32 Great dives in Bali - report / photos

[scottfiji]

I just returned from a great time in Bali. I've been there 2x before, and this time I brought 3 of my regular dive buddies who had never been to bali. everyone had a fantastic time, Bali did not disappoint!

We dove Nusa penida, padang bai, amed, and tulamben. Mantas, cuttlefish, barracuda, jacks, bumpheads, napolean wrasse, dogtooth tuna, many nudibranchs, and so many interesting fish and crustaceans were located and recorded "in situ" on memory cards.

Weather and conditions were perfect. We stayed in Padang Bai, Amed and Tulamben, and utilized the services of Absolute scuba and Aquamarine Bali.

Complete report with photos can be found here, including Bali logistics:
Bali Dive Report and underwater photos

If that's not enough of photos, there even more here from our trip:
Bali underwater and topside photos

Let me know if you have any questions.

Here's some of my favorite photos, enjoy

Manta ray at Manta point

Dancing Cuttlefish at Gilla Tepekong

Flutemouth closeup at Padang Bai

Peacock Mantis shrimp closeup

Rare display of the male sand diver, with his harem of females. If you've tried to take their photo before, you know why they are called "sand divers"

 

[Misa]

wow...amazing photos

 

[PeCaRi]

great shot of the sand diver! Thanks for sharing.

 

[deeper thoughts]

Wow!!!!!!!!!

 

[divewench1]

So Scott, Brilliant photos, how was your experience with Absolute Scuba?

 

[scottfiji]

Thanks alot everyone. We were quite happy with the servies of absolute and aquamarine bali.

When we stayed at Absolute Scuba in Padang bai, it was really nice having the hotel room, dive shop, great, swimming pool, and dive boat all within 20 meters of each other. We all wished we had more time in Padang Bai.

Scott

ps - here's a couple more pics that bring back nice memories

Seahorse in padang bai, 88ft depth. Padang bai was a great place for macro.

Bumphead parrotfish in Tulamben. I had been thinking of the bumphead family for 2 years every since my wife and I saw them swim over us one early morning on their way to their feeding area. It's amazing to the family underwater, the big ones and little ones travelling together.

 

[Mr. Nudi]

Awesome photos!

 

[Ms. Ann Thrope]

Mmmm. I saw those bumpheads last week! I might also add that we spent one of our morning Tulamben dives removing a long line, complete with hooks, from the Liberty. Made we wonder where the restaurant's big fresh barracuda had just come from.

I kind of wish we would have popped for a Nusa Penida dive ourselves. Fantastic photos!

 

[zitooner]

I'm so happy to have found your photos and comments. We are going to Indonesia in late August, staying for 59 days. We will spend most of our time in Bali (much of it diving Tulamben, Seraya, Padang Bai and up north for a few days). We will end our time at KBR in Lembeh Straits. I'm glad to see that someone else thinks the diving is awesome in Bali; too often it is overlooked for other spots in Indonesia. We plan to stay at Paradise Palm, Tulamben for nine days. Any suggestions of jukung operators who could take us as far a Sereya (or elsewhere)? We do have the book by Pickell & Siagian and LOVED IT. Thank you so much for sharing your awesome photos. They're beautiful and such and inspiration to us.

 

[scottfiji]

hey Zitooner, so you are going for 2 months, you are so lucky!

I updated my bali page with some info on how to dive seraya:
Diving scuba seraya

but basically you can dive it by car or boat.. the jukong operators are independent, best try to get paradise hotel to get you a jukong or boat, you might have to bargain on price... car is faster/easier but going home from seraya by Jukong is really beautiful, especially near sunset and everyone should do it at least once.