Hey Sports-fan,
Before a liveaboard, or any diving where we pay Big Bucks, we like to spend several days to a week diving as close to the embarkation point as possible, so that when we get on the LOB we have everything just the way we want it and we're really, really relaxed. That way we take maximum advantage of our time paying $500/day to dive! It's SOOO nice to get on Mermaid and feel READY not ANXIOUS. This works for us even though we have hundreds of dives. YMMV of course.
The last time we were on Mermaid we did exactly this, we spent a week diving with Geko Diving in Padangbai looking for mola-mola. (Didn't find any.) We stayed here:
Home - Sea Breeze Candidasa
Nice place! About 20 min drive to Geko.
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Top-side Bali has a lot to offer. The downside is traffic as others have mentioned. I personally have never gotten much out of a temple visit on Bali because they are all so crowded with tourists. Just doesn't work for me. YMMV.
My suggestion if you want to stay a couple days is to go to Ubud and find some peaceful ricefields like this:
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Now for the part no one wants to talk about. Some 30% of international travelers get traveler's diarrhea. It's not from bad water, it's because there are different bacteria in different parts of the world. Mexicans get it when they come to the US. I got it a lot until I started taking pepto bismol as a preventative. Easy, cheap, and doesn't taste bad. It's a LOT better than spending $500/day to have the sh**s.
Also wash your hands a lot when you're on board.
Hope this helps.
- Bill