Indonesia Travel Tips

Language: Indonesian

Currency: Indonesian rupiah

Signature Dish: Nasi goreng, a fried white rice seasoned with sweet soy sauce, pickled cucumber, shallots, shrimp paste and tamarind, dressed up with meat and veggies

Main Airport: Bali’s main airport is Ngurah Rai International Airport (DPS) in Denpasar

Water Temp/Visibility: Water temperatures in the Java and Banda seas are warmer, typically 82 degrees, with 100 feet of visibility. The Indian Ocean brings cooler water, averaging 72-77 degrees, with visibility of 50 feet and greater.

Travel Tip: Bali is a wonderful place to experience local culture, but travelers seeking a quieter experience should spend less time in Ubud and instead try Sidemen, a quaint town with green hills and ample walking trails

This archipelago nation smack in the middle of the Coral Triangle, aka the place on the planet with the greatest marine biodiversity, won three first-place honors in the 2019 Readers Choice Awards: Best Macro, Best Destination for Underwater Photography and Best Value. This place has everything: It’s an unbeatable choice whether you’re looking for big animals like whale sharks and mantas, or you prefer using a magnifying glass to get your kicks. Either way, Indonesia has you covered.

Photography

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

Is anyone surprised that Indonesia won first place, yet again, for best destination for underwater photography? If you are, peruse the winners from Scuba Diving magazine’s Through Your Lens underwater photo contest.

Photographer Yap Katumbal won for a shot of a juvenile coconut octopus, just 2 inches long, photographed in Lembeh Strait. Christian Bachmann grabbed a prize for an image of a maroon clownfish, taken on a wall dive off Bunaken. However, it’s not just macro creatures that Indonesia serves up. It’s also the place where wideangle shots are filled with lovely corals in every color, and the diverse marine life that calls it all home.

Macro

Wish Lists

What’s amazing is that photographers can study up on macro life and draft wish lists, naming everything from blue-ringed octopuses — of which there are actually five varieties, distinguishable by the number of rings they have — to the sea slug Chromodoris geometrica, with a head like a wide flap, similar to a dugong tail. And dive guides can find most of what’s on your list over the course of a week of diving. Because of this, and the overall abundance and diversity of critters perfect for macro photography — that is, when the ratio of subject to what you see on your screen is 1-to-1 — Indonesia won first place for overall best macro destination in the region.

Read more of the Best Scuba Diving in the World.

Big Animals

Manta Trains

Komodo is perhaps the best-known destination in Indonesia to swim with mantas as they perform backflips during sightings that last as long as your air does. At this locale, a fever, or group, of five or more rays will often fly together in a train. This is part of a mating dance, with many males lining up to pursue the desired female. The train ends when she selects her mate.

Raja Ampat also delivers big numbers of mantas, especially at the dive guide favorite spot called Manta Ridge. There, it’s common to see 30 mantas, on average, per dive. The island of Alor also ranks as a top manta spot, from mid-March until mid-January. Unlike other areas of Indonesia, Alor isn’t known for specific dive sites where mantas are known to feed or settle in for a cleaning. Rather, the mantas appear more randomly, but are common at many sites.

For those staying on the island of Bali, you can encounter mantas at the site Manta Point, a cleaning station off the satellite island of Nusa Penida.

Fish Baskets

Cenderawasih Bay, off the north side of West Papua Island, is one of the few places in the world where Rhincodon typus congregates year-round.

Whale sharks stay for a variety of reasons, including the availability of food they’ve learned to eat. One source is fishing nets, lowered each day to 60 feet deep.

Floodlights illuminate the nets, luring in baitfish. Over the years, whale sharks have become accustomed to this practice, and are now skilled at sucking the 3-inch fish from the nets. Some local fishermen and tour operators feed buckets of baitfish to the whale sharks directly.

Off Derawan Island, snorkelers often meet three or more whale sharks at a time. The best time to go is around the new moon.

They’re here most months, save for the summer, June through September.

Best Value

Popular Appeal

From everyone who’s ever wanted to experience a spiritual awakening to every Australian with a surfboard, Bali — and especially Ubud — sees more than its share of travelers. This means killer deals can be had on flights. Because of the island’s popularity with backpackers and young travelers, $40 a night buys your own posh room with rice paddy views.

Plus, the exchange rate of $1 USD to 14,844 Indonesian rupiahs — yes, the math gets really tricky — really lets you stretch your vacation allowance.

Best Overall

And the Award Goes to …

In the 2019 Readers Choice Awards, Indonesia won three first-place awards for the region. Those are joined by three second place awards: Best Beginner Diving, Best Advanced Diving and, the culmination of so many honors, Best Overall Dive Destination. And little wonder why. This island country offers so much to be discovered. It’s home to more fish species than any other dive destination; Gerry Allen, who has a Ph.D. in marine zoology, found a record-breaking 327 species on a single dive off Cape Kri on Raja Ampat. And off the Bird’s Head Peninsula, on the northwestern section of West Papua Island, he’s logged 1,700 fish over the course of many dives.

With numbers like those, it’s pretty obvious why Indonesia consistently ranks so highly across so many categories.

2019 Readers Choice Awards

1st Place: Macro; Underwater Photography; Best Value (Bali)

2nd Place: Best Overall Dive Destination; Shore Diving (Bali); Beginner Diving; Advanced Diving

4th Place: Wreck Diving (Bali); Cavern, Cave and Grotto

Top 10, Best Wall Dive: Nudi Falls, Lembeh Strait

Top 10, Best Wreck Dive: Liberty wreck, Bali

Top 10, Best Shore Dives: Liberty wreck, Bali; Hairball 1 and 2, Lembeh Strait

Top 10, Most Unusual Dive Site: Lembeh Strait

Top 10, Best Night Dives: Lembeh Strait; Arborek Jetty, Raja Ampat

Top 10, Best Animal Encounter: Manta rays, Raja Ampat

Top 10, Best Cultural Experiences: Temples, Bali; Nyepi, Bali