Where to go - December

[DiverAndy]

Hi all,

I have been doing some searching on the Scubaboards, and I am trying to settle on a place to go for Xmas. We are hoping to do 2 weeks with at least 5-7 days as an organised dive package, and then a week of finding our way around, discovering the terrain and doing the backpacker/budget thing.

We have done Thailand, and the Phillipines is looking a bit costly from a flight perspective (I am in Dubai and the flight prices at that time of year are costly with NO carriers offering ANY discounted/budget flights as lots of the Phillipino populus heads home for Xmas)

Bali seems the most cost effective but looking at the weather reports, the Monsoon is in full swing then and it can be a bit crappy weather-wise, also, the dive sites all look to have some fault (strong currents/surges, coral-bleaching and various things that indicates there must be something better)

Yap in Micronesia is good but it is a PITA to get to.....

Is December a bad tome to be in Malaysia?....Any valid info would be appreciated.

Thanks and happy bubbles to all

 

[pelan-pelan]

Consider west coast - that would seem to mean Langkawi. Haven't been there myself.

 

[popje]

Hi all,

I have been doing some searching on the Scubaboards, and I am trying to settle on a place to go for Xmas. We are hoping to do 2 weeks with at least 5-7 days as an organised dive package, and then a week of finding our way around, discovering the terrain and doing the backpacker/budget thing.

We have done Thailand, and the Phillipines is looking a bit costly from a flight perspective (I am in Dubai and the flight prices at that time of year are costly with NO carriers offering ANY discounted/budget flights as lots of the Phillipino populus heads home for Xmas)

Bali seems the most cost effective but looking at the weather reports, the Monsoon is in full swing then and it can be a bit crappy weather-wise, also, the dive sites all look to have some fault (strong currents/surges, coral-bleaching and various things that indicates there must be something better)

Yap in Micronesia is good but it is a PITA to get to.....

Is December a bad tome to be in Malaysia?....Any valid info would be appreciated.

Thanks and happy bubbles to all

Best dive spots are west coast Thailand and east coast Malaysia (dun ask, I'm trying to figure that out myself...) but in December it's monsoon on east coast Malaysia and everything basically closes down there. The Similans is where I'D go...

 

[DiverAndy]

Hi Peeps,


Thanks for all the valuable input. I think we are going to settle on Sulawesi and most probably around Manado...There are two resorts that I am considering but I would like to hear some opinions on one of them in particular. LumbaLumba is one which I have searched on SB and there is plenty of info on it, and most of it is good, so I am settled on that. The other is Bentanan-divers (www.dive-bentenan.com), I have searched and found very little info on them here at SB.
Has anyone been there or can they offer any points-of-view