4 weeks in Indonesia focused on diving - suggestions?

You could skip diving in Bali which doesn't compare to diving further east.
Komodo will have to be a side-trip from Bali, you can't easily continue towards Raja Ampat from there.
So after a round-trip to Komodo, I recommend flying from Bali to Manado. The dives sites of North Sulwesi are world famous and well developed.
From Manado you could continue straight to Raja Ampat, or if you want something far more off the beaten track, stop in North Maluku in between. Diving is now available there in Ternate, Halmahera and Morotai, and is generally far cheaper than in Raja Ampat. Note thought that the only direct connection from North Maluku to RA is by ship, there are no flights.
RA is the best diving in Indonesia if not the world, but can be expensive, even if staying in budget places, so with a limited budget you should plan your time there carefully.
Chances are these fill your month already, but if you have a few days left, you could stop in Ambon on your way back (there are direct flights from Sorong) and do some dives there.

Hi,

Komodo and Raja Ampat play in a different league than all the other dive spots I tried in Indonesia. Raja Ampat has a slight edge because, in my opinion, fabulous dives are more common than in Komodo. But with the right conditions and a little bit of luck Komodo is as amazing as Raja.

I thought for a long time that diving was expensive in Raja Ampat but you can manage to fit everything in a decent budget. Last time I was there I dived with Maria, a manadonese guide that works with Corepen Homestay on Gam and it was really good for a fraction of the price of resorts.

Basically it's gonna cost you as following :

• 350'000 per day for food and accomodation
• 150'000 per day to rent the gear
• 400'000 per dive
• 1'000'000 for the marine park entry tag (valid for 365 days)
• 500'000x2 to go from Waisai to your resort (can be shared with other people)
• 130'000x2 for the Waisai-Sorong ferry

On Komodo expect to pay around 500,000 per dive if you take about 10 (price includes the gear rental and usually the lunch at noon). There is also a marine park fee to pay daily (something like 120'000 if I remember well). For accommodation you can find something under 100'000Rp a night, food prices are classic for Indo.

Further east off Flores there is also really good diving in Alor.

Another option to consider is Nusa Penida (or Lembongan the spots dived are the same). The island offer beautiful sights, manta ray year round and mola mola if you are lucky. The prices are quite cheap and you're really close from Bali.

In North Sulawesi, Bunaken is the cheapest options but it's really not my favorite destination. All spots look pretty much the same even though the wall are impressive and the turtle gigantic. Bangka, Siladen or Sangihe are much more expensive.

Diving in Morotai or Halmahera is not gonna be cheap especially when it comes to accommodation. A dutch guy called Rob Sinke is the pioneer of both destination for diving and owns the only permanent resorts there in my knowledge. Halmahera is a good place but according to him Morotai corals are quite damaged.

If you have never tried, Ambon is awesome for muck diving. The shop Bluemotion has good prices.

Wakatobi in South-East Sulawesi, Banda islands in South Maluku or Triton Bay in West Papua are excellent destinations but not the cheapest one.

For Laszlo if you read this. Thanks a lot for your website, it's a treasure trove, I used it a lot to travel in Papua and Maluku.

There are local-run dive operations on both Halmahera (in Tobelo and Jailolo) and Morotai. No need to dive with Rob Sinke if one is on a tight budget. Diving at Ternate is very cheap, too. And all these have cheap accommodation.

Sorry, I meant Weda instead of Halmahera. Didn't know about Morotai though. Tobelo is mostly famous for the underwater volcano indeed.

In my humble opinion, especially if one is not familiar with Indonesia diving scene, there are way more obvious choice than Northern Maluku for diving (Komodo, Raja Ampat, Ambon, Penida, Wakatobi, Bunaken, Banda, Bira, Togian ...). It doesn't mean it's not worth it.

Remember that OP waa asking for "an optimal route" and budget prices, and within a one month timeframe.
Raja Ampat was a must for him, and North Sulawesi a very logical suggestion being. Both a very popular dive destination and right on the route to RA.
I added North Maluku as a possible addition as it is located right between those two, so very much suits an optimal routing.
Places like Banda, Alor and Wakatobi would require detours, with additional RT flights.

Fair point.

I would still recommend to stop in Ambon rather than in North Maluku. Having dived both Ambon has exceptional muck dive while Halmahera (at least Weda) is more average (for Indonesian diving standards).

If you want to save on flights, there is many more diving options in North Sulawesi : Lembeh (muck), Bangka, Siladen, Sangihe ...

An alternative to Lazslo's route could be Bali - Nusa Penida - Komodo - Alor. But you cannot visit every islands on your way in one month.

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