I am saving for a liveaboard trip to indonesia on the side of my yearly carribean diving trips but am overwhelmed at the options and just dont know where to go. I understand a liveaboard is the best option. The airfare cost to indonesia is what keeps me going back to the caribbean since our dive trips are usually inclusive of the whole family. Anyhow, what we would like to see are sharks, clownfish and powder blue tangs/surgeonfish (for my wife), mantas, beautiful soft coral, vast amounts of colorful fish ike anthias and the such. We are definitely more into reefs than muck diving. Is there a place that incorporates all of these? If we travel across the world for a liveaboard I would really like it to be a top spot that isn't a huge hassle to get to.
If you go this year, the airfare to Indonesia is cheap. I just book one for November from Houston to Denpasar, Bali, via Manchester using Singapore Airlines (to me it's still the best airlines to use for flying half around the world from Houston). I paid $688 for roundtrip.
I lead a group of 13 divers, chartering a whole liveaboard for 12-day crossing trip from Ambon to Sorong passing Banda Sea & Raja Ampat. if you like liveaboard diving, that's a great place to go. However, the domestic flights may add another $500 on top of it. If you haven't been diving in Indonesia, then, Komodo is much cheaper & shorter flight to go. You just need to do a puddle jump from Denpasar to Labuan Bajo. Or if you choose the fast cruiser liveaboard, like Mermaid I & II, then you can do around trip from Benoa (Bali) to Komodo & back to Benoa.
You may even don't need to go elsewhere in Indonesia, just do the dive safari along Bali coast from Secret Bay on the Northwest to Tulamben (dive in one of the best wreck in the world - USS Liberty) on the Northeast, down to the East coast in Padangbai, to Southwest in Nusa Penida. You can see manta in Manta Point in Nusa Penida. If you come at the right time of the year (July-September) you may get lucky to see 20' Oceanic Mola-Mola (like shown in my Avatar).
I've been to Bonaire 1x, Utila 1x, Cayman Brac 1x Tobago 1x, Bali 9x, Komodo 3x, Raja Ampat 5x. So you get my drift.
Misool Eco Resort (MER) is a very nice place to stay, but like
@Diving Dubai said, it'll cost you an arm & a leg, plus 6-hour flight from Denpasar to Sorong, + 4-hour boat ride from Sorong to MER & an over night stay in Makassar airport for transit & an overnight stay in Sorong on the return trip on top of the 24-hour flight from Houston to Singapore & 2-hour flight from Singapore to Denpasar.
If I were you, skip liveaboard, just enjoy the top & below sides of Bali, especially when you have never been to Indonesia. You will see all the fish, critters & corals that you mentioned & more.
Have fun diving & I hope we see each other there or elsewhere, someday.