Bali Diving

[Centrals]

Yeah I get your point. I see them more frequently in Philippines.

@CJS only mentioned mola mola and whaleshark.
Where did you see them (mola mola & whaleshark) frequently in Philippines? LOL.

 

[John Trecker]

I spent a week in Pemuteran and the diving was actually quite good. We did a lot of research and found a particular dive guide who was excellent and found a surprisingly good amount of macro. There were no crowds - usually we were the only boat in the area.
We stayed at Taman Sari right on the beach and it was very relaxed, reasonable, friendly, comfortable, with a nice beach. Food nearby was very good - I think this part of Bali has a lot of Muslim influence and restaurants reflected that. I think they serve truckers going between Bali and JAVA so actually there was good food to be had along the main road - watch for the Big Rigs (readers in the Midwest will be familiar with that strategy... the same applies here).

I have a question: I have dived long ago (20 years plus) Tulamben, Liberty, etc and found it lacking and nothing to compare for example to Anilao or PG. I was living in Indonesia at the time and even randomly ended up in a dive group with Wally Siagian (before I realized it was him - had his books but only later in the night when he gave a slide show did I realize who he was...).
Water was rough, visibility was low, lots of surge, not so much life, etc.
Did I miss out and should I give it another try? The traffic, conjestion, crowds now in that area have put me off.... but maybe that is very wrong.
It is easier to get to Pemuteran as you go a different route which is quite a beautiful drive.

 

[Luko]

was living in Indonesia at the time and even randomly ended up in a dive group with Wally Siagian (before I realized it was him - had his books but only later in the night when he gave a slide show did I realize who he was...).
Water was rough, visibility was low, lots of surge, not so much life, etc.
Did I miss out and should I give it another try? The traffic, conjestion, crowds now in that area have put me off.... but maybe that is very wrong.

Wally Siagian! wow that was my dream going diving with him when I started diving Indonesia. I think I bought 3 pieces of Kal Muller's Dive Indonesia, my bedside book in the late 90's early 00's. That said Wally was all about big stuff and ripping currents rather than muckdives (more suited to Tulamben), which promoter and the diving style to go with was Larry Smith in Lembeh.

In short, yes you really missed something, there is much more in Tulamben area than the Liberty wreck (You must dive with Tulamben ops and guides, this is an important factor otherwise the operators from Amed, Sanur or Candi Dasa will lead you to the same spots) . There are so many great dive sites only dived by Tulamben dive centers.
I am an UW photographer and dived extensively the area for 11 years, I can assess it's on a par with Anilao or Lembeh when it comes to macro stuff, I rate it as one of the best locations in SEA especially for nudibranches and crustacea variety. it has so much more variety and density than Pemuteran area for instance (click on my Flickr gallery in my signature to get an overview of what kind of macro you can find, my Bali album is 70% Tulamben).

 

[Tippytoes12]

I spent a week in Pemuteran and the diving was actually quite good. We did a lot of research and found a particular dive guide who was excellent and found a surprisingly good amount of macro. There were no crowds - usually we were the only boat in the area.
We stayed at Taman Sari right on the beach and it was very relaxed, reasonable, friendly, comfortable, with a nice beach. Food nearby was very good - I think this part of Bali has a lot of Muslim influence and restaurants reflected that. I think they serve truckers going between Bali and JAVA so actually there was good food to be had along the main road - watch for the Big Rigs (readers in the Midwest will be familiar with that strategy... the same applies here).

I have a question: I have dived long ago (20 years plus) Tulamben, Liberty, etc and found it lacking and nothing to compare for example to Anilao or PG. I was living in Indonesia at the time and even randomly ended up in a dive group with Wally Siagian (before I realized it was him - had his books but only later in the night when he gave a slide show did I realize who he was...).
Water was rough, visibility was low, lots of surge, not so much life, etc.
Did I miss out and should I give it another try? The traffic, conjestion, crowds now in that area have put me off.... but maybe that is very wrong.
It is easier to get to Pemuteran as you go a different route which is quite a beautiful drive.

I have just spent two weeks in Anilao, having done the Tulamben/ Padang Bai area on several two week trips in recent years. On the last two trips I have been to Liberty Dive Resort, where you get assigned a private guide. My guide, Made Saur, and indeed everything about LRD was fantastic. As brilliant as Anilao was, the Padang Bai/ Tulamben trips were even more productive. In Padang Bai we had excellent experiences with Absolute Scuba and also in Candidasa. In Anilao we had great luck with Mimic Octopus and also hairy frog fish.And the BA guides were also superb.

But definitely give Bali another go. Getting across to the Nusa islands is quick from Padang Bai.

 

[John Trecker]

Terimah kasi! Thank you both! Very inspirational.
I had avoided on return trips for 20 years, but now that all changes. I had thought it was the equivalent of going to SF and having clam chowder in a sourdough breadbowl in Fishermans Wharf.
And Wally was really a bigger than life character! Diving with him for a few days was an experience. And yes he was a thrill seeker!

 

[Blackcrusader]

OK. I have just finished my Bali Dive trip. We are 3 divers who started in Tulamben dived with Matahari resort who have a fixed price for unlimited diving. Liberty wreck is close by you could snorkel over and drop in but they like to take the trip in a small truck only a few minutes to drive. As we all owned our own gear we refused to let it be brought back on scooters we made sure it came back on the truck with us. Matahari was quite busy but we had our own guide for 4 days. One diver in our group is doing his DM course but was not good on air. He did improve though over the trip with some tips on diving techniques. Too much camera attention for him.

