Where can I dive in Indonesia in January?

[eugeni]

I'm planning to go to Indonesia on Jan. 13-31. It is rainy season. Most parts of Indonesia around this time is divable but not the best conditions. Actually I found that after my ticketing. I got the information South Komodo is the best time to dive around January. But later I also found different opinions about this. Now I’m quite confused. Around this time what is the real diving condition of Bali, North and South Komodo.
Could you please recommend any budget LOB for south komodo?
I consider right after my south komodo diving fly to Phuket since its dry season there. If you are familiar with Indonesia, please give me good advices for January diving tour in Indonesia.
Thanks a lot.

 

[ocdiver1]

Hi Eugeni, read a couple of your posts. I suppose I'm not well versed in the weather patterns of Indonesia, but I have spent a lot of time diving all around the country up to as late as mid December and from February on. I've never been anywhere where there was so much rain during roughly the time you'd be going that diving was greatly affected. And Indonesia is such a huge, spread out country that weather in one part could be dramatically different than another at the same time of year. I can tell you for a fact that diving in Indonesia is superior to diving around Phuket. Personally, I wouldn't completely alter your trip when you've already booked your ticket to chase the perception of better conditions and no doubt spend a whole lot more money...plus again the diving is far better in Indo anyway. For the amount of time you have to spend, I'd do 4-5 days in Bali, taking in as a minimum Nusa Penida (mantas at manta point, too late for molas) with a trip to Tulamben for the Liberty and excellent muck/maco diving at Seraya, and spend the rest of the time in northern Sulawesi, combining Lembeh and Bunaken...which will give you a great combination of macro opportunities and wall diving with the potential for bigger stuff. If rain/viz is still a concern, the viz in Lembeh is never terribly great to begin with and it's not that much of a factor in that type of diving anyway.

You mention Komodo..that's a great trip as well, unfortunately I can't personally point you to any reasonable liveaboards. You really can't go wrong with staying in Indo..at the end of the day I wouldn't change your trip for it being the rainy season.

 

[Quero]

Most low-budget liveaboards in Komodo are booked locally rather than through internet bookings. The budget businesses are shoestring operations that don't invest a lot of time and energy in marketing beyond walk-ins. Having said that, there are a few boats that with a little digging and work and flexibility in relation to communications, you might be able to book. Blue Dragon is one such boat. A lot of the cheaper boats don't run on fixed schedules but only when enough people show up. It makes it a bit difficult to plan. If you are willing to bump up to a mid-priced boat, planning becomes much easier.

 

[whalerock]

I would spend some time in Bali and dice the Liberty, than Nusa Penida and than off to Lembeh and Sulawesi. Most of the higher class liveaboard are in Raja Ampat at this time of the year, and for a good reason. Firstly its season up in Raja Ampat and in Komodo you could have bad luck with the weather. There will be still diving, but mainly in the northern part. The southern part of Komodo (Manta Alley) and Rinca (Cannibal Rock) are not often reachable in the rainy season because of high waves and strong winds.

 

[DiveExploreIndonesia]

January is the raining season for Bali and Nusa Tenggara region. This doesn’t mean it is raining every day and all day, you can expect some very sunny days as well. Regarding the diving for Bali but also for Komodo, the visibility is generally reduced compared to the rest of the year. For South Komodo is definitely not the best time and it could be difficult to find a boat to dive the south.
My suggestion is to dive Bali then fly to Phuket, and keep Komodo for another time travelling. Komodo deserves at least a full week with good diving conditions ( starting in April and up to December) , so you can experience both : north and south.

 

[ocdiver1]

Unless a person had unlimited time and money, I really wouldn't advise someone who already had their ticket to Indonesia to just fly into Bali, dive a couple of days, pay no doubt a change fee and then additional airfare to Phuket, and just return to Indonesia at a later date for more diving, and all over the perception of bad diving during the rainy season? I've enjoyed diving out of Phuket, and I know it's high season there, but really...the superior diving is in Indonesia. It sounds like conditions are not good for Komodo, but Sulawesi, West Papua, Pulau Weh, elsewhere in NT, etc. are all superior options. This is someone who sounds like they are making a potentially expensive decision to completely change their trip over stressing out over this issue. I say stay in Indonesia, save money, and enjoy the superior diving.

 

[Bali Diver]

I say stay in Indonesia, save money, and enjoy the superior diving.

Totally agree with that

 

[Luko]

January = time for diving Ambon!
On a par with Lembeh for macro critters plus great coral dives on the south coast.

 

[DiveExploreIndonesia]

It is true that Indonesia is a vast country and weather is changing a lot from one place to another. However, January is the peak of the raining season and it affects the quality of diving in lots of parts of Indonesia. I have been living in Indonesia for over 10 years and I can say that there is generally one strong shower a day and many overcastted hours, waves on the sea and constantly reduced visibility underwater (due debris that wash off land). There is of course some sun as well, sometimes even every day for a while, but it is unpredictable.
The decision also depends on your preferences for diving. If you expect to do lots of reef diving then good visibility is important. I did diving on mediocre dive sites with excellent conditions and I preferred it compared to excellent dive sites with bad conditions. It is personal choice. It also depends from your diving experience. If you have never dived the good coral reefs before, then you might be charmed with Indonesian reefs despite diving conditions. If you look for some manta diving, than visibility on those sites is never very good anyway. If you are a lot into macro, than visibility doesn’t matter much and Bali offers very good critter dives.
I don’t really advise Bunaken, since in my opinion is not really good in January. This is as well true for Komodo diving at that time of the year. If you are flying to Bali, then I still advise doing some diving around the island for a good mix of everything (manta, macro, coral reefs and of course the wreck). In my first post I was merely suggesting that the whole stay in Indonesia can be focused on Bali and then follow your idea to fly to Phuket . Luko is right, the timing is good for Ambon and this could be an option.
I did a fast search for plane tickets and at the moment flying from Bali to Manado on 20^th Jan would cost you around 110 USD (one way with Lion Air) or 150usd ( one way with Garuda Indonesia) , Bali –Ambon for January is 160 USD ( one way with lion air) . compare to 50 USD for flight Bali – Phuket (one way Air Asia). So staying in Indonesia does not necessarily mean saving money…

 

[Luko]

Bali –Ambon for January is 160 USD ( one way with lion air) . compare to 50 USD for flight Bali – Phuket (one way Air Asia). So staying in Indonesia does not necessarily mean saving money…

Though if you forget Bali, Ambon can be easily and cheaply reached from Jakarta (Batavia airlines) and afterwards there are lots of diving places around that could be worth at least 3 weeks : Saparua and the Lease islands, the Bandas, etc. without even having to remind that you can hop directly from Ambon to Sorong if R4 gets in your plans.