Pulau Weh?

[hallboy]

Anyone dived there?
Best season? rainy season?
How to get there?
How is trhe polityical situation?
Ectect

i only know that theres is only one dive op ( lumbalumba)

Thanks for any advice

 

[Live_in_Sin]

dived in late December. Diving was very good. schooling jacks, cudas etc... huge seafans, lots of morays.... and school of mantas etc.... if you are photographer, good for wide angle....

season is the same as Phuket season.

How to get there etc are explained in details on Lumba2 ' s web site.
you should send e-mail to Ton & Marjan (lumbalumba) to get up-date.

 

[hallboy]

So end of march or april woulds be ok?

From wher were you coming from? All those transferts to be a bit complicated;

wHER DID YOU STAY,

 

[Live_in_Sin]

as explained on Lumba2's site, [SIZE=-1]www.lumbalumba.com[/SIZE]
you can fly to Medan then to B Aceh and take ferry, or Air Asia is / will be flying from KL to B aceh directly, or take ferry from Penang to B Aceh (5hrs).
as where you stay, Lumba2 just build new rooms. other than that you can pick wherever you want when you get to Gapang Beach. I stayed at Laguna.

 

[kilo_fox]

There is a second dive operators on Pulau Weh, Rubiah Tirta Divers in Iboih

http://www.rubiahdivers.com/

I dived with them end of May this year - awesome diving!! I did 12 dives in 10 days, got a good discount and paid in the end 15 Euro per dive.
The dive shop was very much OK, good gear to rent, or just the tank. The instructors and DMs are partly expats, partly Indonesians. Most of the dives it was only me and a DM, sometimes one more diver in the "group".

I posted a dive trip report, but unfortunately it was deleted during the scubaboard server crash just after.. oh, but hang on, I just remembered that I posted the same trip report in an Indonesian dive forum, here the link, in case you are interested to read it:
forumselam.com ~ View topic - diving in Pulau Weh, May 17 - 27, 2007

End of March/April should be ok regarding the weather, rainy season should be over - said that, this year the rain did definitely not follow its supposed schedule in Indonesia, so no promise........

Security is really no issue anymore in Aceh, you don't need a travel permit anymore, and especially in Pulau Weh, it's so quiet that you don't even think of insecurity...

It's takes a little while to get there, plane, ferry, Minibus - but it's not that complicated and it's absolutely worth it!! Enjoy!!

 

[hallboy]

nice trip report.

Are you sure of that rainy season thing? is it mostly the same than Puhkhet or than Bali/Komod/ Bunaken?

 

[fabdive]

Salut Hallboy,

I spent quite some time in Pulau Weh and usually the best season is from March to October. Technically the rainy season is around December/January. BUT due to its equatorial position, you can get all the time a bit of rain over there, anyway diving is possible all year long.

I would strongly recommend Lumba Lumba diving centre, professionaly run by a couple of enthousiastic Dutch living there since 10 years: Ton & Marjan. Conatct them through their website and they'll give you all the information you need.
Enjoy your diving with Lumba Lumba Diving Centre, Pulau Weh (Weh Island), Aceh, Sumatra, Indonesia

 

[silent running]

Salut Hallboy,

I spent quite some time in Pulau Weh and usually the best season is from March to October.

OK, is there any major difference btw Lumba Lumba and Rubiah divers, other than that Rubiah is closer to most of the dive sites?

Also, I asked this question before but got no answer: is there any ferry or air service from Thailand to Northern Aceh?

 

[kilo_fox]

OK, is there any major difference btw Lumba Lumba and Rubiah divers, other than that Rubiah is closer to most of the dive sites?

RTD is owned by an Indonesian, Lumba Lumba by a Dutch. I heard from fellow divers that this would indeed make a difference. I chose RTD for a few reasons, one of them being that the dive shop was owned by a local guy. And I would go back there anytime. (have never dived with Lumba Lumba though)

Also, I asked this question before but got no answer: is there any ferry or air service from Thailand to Northern Aceh?

From Thailand directly to Aceh - AFAIK, it's not possible.
What might come closest, is this info that I came across last week in a travel forum:

And good news, I just got heard that AirAsia is confirmed to fly from Kuala Lumpur to Aceh every Tuesday, Friday and Saturday starting 6th November 2007! And seats are open for booking this coming Monday, 8th November 2007 from a kick *** fare of only RM 9.99 or Rp 29,999! Flights from KL to Aceh are mid morning round 11+ am (Msian time) and Aceh to KL at 12+pm (Indo time).

 

[hallboy]

RTD is owned by an Indonesian, Lumba Lumba by a Dutch. I heard from fellow divers that this would indeed make a difference. I chose RTD for a few reasons, one of them being that the dive shop was owned by a local guy. And I would go back there anytime. (have never dived with Lumba Lumba though)



From Thailand directly to Aceh - AFAIK, it's not possible.
What might come closest, is this info that I came across last week in a travel forum:

At that point, Rubiah did not answerd to any mails.....

gapang seems also more vivid than Iboh, but maybe i m wrong. I don't crae to go to any sharaton , but after 3 dives a day, hot water and AC are not luxury. Its posssible in gapang, in Iboh i dont know.

About Rubia: they seems to make day trips farest than Lumbalumba: am i wrong? Or do they go to the same spots any way.?