{"id":18332,"date":"2009-07-08T17:48:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-08T17:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uwphoto.onpressidium.com\/blog\/best-southeast-asia-diving\/"},"modified":"2025-08-15T06:57:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T06:57:40","slug":"best-southeast-asia-diving","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.uwphotographyguide.com\/blog\/best-southeast-asia-diving\/","title":{"rendered":"Best Diving & Underwater Photography Locations in Southeast Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Asia has some of the best dive locations in the world for underwater photography, especially in the golden triangle, which connects bali, borneo, philippines, and the solomon islands.<\/p>\n

  <\/p>\n

I’d hike to highlight 4 land-based locations that offer everything I look for in a underwater photography destination – great diving, low cost, easy access from a major airport, and good dive guides.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Other locations may also offer great diving, but costs or travel time might be higher, the sites might be too crowded, or access is only by liveaboard.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Diving Anilao, Bunaken, Lembeh, and Bali:<\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Anilao diving and underwater photography<\/a> – macro and nudibranch heaven!<\/h3>\n

 <\/h3>\n

Lembeh straits diving and underwater photography<\/a> – muck diving<\/a> capital of the world.<\/h3>\n

 <\/h3>\n

Bunaken diving and underwater photography<\/a> – great wide-angle, walls, coral, and lots of fish<\/h3>\n

 <\/h3>\n

Bali diving and underwater photography<\/a> – macro, big fish, walls, wrecks, coral – bali has it all<\/h3>\n

 <\/p>\n

Sipadan<\/a> – great diving with barracudas, bumpheads, jacks and turtles, with good muck<\/a> nearby also.<\/h3>\n

Lots of big fish at Sipadan, but permits restrict diving at Sipadan island, and the diving there can be crowded.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Ambon – great muck sites<\/a> with frogfish <\/a>and rhinopias.<\/h3>\n

Ambon can just be a little harder to get to than other places, which is a draw for some people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Raja Ampat diving<\/a> – famous for healthy fish populations, beautiful reefs, mangrove swamps with clear water and corals<\/h3>\n

Best done by liveaboard, Raja is more difficult to get to, and more expensive – but offers excellent wide-angle opportunities.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea diving<\/a> – is known for great muck<\/a>, nudibranchs<\/a>, healthy reefs, and great fish diversity<\/h3>\n

PNG can be expensive to visit due to the local flights, but well worth it. <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Komodo Islands – best done by Liveaboard, Komodo islands offer a little of everything with some extra current thrown in for good measure.<\/h3>\n

Best dove May – Sept. The southern areas can get a little cold. Best dove with currents!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"sfsi_plus_gutenberg_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_show_text_before_share":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_type":"","sfsi_plus_gutenberg_icon_alignemt":"","sfsi_plus_gutenburg_max_per_row":""},"vocabulary_5":[],"vocabulary_2":[33,32],"class_list":["post-18332","blog","type-blog","status-publish","hentry","vocabulary_2-dive-locations","vocabulary_2-travel"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBest Diving & Underwater Photography Locations in Southeast Asia - Underwater Photography Guide<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Best dive spots in southeast asia, including anilao, bunaken, lembeh straits, and bali, ambon, sipadan, raja ampat, png.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.uwphotographyguide.com\/blog\/best-southeast-asia-diving\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Best Diving & Underwater Photography Locations in Southeast Asia - 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