Snorkelling comparisons

I'd definitely agree with the scores given at #3. In 2009, we did a trip that included a week in Roatan and three weeks in Bonaire, then went on to Egypt. Bonaire is meant to be the pinnacle for fish variety in the Caribbean, with 300 species. That's a tiny fraction of the Red Sea, and an even tinier fraction of the vast diversity of Indonesia. The visibility is great, but it just means you get to see the muted greens and browns more clearly. Going from Bonaire to Dahab was like going from a black and white movie to BluRay.

That said, Bonaire was much better than Roatan. We went out as snorkelers on a couple of dive boats because we thought what we were seeing on shore snorks must be far inferior. Instead, we got to look down at the divers who weren't seeing as much as we were. After the first trip, I was known as "The Guy Who Saw Three Turtles!!!!" Ho hum. Add the expensive accommodation and mediocre food in the Central America/ Caribbean area compared to Dahab or Indonesia, and it became a "been there, done that" very quickly for us.

Konniandmatt, I had understood that Prince John had shut down. Are they under new management? We were planning on going this spring, but wound up opting for Sumatra instead when the Prince John website said they were closing down.

Hello Karlo: We have learned in Sept 2011 that there had been a change of management, about one year ago. The old manager and the new one share the same name ("Alex") which makes it bit confusing. Best, check for details in our blog
http://konniandmatt.blogspot.com/2011/08/16-aug-15-sep-2011-tanjung-karang.html ,
http://konniandmatt.blogspot.com/2011/09/05-sep-15-sep-2011-tanjung-karang.html and inquire via email.
We have already booked flights to Palu for our next visit at Prince John in October 2012 and are pretty sure that they are still in business. Find out and let us know but notice that there are two similar websites, the old one and the new one. You can also find a link to the new one in our blog.
Cheers, Matt.

I would like to jump in here but will also start a topic because I need a lot of guidance. We are going to Raja Ampat next year on a snorkel liveabord through the Oceanic Society but they have shortened the trip from 12 days snorkeling to 8. Considering we will be coming about10,000 miles and flying 30 hours from NYC we want one other location where there is excellent snorkeling without flying 3-4 hours. In any case we have to fly back to Makassar or Jakarta but from there we want a destination for 5-6 days. We will have to return to Jakarta because of the nature of the ticket the organization will book us on which is a very direct routing to Jakarta.We have been to Bunaken, Togean and Baggii Islands, Lombok (not impressed at all) and snorkeled around Komodo and Sulawisi off Wakatobi Dive Resort (this past Sept.) which is in the South Eastern tip of the island.
We do not want more of the same. The resort should be middle-range, maybe 3-4 star with air conditioned rooms and a lounge with A/C and internet and good food. We prefer a place where they actually cater to both snorkelers and divers and take snorkelers out once or twice a day for 60-90 minutes to diffderent spots preferrably separate from divers.We would be willing to pay $250-$275/person including room and board+tax/service and as I said it would be for 5 or 6 nights.Ideally we would want to fly non-stop for up to 3-4 non-stop hours to such a destination.
Any ideas??

Anyone know anything about diving in Nicaragua other than the Corn Islands? I'm probably going to be on the Pacific coast, a bit south of Managua - is it worthwhile diving there?