Scuba Diving Indonesia

Diving Indonesia Overview

Diving Indonesia is now on or near the top of most serious diver's wish-list -- it has become the hottest dive destination on the planet, thanks to superlative and varied diving.Good airfares and inexpensive food and hotels make it reachable for many Americans who can afford at least two weeks time. When diving in Indonesia, many avail themselves of Bali's culture: fantastic (especially go inland) and even the diving is good there (but even better elsewhere) and inexpensive. Bali-based liveaboards regularly visit the excellent diving near and around Komodo Island and stage land visits with the famed Komodo dragons. The Lembeh Straits are renowned for muck diving. Perhaps no more diverse marine life exists anywhere than that around the Raja Ampat islands, offshore Irian Jaya (West Papua), which shares the same landmass as Papua New Guinea. Liveaboards abound in Raja Ampat (most based in Sorong) and now there's a choice of land-based dive resorts there. Check with the State Department before travel, but nearly all Indonesia diving is far from terrorist targets.

Indonesia Seasonal Dive Planner

The thousands of Indonesian islands are spread out over mainly an equatorial tropical climate, but the season for diving Indonesia is as complex as everything else about this diverse amalgam of a country. Your diving Indonesia experience will probably be enhanced if you plan around the wet monsoon season, generally December through the middle of March, in many areas; though Raja Ampat diving is generally better and more popular then due to calmer seas. The dry monsoon of southeast winds curtails the diving in Flores during July and August. The Moluccas, however, have their wet monsoons the reverse of everyone else, in July and August, and diving should be avoided then. Depending on your specific destination, April-May and September are the best all-round months to dive Indonesia (with the exception of Raja Ampat as noted).

Featured Links Interested in having your link here?
Grand Komodo Dive & Tours Diving Raja Ampat, Komodo, Alor, … since 1990. 5 boats for 6-14 divers plus NEW Raja Ampat Dive Lodge. Affordable, great reviews, many repeat customers	SCUBA DIVE ASIA - The Dive Travel Experts for Asia, Pacific & Red Sea. Dive vacations for individuals, groups, photo clubs & dive centers.	Dive Discovery Indonesia Diving this stunning diverse country leaves you breathless and wanting more. Divers have returned time and time again, rewarding happy photographers.	Kasawari Lembeh Resort A boutique lifestyle dive resort for those looking for luxury and personalized, safe and hassle-free diving.	Dive Damai Indonesia's luxury photo/video specialist. 8 customers max. Huge cabins: 320 sq ft. ALL INCLUSIVE RATES INCLUDING gear, Nitrox, spa & wine. 5 DM's.
Reef & Rainforest, Dive & Adventure Travel A full service dive travel agency that specializes in exotic destinations (South Pacific, Indian Ocean, Africa, South & Central America).	Island Dreams Travel Island Dreams specializes in dive travel to Indonesia. We've dived it many times ourselves, and stand ready to customize your Indonesia scuba diving adventure.	Worldwide Dive and Sail Choose from our 2 luxury liveaboards Indo & Mandarin Siren diving in Komodo, Raja Ampat, Sulawesi and Flores. 14 night discovery trips also available.	Odyssea Divers @ Cocotinos, Manado a boutique beach resort located 25 mins from Manado Airport overlooking Bunaken Marine Park. 20 Villas & 2 Suites, Pool, WIFI. EAN32 & Technical available.

Diving Indonesia Feature Articles and Reader Reports

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All Availble to Undercurrent Online Members; Some Publicly Available as Indicated

Diving Indonesia Articles - Land Based Australia, Grand Cayman, Philippines . . ., and when it’s really the best time to dive in Raja Ampat, 11/11 Gangga Resort, Manado, Indonesia, reefs, muck and luxury living, 1/11 The Coral is Fine at Wakatobi, But Elsewhere..., 10/10 Saipan, Statia, Lake Malawi, Key Largo..., reports from the back of beyond from “undercover” readers, 7/10 Thailand Violence Affects Lembeh, 6/10 Caribbean, Hawaii, Indonesia, Red Sea…, hidden travel charges, Hawaiian fish, and a good Caribbean site, 8/09 Indonesia, St. Lucia, Vietnam, Hawaii . . ., blah Caribbean and Nam dives, great ones with sharks and seals, 6/09 Available to the Public A Different Experience at Wakatobi Resort, 8/07 A Second Opinion of Kungkungan Bay Resort, 6/07 Kungkungan Bay Resort, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, a letdown on Lembeh Strait, 3/07 New Lodges around Lembeh, 3/07 Infection Warning, 2/07 Lembeh Resort, North Sulawesi, Indonesia, the best critter diving in the world?, 9/04 North Sulawesi, Indonesia, diving by land and sea, 8/04 Sipadan Dive Operators Evicted, 7/04 Raja Ampat Islands, Indonesia, is this the world’s best diving?, 9/03 The Dragons, 2/03 Wakatobi in the Tukang Besis, Because it’s there, and because Jacques liked it, 10/97 Looking over the Edge, Backpacker diving in Lombok, Indonesia, 3/97 Kungkungan Bay Resort, 6/96 Derawan Dive Resort, 6/96 Return of the Cehili, 2/95

