New diver spending 5 weeks in Indonesia...yeah!

[Sebastien Major]

Hi everyone,

first post here so be gentle

I am planning a trip to Indonesia, 5 weeks starting mid-march. Will be landing in Bali and willing to take a local plane to the next destination.

I am a newly certified diver since september (+-15 dives) and this will be my first diving trip. I already have my own gear as I was hooked right away. This will be mostly a diving trip, planning to dive around 10-12 times a week.

I am looking for some good locations (considering my level of experience) and dive shops to get some experience and do my AOW and maybe other specialties. I am planning to stay at least 1-2 weeks at each places to minimize transport, so maybe 3 spots total. I already did my nitrox and night diver so that could come in handy.

I will probably skip Komodo and Raja Ampat since they seems to require more experienced from what I have read. Will keep those for next time...

Any suggestions? Thx for your precious help

Sebastien.

 

[Dan]

Bali is a good start. Spend times diving in Padangbai, Tulamben & Menjangan.

Then fly to Manado. Spend times diving in Bunaken & Lembeh.

Have fun. I’m jealous.

 

[Tippytoes12]

Well done , I would also highly recommend Bali , it has wonderful diving on the areas suggested. We also love Lembeh and Bunaken. Another option would be Nusa Lembongan. It is east to get there from Bali I.e. If you are staying in Padang Bai. But there are very nice places there and it has excellent diving . Highly recommend World Diving , they have decades of experience and are a great outfit. The diving in the area is fabulous with almost guaranteed spots of mantas , if the sea is calm enough to get there. Another option would be the Gili Islands , which we personally love, but there is better diving elsewhere.

 

[Indah]

Please have a look at www.wedaresort.com Great but at the same time very easy going diving.

 

[JRM-TX]

Hello Sebastian. +1 on what Dan & Tippytoes said. Sounds like Bali is already planned / booked, good choice. After that, just fly to Manado, and set up a mix of Bunaken (walls), Lembeh (famous for muck / macro, but it's more than that) & Bangka (some of both). Easy to get to, easy to transfer between those 3 locations around North Sulawesi (by boat only or by boat/car). I can recommend Divers Lodge Lembeh, owned by Rob / Indah who posted above, stayed there several times years ago. Check out his website at www.diverslodgelembeh.com. On Bunaken, always stayed with Froggies, this was back in late 90's early 2000's when Tommy ran the place. There are lots of places on Bunaken now, no idea if Froggies is still ok, the reviews online look favorable. The resorts can set up transfers, etc.
If it was me, would do a week at Bunaken, a week at Bangka, then a week at Lembeh. Or you could do 5 days at Bunaken, 5 days at Lembeh, then head somewhere else.
Many of the people on this board have done a lot of diving and are trying to decide on which liveaboard in Komodo or Raja. The walls in Bunaken sometimes get called "boring", when the average dive there is better than the Caribbean. Amazing night dives. Fantastic soft corals. Incredible creatures. For your level of experience, Manado and North Sulawesi is a solid choice. It's all good, just research it online, figure out which locations you want for how long, then go. Have fun and please let everyone know what you decide.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Indonesia offers some of the best diving on the planet and some great locations.
First question for you would be even though your a new diver how comfortable are you diving?
Second question is how likely will you be able to get back to Indonesia for another dive trip?
Third question you mention it's mostly a diving trip but only diving 10-12 dives a week. What do you like to do when your not diving? On a mostly diving trip I'll do 3 dives a day so in a week I'll rack up 21 dives.

 

[Sebastien Major]

Thx for the great advices guys!

@Dan_T : I had Bali and Manado in mind, but have'nt research the Bali pots that much. Bunaken and Lembeh looks amazing for sure. I will research more into this

@Tippytoes12 : Thx for the precisions, great recommendations here. Never heard of Nusa Lembongan and World Diving, will look into this. I was thinking of Gillis too but will have to make some though decisions considering the time I have...

@Indah : Thx will take a look.

@JRM-TX : Ok, Bali and Manado seems to be coming back a lot! Great info in here. Like you said, I am asking for some recommendation to take the next step. Booking and going Thx for the information about transfers, lodging and spots.

