Hello,

My partner and I are looking for a honeymoon destination in the Pacific that is quiet, has good weather and diving. I would love to go to the Perhentians but the Monsoons starting in November put me off a bit. We will be wanting a week from about the 13th so would that still be crap weather?

November is just about the rainiest month in that area, go to weatherbase.com and look at Malalysia (use Kuala Terrenganu and Kota Bahru for locators) and also Thailand (use Surat Thani). I would not go then. Many of the resorts on the small islands used to close from late October until late March, but increased tourism means they now stay open and get somewhat unsuspecting tourists. If by diving you mean scuba diving, the other issue is that the monsoons have been working their way up the coast since October and churing the waters, making for much less visibility in normally very clear waters. October and NOvember are quite tricky for diving holidays in SE Asia. I would not recco that area. YOu might be OK a lot farther north in Thailand someplace off the coast of Cambodia, but I can't say for sure that even then you won't have less visiblity than is ideal. Perhaps others have dived in the far north in November and can say for sure.

Hi - you've picked a great destination, but bad time. Sad but true.

I would suggest the GBR which should be OK in mid Nov (but might not be) or - so many possibilites in the Pacific - Vanuatu, Cooks?

BTW the Perhentians are nowhere near the Pacific.

Yeah, I'm thinking for a honeymoon at that time of year, the south pacific may be best. Take a look at French Polynesia (way expensive), Fiji, or the Cook Islands. You don't want to spend your honeymoon worrying about the weather!

Apologies about the Pacific comment. Where and what is GBR?

Cheers,


Geoff

GBR is the Great Barrier Reef in Australia.

SHould have known that! Been there!

ANy other ideas for November honeymoon where the weather is nice, diving excellent and a bit of shopping can be done?

Geoff

Belize? Not such good shopping but FANTASTIC diving

IMO excellent diving and even a bit of shopping are sometimes hard to find in the same place, for example a place like Sipidan in Malaysia (pouring rain in November) in nothing but huts on the beach but has probably the very best diving in SE Asia and is considered one of the top ten dive sites in the world. In November, the places that have the two, like the Phuket area, are not really optimal weather-wise for beaches or diving. However, the middle of November Phuket might be OK, although I have to say that as this is the last month of the rainy season which would have been going on for 6 months, so you may have some water clarity issues. I have not dived in November in Phuket so can't attest to this, perhaps others can. I have dived at the end of December and found the water clarity to be very good, but at that point the water has had more than a month to settle.

Some suggestions for good beaches and diving albeit with somewhat limited shopping would be:

French Polynesia and islands in that area of the South Pacific - great beaches and diving, some shopping as well. Good weather in November in most islands I believe.

Maldives - December through March or so are really the best months in terms of no rain, but you should be fine in mid November. The Maldives are a bit tricky as they seem to have two monsoon seasons, but I think late November should be OK. The best and driest months are January through April I believe. Very little shopping but really great beaches and excellent diving.

West coast of Costa Rica - pretty good diving, have to say not as great as you will find in some parts of SE Asia, but the beaches are beautiful and there are a lot of other activities like jungle treetops walks and zip lines, etc. For shopping you could spend few days in San Jose.

Bali – this is a thought, it is just the beginning of the rainy season there, so rainfall will be less than other places in SE Asia where the monsoon season will have started earlier. Another plus is that as the monsoon season has just started water clarity should be OK still. Bali certainly has the shopping and very pretty beaches, albeit not the gorgeous white sand you will find in French Polynesia or the Maldives. IMO however the overall beauty of the island and people more than compensate for that.

I think Belize would have rain and/or hurricane issues in November, but check weather websites and hurricane charts.

my dive book said belize was okay from october onwards but costa rica not until December. Printed in 98 though so definitely worth checking if patterns have changed (or book is wrong!)

I would not go to lovely Costa Rica for diving.Belize, Roatan-Honduras and a few islands part of Panama are far and away better if diving is important.

I think the weather in Belize should be fine and agree that it's worth considering just for the diving. Hurricanes shouldn't be an issue that late, but there have been a random one here and there in November.

Moovet, most people avoid Malaysia during year end for fearing the monsoons. But many forget that the peninsular Msia has an east AND a west coast. When it is raining heavily in east coast eg. Perhentian island, the west coast is all sunshine. I am an eco-guide and live in the west coast, so I know the situation here. The west coast, namely Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea is sheltered from the South China Sea monsoon period by the Titiwangsa Mountainous Range stretching from south Thailand all the way to Negeri Sembilan province in Msia. If you are keen on undersea and some shopping, I suggest you spend 3 days in Langkawi island - go diving in Payar island (Msia waters) and Butang island (Thai waters). These islands are only 1-2 hours boat ride from Langkawi. Excellent sealife. Island excursions can usually be arranged by hotels in Langkawi. Spend another 2 days in Penang island for shopping, dining and heritage tour (see Patricia Shultz's bestseller "1000 places to go before you die&quot. Penang island is about 3-4 hrs ferry ride from Langkawi. You can also reach Penang via mainland road, also another 3-4hrs. After Penang, head south to Pangkor island. If you can afford it, stay 1-2 days at 5-star Pangkor Laut. The place will make your honeymoon memorable. After that, hop over to Ipoh and visit million year old limestone caves, whitewater rafting, Cameron Highlands, mangrove forest trekking, rainforest waterfall. You'd need 4-5days in Ipoh. Lastly, end your journey in Kuala Lumpur (KL) before you fly home via KLIA aiport. Do some partying and clubbing at its many nightspots. Last minute shopping at Central Market, KLCC Petronas Twin Towers and remember this place - One Utama Shopping Center; it's the place locals go for branded items at reasonable prices. Hope my suggestion helps.

