suggestion for one to one and a half month trip

[sagy101]

Hello,
I want to go on a diving trip from mid june to mid/end of july.
Any suggestion? doesnt have to be one location.

Thank you in advance.

 

[drrich2]

I'm not familiar with opportunities in your region of the world. Some 'universal' info. that may help others help you:

1.) Is this a budget trip, or is money not so much a problem?
2.) Is language an issue? If so, what language needs to be widely understood where you go?
3.) What topside activities are important? Do you like being near a city, or prefer rural areas?
4.) What kind of diving do you prefer? Reefs? Macro animals or big animals?
5.) Are you traveling alone, or will non-diving family be along?

Richard.

 

[sagy101]

I'm not familiar with opportunities in your region of the world. Some 'universal' info. that may help others help you:

1.) Is this a budget trip, or is money not so much a problem?
2.) Is language an issue? If so, what language needs to be widely understood where you go?
3.) What topside activities are important? Do you like being near a city, or prefer rural areas?
4.) What kind of diving do you prefer? Reefs? Macro animals or big animals?
5.) Are you traveling alone, or will non-diving family be along?

Richard.

thank you for the reply.
the trip doesnt need to be on the region.

1) i was thinking of maximum budget of around 8500$ seems enough to me (correct me if i am wrong).
2) english is perfectly fine.
3) i prefer rural areas but i wanna focus on diving so where the sites take me, its ok.
4) i like big animal and reefs, macro doesnt really excite me.
5) currently alone and if some one joins me he will also be a diver.

Also i have full diving gear if it matters.

Again thank you,any suggestions will be welcomed.
I tried researching on my own but came out pretty empty handed.

 

[Centrals]

The Coral Triangle ie. Indonesia(your nationality could be a problem) + Philippines
1. As long as you stay away from Raja Ampat(Indonesia).
2. Not a problem
3. Add East Timor
4. Indonesia(Bali, Bunakan, Lombok and Komodo). Philippines[Apo Reef, Coron(wrecks), Malapascua and Southern Leyte].

 

[drrich2]

$8500 for 6 weeks breaks down to $1,400+/week for food, diving and lodging. If you include airfare in that, even less. I love live-aboard but can hardly imagine diving 6 straight weeks on one, plus your budget wouldn't work for that. Some destinations are best done by live-aboard, so if you commit to land-based, that might narrow down the possibilities.

For that matter, can your ears handle 6 straight weeks of high intensity diving? How important is it make your trip take the whole 6 weeks, vs. get a set # of dives? Put another way, let's say you could average 2 dives/day, 6 days/week (12 dives/week) for 6 weeks (72 dives), or 4 dives/day same parameters and get those done in 3 weeks? Same dive count, half the food cost, maybe cheaper on lodging.

What I've got in mind is pricing, oh, say, a 10 day Komodo live-aboard, maybe with some follow up land-based diving, but well under 6 weeks total. I've not dove that section of the world; you can read plenty of trip reports from people who have.

Richard.

 

[diversteve]

You could hit a lot of the best of the Caribbean in 6 weeks but there's a flight consideration (besides flying over from Israel) A lot of the better dive destinations are fairly close to a US hub city so the airlines tend to route thru them. So you may find yourself flying back thru Atlanta, Miami or Houston to get to an island 300mi. away from where you are. And it's almost always an overnight connection.

American Airlines hubs thru San Juan, PR. The diving there is not great but much of the Lesser Antilles and islands south are accessible thru there. Waiting once for our flight - they must've called flights to 1/2 dozen of the top dive destinations in the Caribbean.
Here's a list of places you can get to from there - in no order. I only picked ones with good diving.

st thomas
turks & caicos
grand cayman
tortola bvi
st croix
freeport bahamas
nassau bahamas
domininican republic
st maarten
st barts
nevis and st kitts
antigua and barbuda
guadeloupe
dominica
st lucia
bonaire
curacao
grenada
trinidad and tobago
miami (florida keys?)
cuba

You'll see sharks around Turks/Caicos, definitely the Bahamas and possibly the lesser Cayman Islands (Brac or Litte Cayman) Especially the Bahamas most of the islands have one or more sharks they often see. Caribbean Reef Sharks off Nasaau. Tiger Sharks off Grand Bahama and Hmmerheads off Bimini. If you did decide on 2-3 islands there - Bahamasair or Silver has inter-Bahamas flights - saving you the connection back thru MIA. Except for Nassau or Miami it's all pretty "rural".

i use Matrix - ITA Software by Google: - you can't book thru them but they're the database many of the airlines also use. If you pick a destination then click nearby - it will show you all the flights to nearby islands. I used 500 mi. for the list above.

A consideration might be the start of Hurricane season in the Caribbean during your timeframe. Technically it's June 1st.
Last year (20116) was above average but there were only 3 Tropical Storms in June - none in July - the first Hurricane (Cat 1) wasn't until mid-August and it hit Mexico to the west. 2016 Atlantic hurricane season - Wikipedia

 

[Adelaar Cruises]

Indonesia has amazing and diverse diving! You could travel throughout the country for 6 weeks diving and sightseeing easily.

