please help us choose

[pigletfish]

Moderator -- please delete -- since to post this same question on both the Asia and Pacific boards is not allowed, I will ask about the Asian locations on the Asian board and the Pacific locations on the Pacific board. Thank you.

My husband and I are starting to plan a vacation of ~15 days for the last half of March 2005. Here are some of the things we're looking for:

1. Good intermediate-level diving in warm water (preferably >80 F). We are both underwater photographers. Looking for good visability, nice corals, and abundant marine life, with pelagics a big plus.
2. Little to no rain.
3. A good variety of topside activities such as hiking, kayaking, local culture, etc. Animals that you can interact with (esp. marsupials, primates, elephants) preferred as well. And good snorkeling would also be a plus.
4. Decent food for a vegetarian who eats dairy but no fish.
5. Accommodation in the 3 to 4 star range

Our previous experince in the region was in August 2003, when we did one week on Bali (topside activities only) and one week on a Komodo liveaboard. We loved this trip!! The only part that wasn't completely ideal was being on the boat for a week -- we had very few land excursions, and although we loved the diving we started to go a wee bit stir crazy.

Here is our current shortlist:

1. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in PNG
2. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea
3. Two weeks in Thailand (would we need to spend part of it on a liveaboard?)
4. Two weeks on Palau and Yap (but land activities might be pretty limited? And is a livaboard definitely the way to go in Palau -- vs. the Palau Pacific Resort and an operator like Sam's Tours?)
5. Two weeks in Malaysian Borneo. (Presently we know the least about this option, but are attracted to the combination of diving, orangutans, and pigmy elephants).

We know we need to do a lot more research, but any recommendations and tips other ScubaBoarders could provide would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

:bfish:

 

[Hank49]

If you want the best diving go for 1,2,3 or 4. East Malaysia is beautiful but my experience in the waters around Sarawak didn't show potential for great vis. Borneo is a large land mass with a lot of run off and Kuching has 5 meter tides.
A friend of mine did his Peace Corp stint on Palau and loved it. He used to spear fish just snorkeling and said you can just about make a living at it. Choke fish. The Blue Corner is suppoosed to be awesome. But all in all, any choice you make will be pretty unreal. Put the names in a hat and draw one.

 

[Tim Wong]

Moderator -- please delete -- since to post this same question on both the Asia and Pacific boards is not allowed, I will ask about the Asian locations on the Asian board and the Pacific locations on the Pacific board. Thank you.

My husband and I are starting to plan a vacation of ~15 days for the last half of March 2005. Here are some of the things we're looking for:

1. Good intermediate-level diving in warm water (preferably >80 F). We are both underwater photographers. Looking for good visability, nice corals, and abundant marine life, with pelagics a big plus.
2. Little to no rain.
3. A good variety of topside activities such as hiking, kayaking, local culture, etc. Animals that you can interact with (esp. marsupials, primates, elephants) preferred as well. And good snorkeling would also be a plus.
4. Decent food for a vegetarian who eats dairy but no fish.
5. Accommodation in the 3 to 4 star range

Our previous experince in the region was in August 2003, when we did one week on Bali (topside activities only) and one week on a Komodo liveaboard. We loved this trip!! The only part that wasn't completely ideal was being on the boat for a week -- we had very few land excursions, and although we loved the diving we started to go a wee bit stir crazy.

Here is our current shortlist:

1. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in PNG
2. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea
3. Two weeks in Thailand (would we need to spend part of it on a liveaboard?)
4. Two weeks on Palau and Yap (but land activities might be pretty limited? And is a livaboard definitely the way to go in Palau -- vs. the Palau Pacific Resort and an operator like Sam's Tours?)
5. Two weeks in Malaysian Borneo. (Presently we know the least about this option, but are attracted to the combination of diving, orangutans, and pigmy elephants).

We know we need to do a lot more research, but any recommendations and tips other ScubaBoarders could provide would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

:bfish:

As for Malaysian Borneo, try dropping the operators an e-mail and see if they can accomodate your request. For more information about diving in Sipadan do a search on the subject. Happy vacation.

 

[cdiver2]

My wife and I did one week in OZ (land), great time.
One week at Walindi plantation PNG Diving, great time.
Four days live aboard to coral sea, so so

 

[stevenl]

Can't tell you much about 1, 2, 4 and 5, only about 3, Thailand.

Everything you want can be found here. Since the best diving is at the Similans and Hin Daeng/Hin Muang, I would go ther eif I were you (and if you decide for Thailand of course). Since a week liveaboard sounds like too much, you could do a very nice trip of about 4 days, which is the length of quite some of the trips on offer here. A liveaboard does offer better diving tha daytrip diving, and it sounds like 4 days should be ok for you.
If you want to, you can do some additional diving from either Khao Lak or Phuket, where Phuket has the advantage that you can also do daytrips to Hin Daeng.

 

[jiveturkey]

Yeah, I'd say Sipidan too. It'll give you most of the things on that list and you'll be close to teh orangutan sanctuary. Of course, I alwasy think of Bali when someone mentions photography. I hadn't bought my camera before I went there. I regret that now. It's a great place for pictures, especially tulamben. Great macro and of course the wreck too.

 

[_Bella_]

I'd vote for 1 or 5.
PNG and Sipadan/Kapalai/Mabul are an UW photogs dream. I would consider the Solomon Islands in category 1 as well. I go there as often as I can and at around twice a year it's not enough. Neither 1 nor 5 will have the animals and the great diving in the same location. It's more like, spend a week topside then a week diving. The best diving to be done from Borneo is slightly offshore from islands that are an hour or more boat ride away from mainland.

