The Ultimate Dive Holiday? Help please?

[Torpedo]

Hi,
Still planning our honeymoon for April 24th 2008.
Can anyone recommend the ultimate places to visit top dive sites of the world. We are looking at a trip to Palau, Yap and Truk over 3 weeks which looks amazing. has anyone been to Micronesia and if so what to expect?
Also are there any other top destination for the big stuff i.e:
Mantas
Whale Sharks
other Sharks
We would love to go somewhere we would never get the opportunity to again so once in a lifetime trip.

any suggestions help please - budget maximum for 3 weeks is £3000
Thanks for your help

[Jack]

Truck - the Island is a Dump. The diving is out of this world. Wish I had done a liveaborad

Yap - Nice Island, very quite not much to do when not diving. Lots of Manats, but viz was shocking when we went there. Not that uncommon apprently. At times it was down to less that 3 meters, the Mantas neraly hit us.

Palau - My favorite - great island, quite with nice beaches. Diving varied, lots of sharks. But busy diving with Japs and Koreans, did a livaboard great

Other places I have seen the big stuff
Oz - the West Coast Nigaloo Reef saw sharks manats and dolphins one day dive trip

Bali/Indonesia
CoCos - Costa Rica

[Dragonfire]

Hi.
Based on the experience of myself and my wife it would come down to 2 suggestions.
1. A week on a Maldivian Island to get the honeymoon stuff out of the way and then 2 weeks on the Sea Spirit. In your budget you would have change to have a glitzy stop over in Dubai on the way there or back. I would try Maldives Scuba Tours for a competitive price and advice on the best island for your needs. We stayed at Vilamendoo, with a huge bungalow, our own bit of beach and our own fruit bats and baby black tips. Married 8 but it still had a hint of honeymoon about it. As for the diving 3 whale sharks, and probably 60 mantas (max of 14 at a time).

2. Sabah in Borneo.Kapalai Dive resort is real honeymoon/diving territory with large well equipped bungalows on stilts with turtles, rays, clown fish etc playing in the reef under your feet as you sip ****tails on your own sun terrace. Diving on Sipadan was awesome. This is only a week at most and then, depending on how active you want to be, a trip around Sabah, into the rainforest, turtle breeding island, orang utan sanctuary.
If you want to blow the change then stop over in KL or, as we did in Kota Kinabalu.

Off to Indonesia ourselves soon, followed by Micronesia so I would be happy to believe that they would make the shortlist.
Hope this helps.

[Sharky1973]

Indonesia has some of the very best diving in the world. I've done Bunaken and Lembeh Strait twice and loved it but if and when I go back to Indonesia, it will be to Wakatobi, which receives rave reviews from everybody who has been there. One of the advantages is that they now have their own charter flights direct from Bali, which makes it a lot easier to get there than it was a few years ago. To me, it looks like the perfect place for divers to spend their honeymoon. http://www.wakatobi.com/homepage.html

PS For big animals, I think Galapagos has to come top of the list but I doubt if you'll get on any of the good liveaboards this September. We booked our trip on the Deep Blue this coming October more than a year ahead.

[Pirate1987]

September is good for Oz, middle of our winter and therefore you don't get to meet any cyclones or seriously wet weather. The Yongala is nevertheless weather dependent and the currents can be fierce. I also agree that the GBR (there are of course exceptions to prove the rule) is seriously overrated

Someone said that Moen, the capital of Chuuk (Truk) is a dump, they're right. They also wished they'd done a liveaboard. Again, they're right. Having said that, I just wonder whether (a) pretty hard core diving is what you want to do on a honeymoon, this is pretty hard core diving, and (b) whether lots of wrecks (and, I have to say, associated magnificent soft coral) is what you really want to do on a honeymoon. Having said that, Thorfinn's two new tenders (twin engine) do give you the opportunity to do the fringing reefs as well if you were so inclined, personally I'd be there for the wrecks and that alone.

You'll note that some of these dives may be seriously deep by some standards, not that you have to go there, there is always a choice which is one of the beauties of diving from tenders instead of the whole ship anchoring at/on the wreck, when there is no choice other than to stay aboard.

I can't really tell you of anything else other than the Maldives that I visited when we were the very first divers there. But that's so long ago that, frankly I can't remember, especially as to the places we visited aboard our "liveaboard". Those inverted commas are there for a reason, the boat was definitely not a liveaboard in the accepted sense of the word today.

There are other places, such as Papua New Guinea, one of my favorites, but again it's pretty hard core stuff.

I will also say this: if you go to an exotic destination make very sure that you are very well prepared for any of the, possibly medical, but also cultural, difficulties that may come your way.

I have no idea whether any of this is within your budget, that's basically for you to find out. Fortunately and unlike many, you have started your search well in advance.

[DDIIVVEERR AARRTT]

If you guys want a great cruise go on the Windjammer Cruise out of St Lucia
every day a dive company comes to the ship and takes you diving with
another couple really great. They are called barefoot cruises. You get to
sleep in a cabin or on the topdeck under the stars outside all the bedding but
wow the equator at night. It is a four masted sail boat about 150 passengers
great food,great bar,great music dancing every night tropical Islands sooo
romantic.

[sipadan]

I would recommend those 3:
Malapascua island for the thresher sharks, the mantas, the whale sharks
Sipadan island for the amazing diversity and panorama
Lembeh Strait for the incredible muck diving

[DDIIVVEERR AARRTT]

Step 1. Fly on Tahiti Nui Airline to Tahiti
Step 2. Rent a car at National Car rental.
Step 3. Make a right turn out of the Airport and go 11 KM to Ferry dock.
Step 4. Ferry leaves at 7:00 Am Plane arrives at 4:30 AM plenty of time.
Step 5. Arrive at Moreea make a right turn go 11 KM to Camp Nelson, 60.00
for a bungalow with electricity, 25.00 for a campsite per night.
Step 6. Walk 200 ft from Camp Nelson see Greg and Catherine at Fun Dive .com
50.00 for a boat dive.
Step 7 Visit the store get groceries use Camp Nelson Kitchen to cook your food
make sure to be a good camper and clean your pots and dishes.
Step 8. Make sure to visit lemon Shark valley.
Located on a Beautiful lagoon snorkel at night
ENjoy

[YoungApprentice]

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