Dive operator rec for Amed, Bali

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Few years ago we stayed at Hotel Uyah Amed. I liked their fresh baked bread for breakfast.
Their dive center used a boat to tulamben, seraya and other locations. Non divers was welcomed as well.
Diving wise I always prefer Tulamben area but I did enjoy Amed too.
Their house reef was great for night dive at that time, not sure now.
Food wise, Amed is much better than Tulamben particularly if you're boring with local foods. At least you'll find proper Pizza at Gusto. Their beef goulash was tasty too.
 
Few years ago we stayed at Hotel Uyah Amed. I liked their fresh baked bread for breakfast.
Their dive center used a boat to tulamben, seraya and other locations. Non divers was welcomed as well.
Diving wise I always prefer Tulamben area but I did enjoy Amed too.
Their house reef was great for night dive at that time, not sure now.
Food wise, Amed is much better than Tulamben particularly if you're boring with local foods. At least you'll find proper Pizza at Gusto. Their beef goulash was tasty too.
Thanks for the info. I checked website of the associated dive shop (Amed Dive Center) and it does mention trips by boat to many Tulamben and even Pandangbai sites. Snorkelers welcome a big plus. Sounds promising.
 
That really is the toughest part about diving Indonesia- traveling with someone who does not dive.

This is why I tell people the best place to go with nondiving people is Lombok's Gili Air or Gili Trawangan. There is something for everyone...far more so than anywhere in Bali.

But isn't the diving in the Gilis considerably sub-par? To quote the esteemed Luko from a previous thread:

"Gilis .... oh noooo...."
 
But isn't the diving in the Gilis considerably sub-par?"

Note I said Gili Air is my favorite place when traveling with non-divers. There is tons to do there: water sports, great restaurants, bars, a small party scene, yoga, sandy beaches, warm and clear water, and an awesome vibe. The party scene increases ten-fold on Gili T if that is your thing.

Is the coral subpar to Lembongan and macro less than Tulamben? Yes. But one can go out for a dive and be back in under two hours to be with the significant other. And FWIW, when the water is right dives on sites like Simon's Reef and Shark Point can be every bit as beautiful as some Bali sites. Sometimes a leisurely dive in blue warm water with a bunch of turtles beats the heck out of flying at 50 mph over Nusa Penida coral in freezing water and not seeing anything. In the Gilis you will see more turtles than you can imagine, decent macro, and a good share of white tip sharks. Heck, I have spent ten minutes with a six meter whale shark off Gili T. I have pics to prove it.

Below are a couple of Facebook albums. I take a bunch of 9th graders there for Open Water class every year so pictures are not the priority, but you get the idea.

In short, it is a great compromise when understanding that non-divers are second class citizens at the best places in Indonesia.

Matthew Schafer

Matthew Schafer
 
My non-diver wife loves Gilli Air, I do too.
After loading up on dives in Tulamben (yes she loves me, she let's me do 3 dives a day there) We head to GA for all the reason @matts1w says. When I start getting bored and twitchy she says to me you should do an afternoon dive. I get underwater and I'm back in 2 hours. If we go again I am tempted to check out Amed, we might like the scene there.
 
I think you will find that most, if not all of the regulars on this board who live in Indonesia or travel here frequently love diving in Bali...and almost always never dive out of Amed.
really? I would disagree with this. Some very underrated critter dives in Amed.
 
really? I would disagree with this. Some very underrated critter dives in Amed.
I dont disagree, Mike. Should I ever do the safari thing around Bali, I would absolutely be happy to spend three or four dives there, but would not up camp there for a week as I would in Tulamben or Padang Bai.
 
really? I would disagree with this. Some very underrated critter dives in Amed.
Totally agree with Mike: there are some great macro sites in Amed. Macro gets quite seasonal and different sites seem great at different times of the year!
The non-macro sites bore me a little there though...
 
We have 1,200 dives between us and still love Gili Air too. The coral had been recovering well after years of damage by dynamite fisherman, but a bleaching set them back a lot. The turtles are fantastic and usually in a week we see sharks on every morning dive. The macro is very very good and we have seen mantas and eagle rays there.The evenings in the beach restaurants are so nice.
 
really? I would disagree with this. Some very underrated critter dives in Amed.
Which are?
Well I'd disagree with you in my experience diving with some of the best spotters in Tulamben.
I didn't find there were that many macro sites in Amed that can rival Tulamben's (Not speaking about the one in Tulamben bay I never dive anymore, but the spots where I never see any dive operation foreign to Tulamben bringing their divers).

Probably the best macro experience I had in Amed was the Japanese wreck on a nightdive (Then again I would be tempted to think any nightdive on any divesite in Bali is worthwhile), but all others like Ghostbay or Melasti Amed were boring in a sense that you could only see a few species of critters, although the ones you'd see by numbers (12 harlequin shrimps just in one dive,... but not so many other crits) although I had a senior private guide living... just in front of one of the macro dive site...call that local expert!
 
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