@dirtfarmer : Yeah Indonesia is a bucketlist trip for me for sure. I feel already really comfortable diving and I have done several weeks of snorkeling in Thailand a few years ago so I feel comfortable in the water and with the wildlife. I have been to SE Asia 5 years ago and fell in love. I will be back there again after On your third question, I said "mostly diving trip" but the numbers may be off as I don't know the sandard number of dives per day. I am planning to dive at least 5 day a week, will see how it goes from there. Won't be diving for 35 days straight, 3x day though It's my first diving trip so I don't know how exhausting it is physically...

Thx again everyone, keep them coming! Now I have some researching to do.

Cheers

Sebastien.

 

[JRM-TX]

Hello Sebastien. For flight / itinerary planning, gently suggest searching previous posts then starting a new thread. Everyone here was super nice helping me figure out how to get from Houston to Sorong for a LOB trip in November. What worked best for me was Sing.Air to Singapore, layover a couple days, then take Garuda to Sorong (via Jakarta & Makassar). Since Bali is your first stop, there are multiple ways to fly there directly on major international carriers, super easy, just find the best deal. With Singapore Airlines, I can get from Houston to Bali for us$670 round trip. From previous discussions, there are multiple ways to get to Bali from major US hubs for under us$800 r/t. Good luck.

 

[JRM-TX]

FYI, some Bali sites can have currents, depending on season & tides. At Nusa Penida, the current was running like a river, and my wife freaked after ten minutes and and went to the surface. The boat was right there, drifting along with with us. Back in 1992, the dive briefing was ... umm ... brief, and she didn't catch the part about bouncing along at 3 knots.

Bali has a wide variety of dive sites, great choice for newer divers, many people go there to learn & get certified. Just be aware that there are also some advanced dive sites, and talk things over with the dive operator. You could start easy and build up as the trip progresses.

Personally, am ok with currents and love a good drift dive. One of the dive websites has this to say .... "Due to the location of these islands, between Bali and Lombok, Nusa Penida diving currents can be very strong reaching to more than 4knots with down-currents. Our professional, experienced team of Padi Divemasters and Padi Instructors will guide you carefully through these currents providing you with fantastic drift dives. Even if the most challenging dive sites are reserved for experienced divers only, there are still many protected, amazing bays around Nusa Penida and Nusa Lembongan for the most novice divers and snorkelers.".

There are all kinds of dive sites around Bali, and plenty of things to do on land. Great place to start a 5 week vacation. Have fun.

 

[dirtfarmer]

Bali is a great place to start your diving.
A good place to do your AOW and get more experience would be the Gillies. From there you could backtrack to Tulamben where there is the Liberty wreck and some excellent muck/small critter diving. Tulamben also has some good coral reef dives. Then you might move to Lembongan for some more excellent reef dives and a good chance at Mantas at Manta Point. I suggest doing Lembongan after the Gillies and Tulamben because Lembongan has lots of high current drift diving so it would be good to have a bit more experience before heading there. The Gillies and Tulamben would also give you the opportunity to do other activities than diving. The Gillies have great beaches bars and restaurants, Bali has beautiful temples and scenery.
I would suggest about 5 days on the Gillis and 5 days in Tulamben. You could skip Lembongan if (see below) you choose to hit Komodo.

Another leg of your trip of Bunaken combined with Lembeh might be a good choice? Bunaken is mostly walls which you would most likely enjoy. But Lembeh might not be up your alley. Lembeh is mostly about muck/macro critter diving. Some divers like me Love muck/macro others find it uninteresting. You might be following you guide and saying to yourself this looks like a barren boring bunch of black sand, and now he is showing me some tiny stupid critter i can hardly see. I would recommend watching some videos of Lembeh before you head there. In Lembeh other activities are limited as you are at a dive resort and generally isolated there, on Bunaken you can walk all over the island. If muck don't seem apealing it might be best to skip Bunaken/Lembeh and get yourself to Komodo.

Since you say your pretty comfortable underwater you might consider Komodo in the mix. It is known for some high current diving but it is really an awesome destination it has some amazing diving with super fishy and colorful reefs a good chance at Manta and shark action. Komodo can offer up some of Indos best diving. Komodo is a easy quick flight from Bali.