Now, that's a land of dreams........ there are just so many islands to explore...... if you only have the time.........
Bali / Lombok
Perhaps the most well known and most visited island, it's great for shopping and bargains and just lazing around. Go to Ubud, the artistes abode and live among the villagers - you can get accomodation and breakfast for less than S$10.00 a day. Take the ferry to lombok and go snorkeling among the small isles........ Don't ever bother to book accomodation, there's plenty around.....
Sipadan
Now, I'm not sure if I'm categorizing it correctly here or whether it should be considered as under Malaysia. I believe there are some territorial disputes going on.
In any case, it's a tiny atoll located off Borneo. You can walk around the entire island in less than an hour. But the diving is simply exotic! Put on your dive gear, walk a few steps to reach the water, swim a few feet from the water's edge and the drop off is to 2000 ft. Right around the island is schools of hundreds of different varieties of fish and coral. See the coral polyps at night, watch the turtles lay eggs, let the hundreds of barracuda swim and dance around you...... even saw a school of hammerheads while I was there...... what more can I say........ it's a diver's haven.........
Manado
That's another great diving place. Ever see pygmy seahorses? You wouldn't even notice the tiny creatures among the coral if someone didn't point them out to you. They're only about 1 cm long!
Want your personal dive master on every dive? They have so many, they really take care of you. And enjoy a cold beer and good food after the dive.......
Flores
Went there many years ago. I remember that we were greeted by dolpins on every boat trip out to the dive sites. Mantas were seen to leap out of the water and watch the fish skim over 100 ft of the water's surface! However, I heard that the entire island was washed over by a tidal wave soon after we left. I'm not sure what the operation is like there now.