The next dive was with Wild Scuba in Lombok. My review and dive buddy review isn't in yet

Ain’t ordinary dive destination !!! - Review of Wild Scuba Indonesia, Gili Asahan, Indonesia - Tripadvisor

Wild Scuba Indonesia: Ain’t ordinary dive destination !!! - See 28 traveler reviews, 40 candid photos, and great deals for Gili Asahan, Indonesia, at Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.com

Jay who runs the operation was survived a bull shark attack in South Africa as a surfer. The DM in training with us had his mask come off on negative entry which was recovered, but by then he is back at the surface where you do not want to be near a rock wall. Mask back on descends no octopus in mouth bolts for surface. Eventually sorted comes down after but the currents are too much for him goes into anxiety attack and Jay's wife who works with him takes him back to the boat. He does not join us on other dives with wild scuba. He thought he could deal with currents but found out it was not for him.
OK so now it's myself my instructor dive buddy Jay and his wife on the dives. Suits us fine. Jay is also surprised about my gas management and my dive buddy and we were better on that than Jay and his wife so he planned the dives to his max. Also his DC was more conservative than my Perdix so we dived to his DC. He always deployed his dsmb at 15m depth so he had to make sure he didnt incur a deco obligation during that time for the boat to arrive. Shortest dive 35 mins longest over an hour.

Visibility could be down to 2m but sometimes 10m to 15m. Some dive sites our air bubbles just went to the deep.
These currents can really rip. There is a cleaner station at 50m at one site. Go there do your short back gas deco and dive time of maybe 35 mins but you will be 1.5 miles away from the dive site location. We had much longer DSMB's so they were spotted by the boat captain first.
On one site I asked Jay could we find some shelter ( if you like hanging by one hand horizontal to snap a video or photo ) as the first time I dared not use my camera. No getting separated from my guide or buddy for me. There were times my buddy could see me and not Jay. You must be prepared to stay with your buddy and if separated from Jay just go to surface and deploy dsmb. The low vis and currents if you are separated no way to find each other.

Off to pool now will add some more later.

 

[GF99/99]

i’m quite a new diver so would you say there’s quite a good chance of seeing some bigger stuff?

I have actually seen alot of big stuff in Amed. During 2021 corona season I spent alot of time there.

 

[GF99/99]

 

[Blackcrusader]

A few of my uploaded videos I have lot's still to go through. Back home now on my 1st day of a 3 day home quarantine.



These with Tamarind divers Lembongan.



With Wild Scuba at Lombok

MANTA WILD SCUBA DIVERS

TG6 Magnet Lombok

www.youtube.com

FAT MAN & FAT MANTA

LOMBOK BALI INDONESIA

www.youtube.com

 

[Indah]

OK. I have just finished my Bali Dive trip. We are 3 divers who started in Tulamben dived with Matahari resort who have a fixed price for unlimited diving. Liberty wreck is close by you could snorkel over and drop in but they like to take the trip in a small truck only a few minutes to drive. As we all owned our own gear we refused to let it be brought back on scooters we made sure it came back on the truck with us. Matahari was quite busy but we had our own guide for 4 days. One diver in our group is doing his DM course but was not good on air. He did improve though over the trip with some tips on diving techniques. Too much camera attention for him.

The next dive was with Wild Scuba in Lombok. My review and dive buddy review isn't in yet

Ain’t ordinary dive destination !!! - Review of Wild Scuba Indonesia, Gili Asahan, Indonesia - Tripadvisor

Wild Scuba Indonesia: Ain’t ordinary dive destination !!! - See 28 traveler reviews, 40 candid photos, and great deals for Gili Asahan, Indonesia, at Tripadvisor.

www.tripadvisor.com

Jay who runs the operation was survived a bull shark attack in South Africa as a surfer. The DM in training with us had his mask come off on negative entry which was recovered, but by then he is back at the surface where you do not want to be near a rock wall. Mask back on descends no octopus in mouth bolts for surface. Eventually sorted comes down after but the currents are too much for him goes into anxiety attack and Jay's wife who works with him takes him back to the boat. He does not join us on other dives with wild scuba. He thought he could deal with currents but found out it was not for him.
OK so now it's myself my instructor dive buddy Jay and his wife on the dives. Suits us fine. Jay is also surprised about my gas management and my dive buddy and we were better on that than Jay and his wife so he planned the dives to his max. Also his DC was more conservative than my Perdix so we dived to his DC. He always deployed his dsmb at 15m depth so he had to make sure he didnt incur a deco obligation during that time for the boat to arrive. Shortest dive 35 mins longest over an hour.

Visibility could be down to 2m but sometimes 10m to 15m. Some dive sites our air bubbles just went to the deep.
These currents can really rip. There is a cleaner station at 50m at one site. Go there do your short back gas deco and dive time of maybe 35 mins but you will be 1.5 miles away from the dive site location. We had much longer DSMB's so they were spotted by the boat captain first.
On one site I asked Jay could we find some shelter ( if you like hanging by one hand horizontal to snap a video or photo ) as the first time I dared not use my camera. No getting separated from my guide or buddy for me. There were times my buddy could see me and not Jay. You must be prepared to stay with your buddy and if separated from Jay just go to surface and deploy dsmb. The low vis and currents if you are separated no way to find each other.

Off to pool now will add some more later.

Where is the nearest re-compression chamber?