Phillipines or Indonesia?

[cwgscuba]

I am looking to schedule a liveaboard trip to the Pacific Islands early to mid 2018. I am lost as to where to start. I would appreciate comments regarding where to go, difficulty of diving, best time of year, what is there, basically any info you can provide. My buddy needs easy diving, maybe this is not the trip for him? Please help!

CWG

 

[outofofficebrb]

Hi,

If you are thinking of diving Indonesia, Komodo and Raja Ampat are two areas that you should consider for a liveaboard. Komodo is ideal between March-Oct or so while Raja Ampat is ideal between Oct-March (the reverse!). I am scheduled to go to Raja Ampat in October so can't comment on the difficulty of diving there specifically but I dove Komodo in September with about 35-40 dives and was very comfortable. I had a really great DM who was very experienced in the park and in tides/current which made the difference, I think.

I hear Tubbataha liveaboards are great in the Philippines and that runs around mid-March to early summer - I'm not sure exactly until when. In general, I have heard the consensus for the Philippines outside of Tubbataha is that you don't need to be on a liveaboard whereas Raja Ampat you do and Komodo it is ideal, but also doable by land-based. Tubbataha is liveaboard option only.

I hope that's helpful to start with.

 

[cwgscuba]

It is. Thank you. Anybody else?

 

[dirtfarmer]

Why does your buddy need easy diving? Physical limitations or lack of experience or worst case scenario just a horrible unskilled diver with little to no situational awareness.

For the best diving Indonesia, Komodo or Raja Ampat. Both can be challenging but not I'll advised for a new diver. They both can be done from land or LOB. The very best diving in both require a LOB, but land based in both are really good.

 

[cwgscuba]

He's old, and it has been awhile since he last dove (a few years) although he used to dive quite a bit. Need to knock off the rust and not be in a place with a lot of current or repeated deep diving, and perhaps a few dives to get back into it. Thanks for your reply.

 

[MV Dive]

Come and join us in the Philippines, we are running a trip from Tubbataha to Puerto Galera from June 7th- 18th . 7 nights on the Discovery Palawan liveaboard and 4 nights at Marco Vincent dive resort in Puerto Galera. This will give you a great experience of what the Philippines has to offer.