indonesia

I did my best diving ever on the island Pulau Weh, Sumatra (most western tip of Indonesia). I dived with Rubiah Tirta Divers, I really can recommend them.

Otherwise, you are having a beautiful list, good choice!

Hi, I'm gili trawangan diver, I worked and live in Indo for many year and had travel around.
You had all the most beautiful underwater paradise list ..

Try this company, Belong to my friend :
Lombok and Beyond Diving Adventure
Komodo Diving Cruise

Enjoy your diving in Indonesia

Gili Diver

IN brief:

Gili Trawangan diving is not great but with four months its a must visit. Drift dives can be entertaining there but the top side was excellent. Great food, great accomodation and importantly for me (and for Indoesia) some great bars. Dream Divers and Manta Divers are good.

Lembeh a favourite. Make plenty of time. Two Fish Divers good for Bunaken (but crappy for Lembeh, accomodation is shite).

Can recommend Mermaid II as a LA to Komodo / Rinca, although with that amount of time 1 week will be too short.

Look for western run dive shops in Bali - some real cowboys around.

Four months? Damn!

Consider giving the Gilis a pass and spend more time on Flores and then head to Alor

Be sure to arrange a social visa in advance if you plan on 4 continuous months in Indonesia. If you have to break it up into 2 - 60 day visas make a quick run to East Timor for some sweet diving there and then head back to Indonesia with a renewed visa.

I am so envious. Keep in touch , we might cross paths in Alor or Sulawasi.

Did my open water in Labuan Bajo and there is some cool stuff there. You can boat out to see lots of manta rays, lots of fishies, big and small. The operator we went with was reefseekers.www.reefseekers.net dive operator We liked them, very friendly and knowledgeable.

Also, the Liberty wreck in Tulamben, north Bali is awesome. You can go inside the engine room and body. Its massive and in really shallow water. The highest point is at 3m, and the deepest we went was 20m and we saw heaps of it.

So jealous of yr trip. Have a great time.

Tim

Just a quick comment so you don't travel to the wrong place, and also to avoid confusion. When you see a place referred to as being a paradise for macro enthusiasts, the term "macro" usually refers to uw photography and means small stuff, such as pygmy seahorses, nudibranchs etc. If you are interested in large fish, they are usually referred to as "pelagics" ie fish which normally live in deep water, such as sharks etc. Many dive sites in Bali, Komodo and Manado offer both. Lembeh Strait is pretty much small stuff only, but it's amazing what you see there. I love both kinds of diving, reefs and walls for "big stuff", and muck diving for small stuff. I will be travelling and diving in South East Asia for about a year from April onwards, Indonesia, Borneo and the Philippines. You just can't beat the place for value for money.

Raja Ampat Islands, Komodo, North
> Sulawesi and Bali . . For Raja Ampat,
> Misool , Komodo Island (including Rinca) . North Sulawesi i Lembeh. Bali
> macro while Nusa Penida > Raja Ampat and Komodo
> Misool.
northern area of Raja Ampat,

Here is a good sources of info for diving in all those areas: Indo Dive Sites

Thanks for diving tips....any suggestions on apartment/house rentals in these areas? Do you suggest these places for families...or, is this place best for adults??

Edited by: kokomo

Sybille...thanks for your post, as I have checked into this Lembeth Strait and it seems perfect for our group. Would love some recommendations on housing, if you know of some possibilities....villas, houses, etc for rent?? You posted a while ago...and, we'd love to hear follow-up of your trip....