My favorite should be Lembeh Strait, Indonesia.
I just fall in love with the bizzare critters. It's fun to look out for them when they are actually staring at your face, Rhinopias, Pegasus, Flying Gunnard, Mandarinfish, Dragonet, Stargazer, bizzare Scorpionfishes, Pygmy Seahorse, Bangai Cardinalfish, Nudibranch, Hairy Frogfish...
Tied closely would be Puri Jati, Secret Bay and Seraya Secret, Bali, Indonesia. They have similar critters, in Puri Jati we had a lot of encounter with Mimic Octopus and Harlequin Shrimps in Seraya Secret.
Others:
Poopoh, Menado:
Nice grassy/coral landscape with a lot of macro life to watch out for. Found a field of cuttlefish eggs, and one juvenille hairy frogfish the size of rice grain. Skeleton faced stonefish everywhere. Pairs of dragonet walking around and patiently posing for us.
Komodo Island:
Great share of macrolife, fat chubby pygmy seahorse which is a relief to the eyes, fish soup, graceful giant grouper and barracuda, playful moorish idol, sea apple, swarms of jacks, snapper and surgeonfish, zebra crab, coleman shrimp, various pipefish, seahorse, and soooo many nudibranch. Got the fix for macro and pelagic and crazy ripping currents that determine to take your mask and regulator off or wash you clean.
Crazy current at day, peaceful bays at night, nice night dive where Spanish Dancers are abundant.
Tulamben, Bali:
Liberty Wreck, Drop Off & Paradise Reef
Beautiful wreck, morning jogger school of bumphead parrotfish at dawn dive, tornado of jacks, sparkling flashfish at night dive. Great macro: leaf scorpionfish, ornate ghostpipefish, Boxer Crab, my new found Leander Plumonus, nudibranch, huge garden of clown fish, special yellow pygmy seahorse.
Sipadan, Malaysia:
Great underwater life and sharks laying on the shallow and turtles everywhere. Tornado of jacks and barracudas and unfortunately, school of divers.
Mabul & Kapalai, Malaysia:
Macro life, nudibranch, frogfish, mandarinfish etc.
Manjangan, Bali:
Beautiful garden eel, corals, and manjangan (deers) on the surface interval. Has great share of macro including pygmy seahorse.
Bunaken, Menado:
Beautiful wall with unforgettable sights of Pyramid Butterflyfish and Redtooth Triggerfish soup,
Chevron barracuda, Napoleon Wrasse.
Also the most beautiful surface interval where you can see dolphin in the surface and snokelling in amazing shallow reef.
Donsol & San Miquel, Phillippine:
Donsol is considered snorkelling with the whaleshark. San Miquel, nice shallow cave, beautiful soft corals, sea whips. But damn dynamite fishing, they almost got divers. Guaranteed jellyfish stings too, in many type and many shapes except life threatening ones.
Mantas in Manta Bowl.
Nusa Dua, Bali: Cold termocline, possible ripping current but also possible manta action and mola-mola. Shark caves.
Tengku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia:
Always remember the AOW course: Lost Instructor during deep dive in murky water, first shark in the first night dive. But special memory haven't found elsewhere: big school of squid.
Bintan, Indonesia: Simple but quite a cosy dive. Nudibranch, Turtle, Clownfish.
Tioman, Aur, Dayang, Malaysia : Used to be good dive sites, still happen once in a while. Migrating whaleshark, Huge Humphead Parrotfish, Cuttlefish.
Now too many school of divers that replace them.
I just fall in love with the bizzare critters. It's fun to look out for them when they are actually staring at your face, Rhinopias, Pegasus, Flying Gunnard, Mandarinfish, Dragonet, Stargazer, bizzare Scorpionfishes, Pygmy Seahorse, Bangai Cardinalfish, Nudibranch, Hairy Frogfish...
Tied closely would be Puri Jati, Secret Bay and Seraya Secret, Bali, Indonesia. They have similar critters, in Puri Jati we had a lot of encounter with Mimic Octopus and Harlequin Shrimps in Seraya Secret.
Others:
Poopoh, Menado:
Nice grassy/coral landscape with a lot of macro life to watch out for. Found a field of cuttlefish eggs, and one juvenille hairy frogfish the size of rice grain. Skeleton faced stonefish everywhere. Pairs of dragonet walking around and patiently posing for us.
Komodo Island:
Great share of macrolife, fat chubby pygmy seahorse which is a relief to the eyes, fish soup, graceful giant grouper and barracuda, playful moorish idol, sea apple, swarms of jacks, snapper and surgeonfish, zebra crab, coleman shrimp, various pipefish, seahorse, and soooo many nudibranch. Got the fix for macro and pelagic and crazy ripping currents that determine to take your mask and regulator off or wash you clean.
Crazy current at day, peaceful bays at night, nice night dive where Spanish Dancers are abundant.
Tulamben, Bali:
Liberty Wreck, Drop Off & Paradise Reef
Beautiful wreck, morning jogger school of bumphead parrotfish at dawn dive, tornado of jacks, sparkling flashfish at night dive. Great macro: leaf scorpionfish, ornate ghostpipefish, Boxer Crab, my new found Leander Plumonus, nudibranch, huge garden of clown fish, special yellow pygmy seahorse.
Sipadan, Malaysia:
Great underwater life and sharks laying on the shallow and turtles everywhere. Tornado of jacks and barracudas and unfortunately, school of divers.
Mabul & Kapalai, Malaysia:
Macro life, nudibranch, frogfish, mandarinfish etc.
Manjangan, Bali:
Beautiful garden eel, corals, and manjangan (deers) on the surface interval. Has great share of macro including pygmy seahorse.
Bunaken, Menado:
Beautiful wall with unforgettable sights of Pyramid Butterflyfish and Redtooth Triggerfish soup,
Chevron barracuda, Napoleon Wrasse.
Also the most beautiful surface interval where you can see dolphin in the surface and snokelling in amazing shallow reef.
Donsol & San Miquel, Phillippine:
Donsol is considered snorkelling with the whaleshark. San Miquel, nice shallow cave, beautiful soft corals, sea whips. But damn dynamite fishing, they almost got divers. Guaranteed jellyfish stings too, in many type and many shapes except life threatening ones.
Mantas in Manta Bowl.
Nusa Dua, Bali: Cold termocline, possible ripping current but also possible manta action and mola-mola. Shark caves.
Tengku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia:
Always remember the AOW course: Lost Instructor during deep dive in murky water, first shark in the first night dive. But special memory haven't found elsewhere: big school of squid.
Bintan, Indonesia: Simple but quite a cosy dive. Nudibranch, Turtle, Clownfish.
Tioman, Aur, Dayang, Malaysia : Used to be good dive sites, still happen once in a while. Migrating whaleshark, Huge Humphead Parrotfish, Cuttlefish.
Now too many school of divers that replace them.