Diving Indonesia Articles - Liveaboards Raja Ampat Liveaboard Goes Down in Flames , 2/12 Arenui, Komodo Island, Indonesia , here there be dragons - - and fish big and tiny, 11/11 The Komodo Dragons, 11/11 Two Reads on Raja Ampat, 11/11 Thumbs Down: Wakatobi’s Bad Behavior, and thumbs up for the Aggressor’s honorable behavior, 9/11 The Raja Ampat Explained , what you must know before you go, 8/11 Curacao, Fiji, Papua, Maui . . ., dive sites where you can expect the unexpected, 4/11 S/V Mandarin Siren, Raja Ampat, Indonesia , and a starter with Bali’s AquaMarine Diving, 3/11 The Raja Ampat Debate , 3/11 Why You Need Undercurrent, we really give you the truth about “undiscovered” dive sites: Florida, Borneo, Grand Cayman …, 10/10 Dive Kararu and the Seahorse Break Ties, Exchange Words, Offer Deals, 8/10 Archipelago Adventurer II, Indonesia, Raja Ampat: where one feels like a king, 6/10 At Indonesia’s Triton Bay, the Locals Are Restless, 6/10 Diving Raja Ampat, 1/10 What? On a Liveaboard With No Passport?, 9/09 Cheng Ho, Raja Ampat, Indonesia , the diving is great, but the boat needs work, 6/08 Raja Ampat Liveaboard Update , 6/08 Available to the Public Indonesian Liveaboard Update, what boats are coming, going, disappointing and enchanting, 10/07 The Pelagian, Wakatobi, Indonesia, mediocre food and few fish aren’t worth the high price, 8/07 SMY Ondina, Raja Ampat, West Papua, the center of the diving universe, 7/07 Other Raja Ampat Liveaboards, 7/07 What Happened to Larry Smith's Liveaboard?, 6/07 North Sulawesi Aggressor, Sulawesi Sea, Indonesia, mucking about for critters, 2/07 Pelagian Alert, 8/05 The Next “Best Destination in the World?”, and a few not worth visiting, 8/05 Komodo Liveaboards, Indonesia, can it get any better?, 2/03 Chasing the Dragons of Komodo, Aboard the Sea Contacts I from Bali to Komodo, 9/99 At the Edge of the World on the Pindito, A big ship for a few good divers, 5/97 Fighting Off Malaria Baruna Adventurer, 8/96 Serenade in Indonesia, 4/95

Editor's Book Picks for Scuba Diving Indonesia
including Komodo, Raja Ampat, Lembeh, Wakatobi, Papua

The books below are my favorites about diving in this part of the world All books are available at a significant discount from Amazon.com; just follow the links. -- BD

Diving Indonesia's Raja Ampat
by Burt Jones and Maurine Shimlock

Here's a definitive guide book on what the authors call "the greatest repository of tropical marine life on earth." And anyone who has dived it knows they speak the truth. This 146-page book is filled with descriptions of mind-blowing dive sites, along with good descriptions of the area, the people and what you need to know to dive there. And the photos of unusual critters will knock your socks off. Whether or not you think you'll ever get to Raja Ampat, you should own this book just to nurture your dreams.

Click here to order through Undercurrent and our profits will go to save coral reefs.

Reef Fish Identification: Tropical Pacific: by Gerald Allen, Rodger Steene, Paul Humann, & Ned DeLoach. At last, here's a comprehensive fish ID guide covering the reefs of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. The generous 500-page text, displaying 2,500 underwater photographs of 2,000 species, identifies the myriad fishes that inhabit the warm tropical seas between Thailand and Tahiti. The concise text accompanying each species portrait includes the fish's common, scientific and family names, size, description, visually distinctive features, preferred habitat, typical behavior, depth range, and geographical distribution. This is an essential book for every diver traveling westward. 6x9 inches. Order through us, get Amazon.com's best price and a good hunk of the profit will be donated to preserve coral reefs.

If you're headed south out of San Diego, Fishes of the Tropical Eastern Pacific
by Gerald R. Allen, D. Ross Robertson, is the fish guide you need.

With 324 photo-packed pages covering 680 species of sharks and sailfish, wrasses and razorfish, pipefish and pearlfish, this is the ultimate ID book for the Baja, Costa Rica, the Galapagos, and the Sea of Cortez. Sponsored by the Smithsonian Institute Drs. Gerald Allen and Ross Robertson took years to produce this definitive volume that describes and comments on the remarkable behavior of these critters. Hardbound, $85.

Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific
by Terrence M. Gosliner, David W. Behrens, Gary C. Williams.

At last -- a just-published, complete guide to help you identify the uncountable variety of weird critters you'll see on any Indo-Pacific dive, complete with full-color photo of 1,100 species. About Coral Reef Animals of the Indo-Pacific, Chris Newbert says, "This invaluable new book makes identification easy and enjoyable." There are scores of flatworms, nudibranchs galore, bumblebee shrimp, painted crayfish, pompom crabs, side-gilled sea slugs, and endless corals. Marine biologists Terry Gosliner, David Behrens, and Gary Williams cover the reefs from the Solomons to Sipadan, from the Maldives to Maui, from Palau to Papua New Guinea. They provide good notes to help you find and identify each critter. Indispensable for any Indo-Pacific trip. Paperback, 8x110, 314 pages, $45.00.

Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide
by Gerald R. Allen, Roger Steene.

I was trying to pack light for a change. Surely the Solomon Sea would have good identification books aboard. Not so; the only book on the boat belonged to a fellow passenger. It was one that I had not seen before, the Indo-Pacific Coral Reef Field Guide, by two of the best fish guys around, Gerry Allen and Roger Steene. The problem was this fellow passenger kept it in a plastic baggie most of the trip and I had to beg to see it. Great book, good traveling size, and it covers everything from fish, shells, marine plants, mammals, corals, and invertebrates to sea birds and more. Now I've got my own, and it won't do you any good to beg me to borrow it. This is one of two books that I will not travel to the Pacific without. Good for travel to the Red Sea, East Africa, Seychelles, Mauritius, Maldives, Andaman Sea, Malaysia, Indonesia, Philippines, Australia, Micronesia, Polynesia, and Hawaii, it has 1,800 color illustrations in a 6x8 1/2 paperback format with 378 pages. $39.95.

You might find some other books of interest in our Editor's Book Picks section.