for very reasonable sums of money, particularly in Indonesia, Thailand and the Philippines. There are great diving areas in all three of those countries - that said, a lot of the very best reef diving on earth is in Indonesia from Bali eastwards.

If you don't know why, Google "Coral Triangle". For whatever reason, marine biodiversity has its epicentre in the roughly triangular area between Bali, the eastern end of New Guinea and the Philippines. Put simply, the further away you are from that area, the less marine species there are.

I learned to dive and worked as a DM in Key Largo, Florida. It has some very nice diving and a lot of fish compared to much of the Caribbean. I moved to Singapore 3 years ago and have dived a lot in SE Asia since then. Returning to Key Largo now is like diving in a lake - it seems devoid of life.

If you want the very best reef diving in the world, head to eastern Indonesia or PNG. With a couple of weeks to spare you could cheaply and easily do a great trip around Indonesia taking in some of the following:

- Bali for volcanoes, temples, culture and relaxation
- Komodo for incredible diving, great scenery and dragons
- Raja Ampat for arguably the richest reefs on earth, plus potential tribal culture and birds of paradise
- N. Sulawesi for jungles & volcanoes plus great muck/critter diving at Lembeh and/or wall diving at Bunaken
- Java - particularly Yogyakarta for the temples at Prambanan and above all, Borobodur

The Coral Triangle was something I knew not about. Indonesia is sounding pretty good now and the trip idea you posted is definitely a good starting point for me. Thx.

I can't really fork up the amount of cash needed to do the French Polynesians right now. I'd rather go were I could do a good trip with what I got than struggle to get things done with the higher costs. The nice part is that my airfare will come cheap so getting around wont break the bank.

Your Key Largo comment is interesting. I used to live 30 minutes from there. My first reef experiences were there 25 years ago. I too have noticed that there seem to be more fish in the Keys than some of the other place I've been to in the Caribbean.