We often get emails from people who are planning dive trips to Indonesia and want to know where the best places for diving are, and what we can suggest for a 8-10 day stay. This is actually very hard to provide, its like asking to give suggestions for a 8-10 day stay for skiing in europe!

However, we can provide some of the considerations that you need to take into account when you are planning dive trips to Indonesia, and we can provide some recommendations based on this.

Indonesia is huge

Many people do not realise that Indonesia is a huge country. The land mass is almost 2mill sq km, and with 14,000 islands it has about 3.4mill sq km of sea making the overall size 5.4mill sq km – compare this to 0.5m sq km of Thailand!

What is even more significant is that Indonesia is 2,644 miles wide from one end to the other, compared to the 2,680 miles width of USA this means that Indonesia is almost as wide as USA!

Other significant facts about Indonesia include:

• with an estimated population of over 255 million people, it is the world’s fourth-most-populous country (after China, India and USA)
• it is Southeast Asia’s biggest economy, and the fourth-largest Asian country, after China, India, and Saudi Arabia
• it consists of hundreds of distinct native ethnic and linguistic groups. The largest – and politically dominant – ethnic group are the Javanese, and this group make it the worlds most-populous Muslim-majority country

Best diving in the world

Some of the best diving in the world can be found in Indonesia because it is in the middle of the Coral Triangle. This is an area where you can find 76% of the world’s coral species, 6 of the world’s 7 marine turtle species, and at least 2,228 reef fish species. It is estimated that there are 6,000-8,000 reef fish species in the world, this means that 27%-37% can be found in Indonesia!

Interestingly, in 2012 it was officially recognised by Dr Mark Erdmann and Dr Gerry Allen that
North Sulawesi (Bunaken and Lembeh) has more diversity than Komodo & West Thailand!

Each location is different

As the country is so big, when you are planning dive trips to Indonesia you need to decide on the type of diving that you want to do.

Each location is different and each location has its own characteristics. We provide an overview of the diving in the 7 beautiful locations in Indonesia where we now operate a dive resort/dive center:

• Bali – Amed in NE Bali, and Nusa Lembongan, an island 30mins boat ride SE of Bali
• Manado in North Sulawesi – Bunaken Island and Lembeh Straits
• Lombok – South Gili’s and Belongas Bay in South Lombok, and Gili Air, part of the fabled Gili Island’s in North Lombok

Its easy to fly

Not only do you have to fly in and out of Indonesia, but the size of the country
and some locations can involve a 3/4 hour flight. However, this is not a problem as there are many domestic flights with Garuda or Lion Air.

We can also help you with this with our service for booking domestic flights where we make it easy by purchasing your tickets and sending you the etickets.

Where do you fly into?

One consideration is where you are going to fly into Indonesia?

• Fly directly into Bali, and then catch another flight to Manado (3hours) or Lombok (half-hour).
• Fly directly into Manado, and then catch another flight to Bali (3hours) or Lombok (5hours)
• Fly directly into Jakarta, and then catch another flight to Bali (2hours), Lombok (2,5hours) or Manado (3-5hours)

Another consideration is how long your flight was into Indonesia, and whether you will be jet-lagged.

Two choices to spend 8days

With these distances and flights it actually means that there is not much choice if you are booking an 8-10 stay, and we would recommend one of two options:

1. Spend your 8 days in Bali with 4 days visiting the various dive locations on Mainland Bali and 4 days on Nusa Lembongan, Bali. This is a very easy option as Nusa Lembongan is only a 30min boat ride.
   Find out more about diving Bali.

   Have more time?

   If you have 2-3 days extra you can also visit South Lombok for some diving, this is only a 3hour ferry-ride and 1hour car-ride from Bali.

   You could also take a 3hour flight to Manado, but then you would need to consider 24hour no-fly time. Maybe include Manado if you have a longer holiday?
   Find out more about diving South Lombok.

2. Spend your 8 days in Manado, North Sulawesi with 5 days in Bunaken and 3 days in Lembeh. These two locations are very easy to combo as they are 3hours from each other by boat and car.
   Find out more about diving Manado.

   Have more time?

   If you have 2-3 days extra you can also take a 3hour flight to Bali, but then you would need to consider 24hour no-fly time. Maybe include Bali if you have a longer holiday?

Planning dive trips to Indonesia with us

If you have longer than 8-10 days then Indonesia can be your oyster! Diving with Two Fish Divers means that you can book several stunning world-class scuba diving locations with the same operator in one holiday. One booking contact, one reservation process, one deposit. Contact us now for an amazing dive holiday in Indonesia.
Contact Us