Great advice thank you. Will definitely look into it. I noticed the Imag Trav went to the West coast Islands over that period which is what first alerted me to it. Have the rains already been on the West coast and if so, how badly does the water visibilty get affected?
Cheers

GEoff

I am a diver myself and would never bother to dive near to Langkawi. Just too muddy and not good coral from what I understand. I would suggest that you do a lot of research on this before you commit time and money to making a diving trip there. I don't belive this area is known for its diving. Langkawi is a purpose built resort island with many resort hotels, it was a tin mining area for decades if not centuries. While you might be going further afield, I have my doubts about the good diving; it just is not an area that I have heard of as having good diving, and I have lived in SE Asia for more than 10 years.

I agree that the other areas of Malaysia described in the post above are very interesting and worth the trip, but your original post was about diving, and IMO Langakwi island, while OK for many things would not be so for diving.

The dive shops in Langkawi take you to a National Marine park to dive that is about an hour's boat ride away from memory. You wouldn't be diving in Langkawi itself due to the problems Cicerone has described.

Yeah, I still have my doubts about the quality of the diving in that area, even as far as an hour away. Bella, have you actually dived there, and can you compare it to other dive sites in SE Asia like Phuket or the east coast of Malaysia? I have not dived that area at all, and actually have not even heard good things about that part of the west Malaysian coast generally for diving, but if you have dived it and thought it was good, then it might be worth considering. I just am a little doubtful myself. I was under the impression that a lot of that area of the coast was mangrove swamp and not coral. While interesting from a natural beauty standpoint, not so much from a diving standpoint.

I guess I should have started with the comment that I disagree with TravelTwiddle's comment above, and I think you will STILL encounter a good bit of rain on the west coast of Malaysia in November, and as the rainy season started some months before, you will have water clarity issues IMO. The Langkawi area is only a few hundred miles south of Thailand, which is another area to avoid in mid-November for diving. Take a look at weatherbase.com for the rainfall averages, use Alor Setar as the town for the locator. Kuala Lumpur gets a lot of rain in the fall months, and even Singapore, which is the most protected by Sumatra, has more rain from November through January, although it does not truly have a monsoon season because it is more protected by the giant island of Sumatra. I lived in Singapore (currently live in Hong Kong) and do a lot of travel in the area. By December, the parts of Malaysia mentioned above are fine, but I would really question them in November in terms of their having good beach weather. While there is a monsoon in the South China Sea in November (i.e. east coast of Malaysia) there is ALSO a monsoon in the Indian Ocean in the summer and fall that deluges Sri Lanka, India and the west coast of Thailand and Malaysia. (This is the famous monsoon that India depends on each year for a good harvest.) That is why a beach vacation in November in SE Asia is so tricky.

I understand this must be frustrating for you, but if you really want to have good diving, IMO you should think about going elsewhere than either coast of Malaysia or Thailand. There are some alternatives mentioned above. You are spending a lot of money and time and should get the best diving you can. Just because a tour group has trip to a place in November does not mean it is the best time of year to go there.

Hi Cicerone

Yes we have dived there - we did our open water there many moons ago so can't comment on recent state of diving. The diving was imo much better than phi phi but not on a par with Similan. Having trouble comparing it to the Perhentians - more on a par than the others - but I think the Perhentians are better and it is much quicker to get to the dive sites. I did find it a lot busier in the Perhentians though.

From Langkawi, you go to a national marine park about 35 km south where there are 4 tiny islands to dive. These islands are uninhabited and there is a strict no fishing ban surrounding them. Most of the dives are around coral gardens but there are some great sloping walls off one of the smaller islands - not mangrove based. But we did have to travel some way to get there and that to me is always a downside.

What about snorkeling in Maldives compared to Redang, Prehentians, Belize, Koh Tao any one been to 2-3 of thwem in past 1-2 years and can offer comparisons for me.
From mid-Nov. Belize and Roatan are quite safe from hurricanes if you follow data of last 5 years also mosest rain fall. Yes, Hurricane Mitch hit them but no others of significance to my recollection. Just avoid late Aug.-early Nov.