 

[the_cat_keeper]

Borneo Malaysia has more than Sipadan. There is also Layang-layang which is supposed to be really good diving location. I have only been to Sipadan-Mabul-Kapalai and really enjoyed it.

In Kota Kinabalu, there is the famous Mt Kinabalu standing tall at almost 4100m. You can also go trekking in one of the few primary rainforests left in the world (the Crocker range). Besides diving and trekking, you can also go white water rafting, golfing, etc. The Sabah official tourism website has lots of information.

 

[Island Hoppa]

Moderator -- please delete -- since to post this same question on both the Asia and Pacific boards is not allowed, I will ask about the Asian locations on the Asian board and the Pacific locations on the Pacific board. Thank you.

My husband and I are starting to plan a vacation of ~15 days for the last half of March 2005. Here are some of the things we're looking for:

1. Good intermediate-level diving in warm water (preferably >80 F). We are both underwater photographers. Looking for good visability, nice corals, and abundant marine life, with pelagics a big plus.
2. Little to no rain.
3. A good variety of topside activities such as hiking, kayaking, local culture, etc. Animals that you can interact with (esp. marsupials, primates, elephants) preferred as well. And good snorkeling would also be a plus.
4. Decent food for a vegetarian who eats dairy but no fish.
5. Accommodation in the 3 to 4 star range

Our previous experince in the region was in August 2003, when we did one week on Bali (topside activities only) and one week on a Komodo liveaboard. We loved this trip!! The only part that wasn't completely ideal was being on the boat for a week -- we had very few land excursions, and although we loved the diving we started to go a wee bit stir crazy.

Here is our current shortlist:

1. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in PNG
2. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea
3. Two weeks in Thailand (would we need to spend part of it on a liveaboard?)
4. Two weeks on Palau and Yap (but land activities might be pretty limited? And is a livaboard definitely the way to go in Palau -- vs. the Palau Pacific Resort and an operator like Sam's Tours?)
5. Two weeks in Malaysian Borneo. (Presently we know the least about this option, but are attracted to the combination of diving, orangutans, and pigmy elephants).

We know we need to do a lot more research, but any recommendations and tips other ScubaBoarders could provide would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

:bfish:

hey
all those dive spots you listed are amazing places. if you want a good time on land with interaction of animals and things like that i think australia definately beats all of your choices. thailand is a beautiful place i will actually be living there until the beginning of may on the gulf side of course (koh tao). the best diving in thailand is on the west side (adaman side) and due to the recent disaster many of the most beautiful dive spots are destroyed, and no you do not need to go on a liveaboard to dive thailand. Going on a liveaboard however does bring you to the best spots. never been to malaysia, i think though learning cultures and seeing a different way of life would be really cool on malaysia. From what ive heard and seen palau, rota, yap (south pacific) is absolutely amazing diving. i have dove guam and around that area. for an underwater photographer i would choose palau, sams tours is an awesome dive operation and no you do not need to go on a liveaboard to dive palau you will however if you are not staying on palau. i would love to go there for a couple of weeks but it is so expensive to get there. best dive spot you listed would probably be palau, thailand does come close but i would rule it out because of the recent tsunamis, best for land excursions would be australia or maybe malaysia. i would choose palau in a heartbeat over all of those places (palau has awesome kayaking too!) but i also dont care about animals and things like you guys do. if i were to factor that in i would dive the barrier or something in the coral sea and visit australia. anyway good luck with your decision there is no wrong answer.

 

[Portege]

Moderator -- please delete -- since to post this same question on both the Asia and Pacific boards is not allowed, I will ask about the Asian locations on the Asian board and the Pacific locations on the Pacific board. Thank you.

My husband and I are starting to plan a vacation of ~15 days for the last half of March 2005. Here are some of the things we're looking for:

1. Good intermediate-level diving in warm water (preferably >80 F). We are both underwater photographers. Looking for good visability, nice corals, and abundant marine life, with pelagics a big plus.
2. Little to no rain.
3. A good variety of topside activities such as hiking, kayaking, local culture, etc. Animals that you can interact with (esp. marsupials, primates, elephants) preferred as well. And good snorkeling would also be a plus.
4. Decent food for a vegetarian who eats dairy but no fish.
5. Accommodation in the 3 to 4 star range

Our previous experince in the region was in August 2003, when we did one week on Bali (topside activities only) and one week on a Komodo liveaboard. We loved this trip!! The only part that wasn't completely ideal was being on the boat for a week -- we had very few land excursions, and although we loved the diving we started to go a wee bit stir crazy.

Here is our current shortlist:

1. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in PNG
2. One week in Australia (for land activities) and one week on a liveaboard in the Coral Sea
3. Two weeks in Thailand (would we need to spend part of it on a liveaboard?)
4. Two weeks on Palau and Yap (but land activities might be pretty limited? And is a livaboard definitely the way to go in Palau -- vs. the Palau Pacific Resort and an operator like Sam's Tours?)
5. Two weeks in Malaysian Borneo. (Presently we know the least about this option, but are attracted to the combination of diving, orangutans, and pigmy elephants).

We know we need to do a lot more research, but any recommendations and tips other ScubaBoarders could provide would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

:bfish:

Hi there! I've recently been to a place in Asia called Derawan Dive Resort located in East Kalimantan, Indonesia. The diving was fantastic! Had the first time in my diving trips that I snorkelled with loads of Manta Rays, swam in a stingless jelly fish lake (only 2 in the world), saw ocean sharks and pigmy too!

Also, I had the chance to witness a LIVE turtle laying eggs on the beach, totally to about 100+.

I had a local company package it for me and they were pretty good in terms of the arrangement(s). Try viewing: www.eko-apac.com.

Between the choices above, I would suggest this place as the best alternative.

Cheers!