Family friendly destination with good photo ops

Hi All,

I would like to draw on the collective experience of all you keen photographic travellers.

I am based in Australia and would like to have a recommendation for a family friendly destination that also has great diving (and particularly photographic) opportunities. This holiday will be for myself (the only diver) my wife, 3 yo son and mother-in-law for this coming July (Australian winter) for 2 weeks. I thought we had decided on Bali (which I was very excited about), but it seems the Australian government has increased the travel alert due to potential terrorism threats which has put off my mother-in-law and wife. I would personally still be happy to go, but my mother-in-law is paying for a significant chunk of the holiday.

So, criteria are:

- Not too far or expensive to get to from Australia

- Safe, family friendly environment

- A reasonable level of luxury in terms of accommodation and food (4 star is probably fine)

- Nice beaches for the rest of the family to relax on while I dive

- Other activities to occupy the family would be a bonus, but if beach and resort is nice enough not a major necessity

- Not overly expensive

- Great diving and photo ops - I especially like macro (i.e. muck diving) but happy to explore other avenues

- A bit of a cultural experience would be a bonus

What would you guys recommend? I should mention that my wife and I have spent quite a bit of time in Fiji, so we'd prefer to go somewhere else. Maybe another south Pacific island? I was also thinking that somewhere in the Philippines could be good, but Anilao seems to only really cater for divers and doesn't look like it has particularly nice beaches.

Ideas?

Thanks in advance.

Nick

For short flights from Australia, Bali and Fiji are both easy and cheap. I would see if you can work around your MIL's aversion to Bali - I'm sure the travel alerts applies more to the clubs of Kuta to your average dive resort. I enjoyed my trip to Tulamben recently although it should be noted that the beaches in that area of Bali are made of rocks and not sand.

Other easy-ish flights would be Philippines, Phuket, Borneo or even FNQ. I found Phuket diving to be cheap but very crowded (and the underwater scenery was showing the effects of all the diver traffic). Philippines involved a stop over in Manila which was not great. For Borneo you could do a side trip to visit the orangutans. Or you could save on flights and go somewhere like Heron Island which won't be that warm in July (was about 22 degrees when I was there a few years back) but definitely has beaches and child friendly activities. Not so much culture though.

Fiji sounds like a good fit.

Two very different ideas:

Vanuatu is close, affordable, fun, and has a range of resorts at all prices. Diving is good in Santo, fair near Port Vila, but the resorts and restaurants and adventure activities are plentiful at a range of price points. You can even day trip to a volcano. I can't imagine a family not finding enough to make all ages happy.

Bohol is maybe a bit further than you want to travel (SYD-MNL then a 1 hour domestic flight) but is a great family destination with excellent beaches, very good resorts, and great diving. There really is something for everyone.

You are right, Anilao has great diving but not much else for the family and no beaches. The Solomons are a good consideration for culture and diving when your son is older and the rest of you are up for adventure but also prepared for mishaps! The rest of the Pacific islands are either too difficult or too limited in options. NZ in the north is great but not in July. Fiji is tough to beat (I lived there for 4 years) but somewhere new is always good.