If you are headed this way this new airline pass from Garuda may help with. We've posted more information about this pass on the following thread.

https://www.facebook.com/hashtag/garuda?source=feed_text&story_id=10154578260384891
​

Komodo has spectacular diving and is rated one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. If your travels bring you to this part of the world you should definitely think about diving Komodo.

Wherever your dive holiday takes you enjoy!

 

[sagy101]

$8500 for 6 weeks breaks down to $1,400+/week for food, diving and lodging. If you include airfare in that, even less. I love live-aboard but can hardly imagine diving 6 straight weeks on one, plus your budget wouldn't work for that. Some destinations are best done by live-aboard, so if you commit to land-based, that might narrow down the possibilities.

For that matter, can your ears handle 6 straight weeks of high intensity diving? How important is it make your trip take the whole 6 weeks, vs. get a set # of dives? Put another way, let's say you could average 2 dives/day, 6 days/week (12 dives/week) for 6 weeks (72 dives), or 4 dives/day same parameters and get those done in 3 weeks? Same dive count, half the food cost, maybe cheaper on lodging.

What I've got in mind is pricing, oh, say, a 10 day Komodo live-aboard, maybe with some follow up land-based diving, but well under 6 weeks total. I've not dove that section of the world; you can read plenty of trip reports from people who have.

Richard.

doesnt have to be 6 weeks, between 4-6 weeks is good.
I already did some trip 3-4 dives a day for about 15 days and i could have gone on with no problem but maybe 1, 2 or 3 days of land trip will be nice.
also i can top out at about 10500$ if it helps (flight back and forth from here is about 1000$)

 

[sagy101]

You could hit a lot of the best of the Caribbean in 6 weeks but there's a flight consideration (besides flying over from Israel) A lot of the better dive destinations are fairly close to a US hub city so the airlines tend to route thru them. So you may find yourself flying back thru Atlanta, Miami or Houston to get to an island 300mi. away from where you are. And it's almost always an overnight connection.

American Airlines hubs thru San Juan, PR. The diving there is not great but much of the Lesser Antilles and islands south are accessible thru there. Waiting once for our flight - they must've called flights to 1/2 dozen of the top dive destinations in the Caribbean.
Here's a list of places you can get to from there - in no order. I only picked ones with good diving.

st thomas
turks & caicos
grand cayman
tortola bvi
st croix
freeport bahamas
nassau bahamas
domininican republic
st maarten
st barts
nevis and st kitts
antigua and barbuda
guadeloupe
dominica
st lucia
bonaire
curacao
grenada
trinidad and tobago
miami (florida keys?)
cuba

You'll see sharks around Turks/Caicos, definitely the Bahamas and possibly the lesser Cayman Islands (Brac or Litte Cayman) Especially the Bahamas most of the islands have one or more sharks they often see. Caribbean Reef Sharks off Nasaau. Tiger Sharks off Grand Bahama and Hmmerheads off Bimini. If you did decide on 2-3 islands there - Bahamasair or Silver has inter-Bahamas flights - saving you the connection back thru MIA. Except for Nassau or Miami it's all pretty "rural".

i use Matrix - ITA Software by Google: - you can't book thru them but they're the database many of the airlines also use. If you pick a destination then click nearby - it will show you all the flights to nearby islands. I used 500 mi. for the list above.

A consideration might be the start of Hurricane season in the Caribbean during your timeframe. Technically it's June 1st.
Last year (20116) was above average but there were only 3 Tropical Storms in June - none in July - the first Hurricane (Cat 1) wasn't until mid-August and it hit Mexico to the west. 2016 Atlantic hurricane season - Wikipedia

thank you i will check those out.
just a few question.
1) connection thru the us doesnt require me to have a us visa, right? becuase i am not actually getting thru to the us.
2) do you know of some deal on flights there?
3) will it fit the budget (flight to the us from and back is about 1000$)?

 

[sagy101]

Indonesia has amazing and diverse diving! You could travel throughout the country for 6 weeks diving and sightseeing easily.

If you are headed this way this new airline pass from Garuda may help with. We've posted more information about this pass on the following thread.

View attachment 404326
​

Komodo has spectacular diving and is rated one of the 7 Natural Wonders of the World. If your travels bring you to this part of the world you should definitely think about diving Komodo.

Wherever your dive holiday takes you enjoy!

thank you very much looks very good. few question:

1) will it fit the 8500$ budget? (about 1000$ is flight to and back).
2) are those shore dives or will i need to live-aboard?
3) is it time frame good? weather wise?


EDIT

well after some research apperntly its possible to get a visa to inodnesia but its a long (month), expensive (450$) process and its not a sure thing i will get a visa at the end.
so this option unfortunately is not good.