Scuba Diving
 

Where are the best places to dive in Indonesia? When?

Thanks!

www.divearoundbali.com/best-dive-sites-in-bali

Tulamben wreck of the Liberty area

weather2travel.com climate guides Bali any dry times

one of the few places in Asia that works in August...

Happy Hunting,

Indonesia has great diving in so many different areas. To answer your question, it would be helpful to know what type of diving you want to do...pelagics, muck, wall diving, shore diving, live aboard...and your experience level. Raja Ampat, Komodo, Lembeh and other areas have some of the best diving in the world, so let us know what you want to see.

I agree with susncrg. Though Raja Ampat may be just about the best and on a par with Palau, Micronesia, but very different, a livaboard for 10 days on a good schooner with some comforts runs about $4500-$5000/person with all meals. If you want to be land based you might want to consider Bunaken for 4-5 days and then based on air connections go to Flores, or Lembeh.

I'd recommend Lembeh in Sulawesi. It is easily accessible by car from Manado airport. Take a look at the Kungkungan Bay Resort for starters.

In Bali, Menjangan Island is good and relatively convenient to get to.

As mentioned, there are also several of live-a-board and remote options in Sulawesi and Sumba, but these require more logistical organization and can be quite pricey.

Having been to Menjangan Island off Bali I would not put it the same league at all with the areas around Sulawisi. Bunaken has a number of resorts that may be less expensive than Kungkungan Bay. I actually have gotten my best information on snorkeling and skin diving when I post on Lobely planet under Indonesia NOT under "snorkeling & diving". We were at Wakatobi Resort which is similar to Kungunfan Bay but off the S.E, tip of Suliwisi 3 months ago and we though the snorkeling was very good but was not better than some spots our guide took us to in Bunaken Natuional Park.

To add friends of ours who were with us at both places felt the same about scuba and were quite disappointed with Bali. But not being a diver I do not know their standards.

We spent a week at Pemuteran in Bali in October this year and was quite surprised at the diving. We weren't expecting much but were very happy with our dives there. Dove just about a mile out from Pemuteran the coral and fish were quite good. We also went to Menjangen and were blown away by the water clarity and the coral. And we only snorkeled there... don't think that scuba diving is really necessary at Menjangen.