Best diving in Southeast Asia

Pulau Weh, Aceh, Indonesia is must see

Perhentians is nice but nothing special

Thanks... Wasnt Aceh where the tsunami hit tho?

I agree with #1, would add Komodo and Alor (both Indonesia, too).

It's true what you say about the tsunami, Pulau Weh was not much hit though, there are just a few spots where you still see a little damage, but it's growing back; there is loads of coralls, fans, critters and (schooling) fishies. I dived in P. Weh in May last year - awesome....

Indonesia:
- Raja Ampat in Papua
- Togian island in South Sulawesi
- Bunaken & Lembeh strain in North Sulawesi
- Kakaban Lake in Kalimantan
- Amed
- Komodo island

etc..etc...

Philippines;
tubataha and Apo reef in mindoro( not same as apo island) definitely best.
Most of northern palawan;
Try to check out Taophilippines.com-the only eco expedition into backwater of palawan, they do the remote islands in palawan and would tell you where to dive- but i think they keep their own found dive site secret from the rest of the industry-- worth checking them out tho.

what all those guys said about indonesia, at least i can vouch for labuan bajo/komodo, bunaken/manado, and especially pulau weh (though i went before the tsunami)

i must warn you, gili islands are a bt crap for diving though. snorkelling is nice enough but i've been way disappointed every time i dove there.

My list of the places I have been:

Wery good sites:
- Apo Island: I like big stuff, so I was extremly lucky to see a Trasher shark there. My divemaster with 1000 dives in Apo, had never seen one, so don't expact to see it:). Becaurse of ferryproblem, I had 3 dives in Dauin (near Apo Island) and they was also wery good! So Apo with Dauin is my favorite in Philippines and one of my absolute favoriteplace in the world!

• Sabang, Puerta Galera: If you like small stuff and detail, than this is a perfect place (you need a good guide to find stuff). Also sharkes, current and other fun stuff.

• Coron Island: Wreckdives. You need experience (more than 100 dives?) and you need to go down to 30-40 meter to see most of the ships. Also some shallow sites, but if you don't like wreck(and have the experience), than better to go anoteher place. You can also dive in Baracuda Lake (with no Baracudas) with warm water. Many unexperience divers rate it as the best in Coron Island, but I didn't like it. Don't go in the cave in thel lake, if the divemaster ask you about you want something like that. It's nothing there, and we almost have one diver killed.

• Similand Island: Fantastic dives and good choice of different liveonboard companys. Probbably best in Thailand.

• Phiphi: I was probably wery lucky with my two dives there, but the two I have, was fantastic.

Diveable sites:
- Moalboal: I didn't like my fist dive there and left. It's probbably a good divesite, but I came from Apo Island and was not in mood to more diving at that point.

• Nha Trang, Vietnam. Better than expacted

Not recommended:
- Sihanoukville, cambodia. Dynamite fishing and around and 1-2 meter visibillity. One of my worst dive ever!
- Koh Tao. More divers than fish. Probbably the most overrated divesite in the world?

My advice about diving in Asia: Don't trust the divemaster, trust only yourself and your buddy. We almost had one diver kiled becaurse a crazy divemaster with a crazy plan in Coron Island and the security is not as good as it shoud be in Philippines (and the rest of the world). So don't go deep down, becaurse your divemaster say so.