Cost of diving in the Pacific?

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I've done lots of diving in the Caribbean, because it is close, cheap and convenient.

I've done some diving in Hawaii (cold for me) and Fiji (wonderful!) but that's pretty much it.

I need some Pacific diving. I'm concerned about two things:

1. cost (particularly for single supplement)

2. travel discomfort (14 hour flights in coach)

I look at all kinds of stories about Lembeh and Aniloa, and they seem wonderful. I look at joining a 1-week photographic workshop and I get sticker shock! I see places I'd like to be, but with costs of $5000-7000 for a week, NOT including airfare.

Ok - where are some good places to dive in the Pacific that don't break the bank?

And I could use suggestions and info on flying (from LAX, for simplicity's sake) to where ever. And connecting flights and ground transportation if significant.\

Sorry to say but as I'm aging, the discomfort of flying is growing worse every year, to the point I'm starting to think I just can't do some trips. OR I pay for a more comfortable seat so I can stand the travel.

As a point of comparison, I pay around $1000 to get to my favorite destination in the Caribbean, and another $1700 for room, board and 3-tanks/day boat diving.

That said, if a place is truly spectacular, I might pay a lot to see it. Galapagos comes to mind. But there have to be 'budget dive resorts' out there too.

My best piece of advice would be to avoid booking a package, where your entire itinerary is sorted out for you.... If you have some time to plan until youre looking to travel and some flexibility you can do this for wayyyy under $5k-$7k per week...

First off, do you have any miles/points stashed away? For example, I just booked a flight to Hawaii for very cheap and then from HNL to Palau for only 27k United miles (1 way). From Palau (Or any of the neighboring islands like Yap, Saipan, Guam) you can fly to the Philippines for relatively cheap.

If you dont have miles, those South/Central Pacific islands are crazy expensive to fly to. My other suggestion is to start by just finding the cheapest flight to Asia. Look into Singapore, KL, Taipei, Jakarta, Bali etc etc. If you can find a decent deal into one of those major hubs, inter-asia flights are generally very cheap. If you can find a flight to Jakarta it will be easy to get to Raja Ampat or Flores for some amazing diving!

I always just knock myself out on long flights, hah, but maybe keep in mind the current Coronavirus scare. Its possible many flights from US to Asia will be empty and you could get an entire row to yourself.

Once youre in Asia its very easy to hop around locations, and most 2 tank dives Ive been on were like $150... In my opinion you should be able to do a 10 day trip for around $3-$4k.

These posts are all pretty long, feel free to pm me if you want more suggestions on how I travel all over for cheap.