need advice on short trip in mid-Aug to australia/indonesia/south pacifica

[anishk]

I just found out yesterday that I get 2 weeks off in mid-august, so I'm excited and I'm scrambling to pull together a vacation. I would be leaving San Francisco by myself on the 10th, and would want be back home by the 23rd or 24th.

I've only been diving in Belize, East Africa (Tanzania, Malawi), Venezuela, California (30 dives total spread over 5 years, and it's been 2 years since I've gone diving), and I'm thinking it's time to hit the south pacific.

I'm a pretty adventurous traveler, and would prefer a place where I can do 5-6 days of diving, and 5-6 day of other stuff...so I prefer a place that has more than just diving. Any advice? In a perfect world, I would have loved to go to Papua New Guinea or Micronesia, but it's not working out at a reasonable cost. I would love to go to Egypt, but that seems a little unsafe.

Are places like Indonesia/Bali (Indonesia seems like a cool option since there are lot of cool things to see above land, and a lot of culture), Malaysia, Philippines realistic with a short trip? There are so many islands in those places. I'm apprehensive of places like Fiji, since it seems a little too resort-like for my taste...I prefer things off the beaten path.

Australia seems like an easy option (and a very reasonable cost), if I can figure out a way to get quickly from Sydney to the North Barrier Reef or Coral Sea....and then do a live-a-board.

thanks in advance!

Anish

 

[JenM]

It would probably be helpful if you gave people an idea of your budget and what kinds of things you like to do other than diving. For example, do you like cities, outdoor adventure, shopping, exploring different cultures, party atmosphere? My suggestions on where to go would be different in each case. Oz has good diving, fun cities, and it's relatively easy to get around, but if you are looking for more of a cultural adventure on the nondiving part of your trip, then you should look at Indonesia or Malaysia. I'd also suggest Thailand, but this is not the right time of year for the best diving (which is in the Similans). Oz will be more expensive, but will have better transportation options, whereas Indonesia, the Philippines and Malaysia will be cheaper but it is sometimes rather difficult to get from one part of the country to another.

No matter what you do, if you only have 30 dives total over the last 5 years and you last dove 2 years ago, you should think about taking a quick refresher course at your local dive shop/pool. These courses are usually just one evening long and help certified divers reacquaint themselves with basic skills if they've been out of the water for awhile. Since you probably don't have your own gear and will be using unfamiliar rental gear wherever you go this will help you be alot more relaxed and ready to just enjoy your dives once you hit the water.

By the way, getting from Sydney to Cairns/Port Douglas where many of the liveaboards leave from is just an easy plane flight on Virgin Blue, an Aussie discount airline.

 

[anishk]

thanks! I really appreciate the response. Yes, I'm definitely planning on taking a refresher course! I also plan on swimming a lot in the next 2 weeks.

Are places like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia realistic in such a short trip? Also, how is the weather at this time of the year? I've been looking around, and it looks like it's typhoon season in the Philippines, so I'm probably going to rule that out.

I do like that those places are more cultural. I'm a guy, and I both cities and outdoor adventures. I'm not into shopping, and I don't see the point in traveling across the world just to party.

Thanks for the suggestion on using Virgin Blue to go from Sydney to Cairns/Port Douglas. If I want to get to the good diving in the Great Barrier Reef (the northern part and the Coral Sea), how many days should I set aside for a live-a-board? will 4-5 days be sufficient? If I decide to visit Australia, I'd love to try to balance doing some dives, with also seeing the country.

thanks!

 

[anishk]

OK, I got really lucky....I was able to use frequent flyer miles to get to Syndey from San Francisco!

I arrive in Sydney early in the morning Aug 11, and leave the afternoon of Aug 23. This is a short trip, but I almost never get more than a 2 week trip.

So, I have two options:
-as soon as I get into Sydney fly to Cairns ($300-400 USD roundtrip)
-as soon as I get into Syndey fly into Papua New Guinea ($1000 roundtrip)

I'm looking to do about 5 days of diving, and the rest of the time I will be top side. I've always been fascinated by Papua New Guinea, but:
-do I have enough time?
-is it safe to travel? The travel warnings are pretty intense...and even scared me a little.

thanks!

 

[babs]

For PNG i would suggest a liveaboard. I was there 2 yrs ago and the diving is awesome especially from liveaboard. I stayed 2 days land based before and after the 10 day liveaboard. It is very remote, you would fly into Hopskins there is walindi Resort http://www.walindi.com/ you wouldn't want to be out walking around at night w/o a guide, again it is very very remote.

Mike Ball liveaboard in AU offers a 3, 4 and 7 night trips http://www.mikeball.com/ if you would like me to help you I am a dive travel agent www.scubaplanners.com you can PM me or bbuchanan@scubaplanners.com

 

[Allison Finch]

Gosh, since this is so last minute, I would contact a liveaboard and see if you can't fill a last minute vacancy. You can often get really good prices if you fill at the last minute. I have used both the Stardancer and FeBrina in Papua New Guinea and love them both. Contact them!

My sister will be on the FeBrina for a month starting in a week. Maybe you can say Hi to her.

You can also contact Scuba Travel Ventures ( www.scubatravelventures.com ) and ask their advise. I use them on all my travels in the Pacific. They have great contacts and help make flawless plans.

Have fun!

 

[JenM]

The best diving in PNG is on the liveaboards but if you only want to do five days diving, that might be too short of a time - their normal trips are at least 7 days. However, I would second the advice to contact the boats directly to see if you can get a last minute spot. We were just in PNG in May on the MV Telita and I know that Paul Baker, the owner, would be happy to cut you a good deal if he has space. We had a great time and loved the boat although the weather was not very cooperative.

Getting around PNG can be a bit a of a challenge - not many roads and the flight schedules are such that you often can't get where you want to go without flying in and out of Port Moresby and laying over/wasting a day or two. As for the political situation, the coasts are fine, and we had no trouble whatsoever. We were warned off the highlands but as I understand it, that was mainly because they were anticipating trouble around the June 30 elections. Now that the elections are over with, my guess is that any potential problems in the highlands have faded away again - just take precautions - don't walk alone outside at night, avoid large groups, don't flash money or consumer goods, the usual stuff.

Anyway, isn't August the time of the big sing-sing in Mt Hagen? If so, wow, you should definitely try to make that, I hear it's amazing and you should be relatively safe as there will be a fair number of foreigners about. You could do five days diving at Walindi, and combine it with a trip to Mt Hagen to see the sing-sing. Mt Hagen is one of the few places you can actually get to relatively easily as there are flights there every day from POM. I just checked the PNGtours calendar and it looks like the show is on Aug 18-19 so that would fit in perfectly with your schedule.

 

[Bubble Junky]

Are places like Indonesia, the Philippines, and Malaysia realistic in such a short trip?

Bali would be a good choice. It's not really any further to travel than Oz or Egypt. Bali has great diving, and good top-side things too - Ubud, Volcanoes etc. You can also pop over to the Gilis.