need help finding a 'scuba city'; or: what developed city has best dive options?

[Hike]

Need to Necro this thread. My company convinced me to help them open an office in Seoul, South Korea. This means that i'm not directly by amazing diving and that now I cant really be nomadic as I need to be in the office a couple times a week in seoul.

I can do stints remotely, and plan to get a cheap flight to Cebu in the next few months.

I've already been to Jeju to dive and it was great, but the diving itself wasn't amazing.

Do you guys know of 3 or 4 days trips I could do from Seoul for diving getaways? I can get direct flights from seoul (incheon or gimpo) to cebu, guam, phuket, and more but im trying to figure out good short trips I can do once a month. What do you guys recommend? My first on will be to Malapascua as cebu is a 4 hour flight for me and i've heard the diving is amazing, PLUS i can get away with doing it over a long weekend so the company doesnt need to be made aware

There are direct flights from Seoul to Palau. Cheap too! Korean Airlines.

 

[Hike]

How about Koh Samui. I was there on vacation recently and It seems like a nice place to live. Internet seemed good at the resort. Good diving not far away. International airport.

 

[kvm]

There are direct flights from Seoul to Palau. Cheap too! Korean Airlines.

they arent exactly cheap; both OZ and KE fly directly to ROR and the flights are about $700 r/t.

I recently got back from an 'extended' trip to malapascua. It was _awesome_. I stayed at evolution's dive resort and did kalanggaman and gato islands as well as dive sites around malapasuca. The transfer from Cebu airport is brutal but its worth it. The flight was $415usd round trip on airbusan. I think my next 3/4 day 'weekend' trip will be to Koh Lak/Andaman. Also would like to do a liveaboard somewhere in indonesia, can anyone recommend a cheap (I consider 200/day expensive) one?

 

[Quero]

I know a cheap Komodo boat, and I just got off a cheap Raja Ampat one, but even those cheap ones are more than $200/day. I think for less than $200/day in Indonesia you are going to be hanging your butt over the gunwhale to do your "business" and sleeping in a hammock strung up on the deck, or you'll be on a boat with no emergency O2, or dive staff that can't give a briefing in a language you understand, or any number of other safety-related issues. I won't recommend those kinds of boats. Part of the price issue is the cost of diesel to travel the extensive distances in the itineraries of Indonesia liveaboards. Thailand liveaboard itineraries are shorter, so it's easy enough to get a trip on a good boat in your budget range.